Goldberg Kohn Principal Named Next Chairman of the Jewish Community Centers Association of North America

March 6, 2006

New York, NY, April 6, 2006 - The Nominating Committee of the JCC Association Board of Directors has named Alan Solow its next chairman, effective in May. He will be formally inducted into office at the JCCs of North America Biennial in Philadelphia, May 7-10.

Solow follows Edward Kaplan in leading JCC Association, the continental umbrella organization for the Jewish Community Center Movement. More than 350 JCC, YM-YWHA, and camp sites are affiliated with the association, which also oversees the JWB Jewish Chaplains Council, an accredited government agency serving the religious and social needs of Jewish military personnel, veterans and their families. JCC Association responds to the challenges facing contemporary North American Jewry, providing direction and critical resources to its affiliates for educational, cultural, social, recreational and Jewish identity-building programs.

A lawyer with the Chicago firm of Goldberg Kohn, where he chairs the Bankruptcy Group and serves on the Management Committee, Solow brings to the post a decades-long commitment to Jewish communal service. His insider’s knowledge of JCC Association has been cultivated through years of involvement on the board of the Jewish Community Centers of Metropolitan Chicago, his hometown, and on the continental board. He is currently one of the JCC Association vice chairs, and chairs the Governance Committee. He previously served as chair of the Community Services Committee, which assists with consultation to JCCs and provides guidance to the field on policy issues. As a member of the Beyond 2000 and Hagshama Commissions, Solow participated in the creation of reports envisioning the future of the JCC Movement and the action steps needed to implement it. He first joined the JCC Association board in 1997. 

Discussing his vision for JCC Association, he credited his predecessors for establishing a firm financial foundation and creating the New Initiatives Fund to enable JCC Association to support innovative projects that promote personal and communal Jewish journeys. “The JCC is so much more than an entry point or a portal to Jewish life,” he said. “It’s an entity that encourages people to move on to other Jewish experiences, both at the JCC and beyond. We want JCCs to offer Jewish experiences on a continuum, from the time a person comes into the world through senior adulthood. These experiences necessarily differ in response to peoples’ needs at different times in their lives, but provide meaning and a Jewish context in which to live their lives.”

“With more choices than ever before,” he continued, “people need to feel that they can live their lives at the JCC. JCCs play a key role in helping Jews understand the depth of our traditions and the breadth of issues that Judaism addresses, so they will find their lives enriched when they include a connection to Jewish life, rather than move away from it. That is what our motto, ‘Inspiring Jewish Journeys’ is about.”

Choosing the Jewish Council for Youth Services as a good place to begin his work in philanthropy, Solow served there for many years on the board and as president in 1985-86. At the JWB Biennial in 1982, held that year in Chicago, he was recognized with a New Leadership Award and received the Distinguished Alumni Award from JCYS in 2001. He subsequently was elected to the board of directors of the Jewish Community Centers of Metropolitan Chicago. For years, he held various executive and board positions, including the presidency of JCCs of Chicago from 1996-98, and is now an honorary director for life.

 Work at the JCCs of Chicago brought Solow into close contact with the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago and its affiliate, Jewish United Fund. He ascended the leadership ladder, beginning with board positions at both agencies in 1996. He is currently a vice chairman, concurrently serving as chair of federation’s Jewish Community Relations Council. He has also served as a member on the Chicago delegation to the General Assembly of United Jewish Communities, federation’s national umbrella organization. At UJC, Solow has been a member of the Caregiving Task Force of the Domestic Affairs Pillar and today participates as a member of the Renaissance and Renewal Pillar. He has made numerous trips to Israel on federation missions, often leading political figures to educate them about the Jewish state. His most recent trips with lawmakers were this past January with Senator Barack Obama and last August with Cong. Jesse Jackson, Jr.

Solow has been married for nearly 32 years to Andrea Lavin Solow, an active participant in Jewish life and chair of Chicago’s Partnership 2000 Committee. She is also a board member of the World Confederation of Jewish Community Centers. The two met as students at the University of Illinois, where Solow received a summa cum laude degree in political science in 1976. He went on to study at Harvard Law School, earning his JD cum laude in 1979. Among other professional honors, he was selected by his peers as a fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy. The Solows have three children: David, a student at Northwestern University Law School; his wife Brooke Hillman, an executive assistant attorney general for the state of Illinois; and Daniel, who works in the sports information department at Northern Illinois University.

JCC Association is the leadership network of, and central agency for the Jewish Community Center Movement, which is comprised of more than 350 JCC, YM-YWHA and camp sites in the U. S. and Canada. JCC Association offers a wide range of services and resources to strengthen the capacity of its affiliates to provide educational, cultural, social, Jewish identity-building, and recreational programs to enhance the lives of North American Jews of all ages and backgrounds. Additionally, the movement fosters and strengthens connections between North American Jews and Israel as well as with world Jewry. JCC Association is also a U.S. government accredited agency for serving the religious and social needs of Jewish military personnel, their families, and patients in VA hospitals through JWB Jewish Chaplains Council.