After 17 years with JFS, Chief Operating Officer Claudia Berman will retire at end of the year.
During her tenure, Berman managed pivotal program transitions and helped coordinate construction of a new Capitol Hill campus to better support clients.
“Claudia’s service to our community is truly unmatched,” said Rabbi Will Berkovitz, Chief Executive Officer. “She has been the quiet, guiding presence on so many important milestones for the agency and the community we serve.”
Building Better Services
As JFS services expanded through the years to help those in need, the time came for the main campus in Capitol Hill to be a facility that could provide higher quality assistance and greater dignity for clients. With construction came a private waiting room to respect client privacy during difficult situations, a Food Bank that gave choices to those facing hunger, and improved safety for vulnerable individuals and families, like people experiencing domestic violence.
Berman took ownership of leading the new building project to best serve JFS clients, according to former CEO Ken Weinberg. “The agency and community owe much of the work to her,” he said.
Throughout the construction project, Berman was in charge of working with developers and architects on behalf of JFS staff.
One of the most noticeable changes was the Polack Food Bank. Before the new facility, JFS staff and volunteers prepared grocery bags for clients to pick up on site, which was a common practice for organizations at the time. What staff wanted was more space to provide a shopping experience like any other grocery store.
Along with more space for shopping came more room and options for storing food.
“The freezer alone created more opportunity to provide frozen meats,” Berman said. “Our refrigerator allowed us to serve fresh produce and improve the quality of the food we offer.”
According to Berkovitz, Berman was a crucial advocate in bringing the vision for the new Food Bank to fruition. Planning and preparing for that dream made it easier for JFS to smoothly incorporate those plans into the new building.
“In my career,” Berkovitz said, “I can count on one finger the number of people I have met with Claudia’s combination of skills, compassion and all out dedication to the mission and our people.”
Guiding Change
During Berman’s time at JFS, she also mentored staff through various service changes and the transition of Berkovitz as the new CEO following 38 years of Weinberg’s leadership.
“Claudia has been an invaluable sounding board and a partner as I assumed my leadership role here at JFS,” Berkovitz said. “It would have been impossible for me to take the reins without Claudia’s deep knowledge of the agency’s history, culture and values.”
Berman used that knowledge and JFS values to guide crucial change.
In collaboration with the former Director of JFS Refugee & Immigrant Service Centers, Berman helped the program grow to include not only Jews fleeing the former Soviet Union but also people of all backgrounds escaping war and persecution from around the world.
“JFS has been able to make deeper and stronger services by building on core values from when the agency first started,” Berman said.
As a registered nurse since 1971, she guided JFS home care services through licensing and accreditation with the state, assuring clients they were receiving the best possible care.
She also played a central role in helping JFS take over management of the SAJD Supported Living Program that was once a subsidiary of JFS. The program ensures adults with persistent mental health issues and cognitive disabilities are able to live independently with the highest possible quality of life.
From programs to an improved facility, Berman helped JFS provide better services based on profound agency values.
“Claudia could do it all. And she did. She did all of it,” Weinberg said. “She is a marvel. There is only one Claudia.”
By Rachel Anne Seymour
Rachel is a trail-running dog owner and the Marketing and Communication Coordinator for JFS. She has previously worked as a multimedia journalist for newspapers throughout the Midwest and Western Washington.
