Craig Mintz began work at the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington on June 3 as its chief financial and administrative officer, bringing decades of high-level financial experience and a vision to expand the reach of the Federation and give it a fresh image by connecting with the community.
Mintz spent over a decade at the start of his career working his way up through financial jobs, ending up at multinational company Akzo Nobel, where he served as the vice president of restructuring for two years before he felt he had to make a turn out of for-profit corporate finance.
Mintz became the chief financial officer of BBYO, spending more than five years there and another six years as CFO at the Edlavitch DCJCC before the Federation came to him with a vision to take over their CFAO role, where he could enact meaningful change within the organization and the community.
You worked in corporate finance before moving to Jewish spaces. What prompted that transition?
I like to say that I’ve had two careers. I was born and raised in Cleveland. And my background there was all hardcore for-profit corporate finance. I was with Arthur Andersen Business Consulting Group. And I worked for one of the largest chemical companies in the world that was based in London in Cleveland, their North American headquarters. I was there for about eight years and really was on the fast track to be a CFO at one of their Asia or Europe divisions. And it was probably six years in there, that they got bought out by a parent company and they started doing some restructuring. I was asked to lead the entire North American restructuring effort … I had to do it in large groups like restructuring sales forces, manufacturing side consolidations.
And it really took a toll on me. I just wasn’t happy with the person I was becoming. I was good at it, and they kept throwing more money at me, and it really affected me personally … One thing led to another I said I can’t do this anymore. I wasn’t happy with what I was doing. Like a week later, I got a call saying they had a CFO position with a Jewish nonprofit in D.C. It was BBYO … I was in BBYO when I was younger; [it was] the perfect change for what I was looking for … That’s the second part of my career, which has been almost all value-added work in nonprofit or for-profit spaces.
What got you interested in moving specifically back to Jewish spaces?
I think it comes back to the experience I had during the restructuring of the global chemical company that, even though I was highly successful in a strong career path and financially probably doing better, I didn’t feel [good] personally. I’ve never been very religious, but it’s my background. I am Jewish, but just the connection and being able to help people was something missing in my life.
And as I’ve leaned into it, the more I’ve become more of a Jewish communal professional, it’s something that provides a lot of personal gratitude. Something that every day I go home, and it might have been a tough day — you’re banging your head against the wall at times. But at the end of the day, when you step back and you look at the work we’re trying to do, we’re trying to improve the lives of the Jewish community in the Greater D.C. area. And that’s something I can be proud of.
What interested you in taking on this new role?
I think the Federation model is a little old school and might be broken, and the Federations are sort of at an inflection point where they need to sort of reinvent themselves. The current generation of kids don’t know much about Federation, kind of a demographic that aged out a little bit sort of to stay relevant. And I had a lot of discussion with the CEO and they’re on board.
That is exactly what they’re trying to do at the local Federation here, is not to be viewed as just a fundraising entity that collects money locally and then passes it on, but how can they connect the Jewish people and serve the Jewish people in the DMV area … And their mission and their goal is to evolve. And that’s what attracted me.
What are you hoping to add to the Federation team?
One of the things that I bring to the table is a combination from my for-profit days, and not-for-profit [days], is seeing how we can work together to be more efficient. For example, a lot of people use the same cleaning company in the DC area. And we’re always negotiating, every agency renegotiates every year, but I’m from the Federation. I have that relationship and can say look, I’ll negotiate a three-to-five-year contract with you. You don’t have to worry about negotiating every year with the individual agencies. But I need a 10% to 20% cost reduction. That’s the kind of thing that would be valued to the local agencies that the Federation serves.
What should the community know about you and expect from you in this important role with Federation?
I have 15 years [experience] in Fortune 500 companies. I think leveraging the knowledge and some of the best practices that I’ve learned and then also, combining that with the Jewish communal work I’ve done at both BBYO and the Edlavitch DCJCC positions, [worked] perfectly for the Federation to bring those two things together. [I will] be able to simplify things for them, to help again continue as they get through this inflection point, and become not just the old static Federation model, but look at new ways we can add value to the community and that are local, and it’s something I’m passionate about.
I enjoy making changes. I’m a straightforward person. I like working with different people and constantly enjoy learning. I look forward to the challenge of working with different
partner agencies and learning about them, how the Federation might be positioned to add value for them in ways other than just dollars and money that they’re receiving.