Between raising $15 million to help victims of Oct. 7 in Israel and organizing a memorial event in Washington, D.C., that drew 3,000 attendees, CEO Gil Preuss is most proud of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington’s ability to mobilize across many different parts of the community.
“The Federation led a tremendous communal response after Oct. 7, both in bringing people together and in supporting Israel in this time of need,” Preuss said. “We’ve been able to partner with thousands and thousands of people across the whole community to have an impact both locally and in Israel.”
The nonprofit Federation has worked with other local Jewish agencies, synagogues and organizations to “tackle a variety of issues” as they arise, Preuss said.
“When there was Covid, we brought people together to address the challenges of Covid on Jewish life,” Preuss said. “When [the war began in] Ukraine, we brought resources together to make sure that we were helping people in Ukraine as they left. And post-Oct. 7, we worked locally, convening across the whole community and making sure that there was a place for the community to come together and to respond. It’s a unique role that Federation plays.”
He noted the diversity of the crowd at The Anthem on the one-year anniversary of Oct. 7 and marveled at how thousands of people from different backgrounds and from across Greater Washington could come together for collective mourning.
Preuss, a former business school professor, said he loves his job as CEO of the Federation, a role he’s held since 2017: “It’s at the core of who I am.”
“I realized that at the core of my identity, my being, is around a deep commitment to the Jewish people, and that is what drives me every day. That is what gives me energy, even during hard times,” Preuss said.
He was able to use his academic background in organizational behavior to apply to strengthening the 400,000 Jewish community members in Greater Washington, continuing Federation work that dates back nearly a century.
“I cannot think of anything better that I would rather do,” Preuss said.
