Dan Rosenberg loves mission-driven work and intellectual stimulation, so it made sense for him to combine his passions for Judaism and for law. Rosenberg, a corporate lawyer, got his start doing legal work with Hillel International before pursuing law school at Georgetown University Law Center. There, he was the co-president of Jewish Law Students Association.
Rosenberg is currently the vice president of Next Gen, a Jewish Federation program to get young adults involved in the Greater Washington Jewish community and to help these young adults grow as leaders in the Jewish community. Originally from Doylestown, Penn., he lives in Alexandria.
Tell me about your Jewish upbringing and background.
From day one, I always had a very strong sense of Jewish identity thanks to my parents. Doylestown doesn’t have the most religious community, and there aren’t too many Jews, so I’m very lucky that both my parents are very active in the community.
My mom is very active in the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia and my dad has a very strong sense of Jewish identity and relationship with Israel, so just watching them as I grew up, [I understood] how important it is to get involved in the Jewish community and to give back, to make sure that our institutions are strong and that the Jewish community is strong, so I try to continue that. It’s really fun to work with the Jewish community in D.C. because there are a lot of very passionate people who also want the community to be strong, so when you work with that kind of group, it’s a very rewarding experience.
How did you get to where you are today?
I came to D.C. in 2010 to attend college at GW, which was a really fantastic experience. I decided to major in anthropology because I love learning about different cultures around the world and how they see the world and how they approach problem-solving — I think it’s very refreshing. I was very active in GW Hillel during my undergraduate career… it was my home away from home in college and I really just gained so many leadership opportunities through it. I cannot overstate the impact GW Hillel had on my life, and that’s thanks to Adena Kirstein, the executive director, and the former executive director, Yoni Kaiser-Blueth.
After college, I went on to work for Hillel International; they had a fellowship for a year in the CEO’s office of Hillel International and that was just an incredible experience because I got to work with and learn from the person who’s now CEO of the Jewish Federations of North America, Eric Fingerhut. I was also fortunate to work with Tracy Turoff, the general counsel and Adam Lehman, the current CEO of Hillel International. I gained some exposure to legal work with Hillel International and really liked it. I like intellectual stimulation and I like the idea of helping organizations come up with tailor-made solutions to be in compliance with the law based on their culture and organizational values.
After that, I went to law school… I really like business; I like helping organizations grow. I like working with founders who have bold and strategic visions for their company’s world, so for me, that passion has been channeled through business law. A lot of what I do right now is work with companies that are backed by either venture capital or private equity firms and help them grow their businesses.
What are your responsibilities as VP of Next Gen?
In collaboration with our incredible Federation staff, Robyn Rosenbaum, Jeremy Frisch and Shira Pomerantz, and with the co-chair of the Next Gen board, Jessie Heines Wolf, I work on setting the goals for Next Gen, the strategy for getting there and our priorities for the year. I have the great opportunity to work with all of our board members to help them establish their strategic goals and priorities for the year as well. We have a board of around 18 lay leaders, and we collectively manage all of the programs and initiatives that fall under Next Gen.
The third thing is to represent Next Gen broadly to the greater D.C. Jewish community and to the board of directors and the executive committee of the Jewish Federation to make sure they’re aware of what’s going on in Next Gen. We are fortunate to have a very talented and dedicated set of staff and board of lay leaders this year for Next Gen. This year’s group is the most impressive group I’ve ever seen since beginning my involvement in the Federation.
How did you balance your career with your Jewish volunteering responsibilities?
It’s definitely not easy; there are a lot of late nights, but I’m very lucky because my law firm, DLA Piper, is really extraordinary. The lawyers I work with are really well-rounded, very kind people who encourage me to get involved in the community because they see the value of giving back to the community and being a well-rounded person. The head of the corporate group, Rick Marks, is a mensch. Culture flows from the top down and he helps me be actively involved in the Jewish community, so I owe a lot to him.
What are your professional and personal goals?
To continue doing a good job at DLA Piper and … I want Next Gen to ultimately be in a better place than when I started as VP this year. I want to set next year up for success and to make sure next year is even more successful than this year and to set a strong foundation for Next Gen to keep building and growing over the years.
I have a bucket list of things to do [throughout] my life. For my mom’s 70th birthday, we are planning to hike to Base Camp at Mount Everest.
What do you do in your free time?
Try to knock things off my bucket list. It’s really important to me to spend time with friends and family, so I try my best to make as much time for friends and family as possible. I love to go to concerts too. A really good friend of mine, Robert Snyder, is an avid concertgoer, so I go to a lot of concerts with him. We’re trying to see Usher this weekend!
