By Cindy Mindell

James A. Cohen

STAMFORD – The new CEO of United Jewish Federation of Greater Stamford, New Canaan and Darien (UJF) can list some pretty unusual Jewish experiences on his resume.

James A. Cohen, 41, comes to UJF from Yale, where he served as assistant secretary for international affairs, managing the day-to-day operations of the Office of International Affairs and coordinating the university’s activities in Africa, the Middle East, and Europe.

Prior to Yale, Cohen spent nearly a decade as a career diplomat in the United States Foreign Service, with postings in U.S. embassies throughout the world. He traveled extensively with Secretaries of State Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice, and served with Daniel C. Kurtzer, former U.S. ambassador to Israel and Egypt.

In Cairo, where the indigenous Jewish community numbers fewer than 100, it was the expatriate community who would make a minyan at the Adly Street synagogue and help the dwindling, aging population with basic needs, Cohen says. In Ecuador, his wife Lisa, an art educator, taught at the Jewish day school and the family would travel to Colombia to buy kosher meat. In Sarajevo, whose Jewish community has all but emigrated to Israel, the Cohens joined fellow Jews to help local charities.

Now, Cohen and his wife and two children will become part of the Stamford Jewish community.

A native of the Kew Gardens and Forest Hills sections of Queens, N.Y., Cohen grew up “Conservadox,” attending a Conservative synagogue and Hebrew school as well as the Orthodox shul of his grandparents. He earned a B.A. with highest honors in history from Emory University and an M.A. with two distinctions in the history of international relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

After his stint with the State Department, Cohen and his family settled in Woodbridge, where James took the position at Yale and became active in Congregation B’nai Jacob and the greater New Haven Jewish community. “Throughout my career, I’ve always worked to have a positive impact on my community and in people’s lives,” he says. “I eventually realized that the best way to do that is to find a professional position in the Jewish community.”

He decided on Stamford because of the high degree of Jewish involvement across denominations and affiliations. “I see people engaging at all different levels and all strains of Judaism,” he says. “The local board of rabbis is among the most active in the world, and there is a special sense of community that I want to be a part of.”

In that context, UJF is “the glue that binds the community, the honest broker that brings everyone together, the real voice for the Jewish community,” Cohen says. “The Federation is in a unique position to serve the community, to unite the various organizations, and reach out to all aspects of the community.”

Success will require that the organization do some upgrading, Cohen says, both in its messaging and in its engagement of formerly involved and younger populations.

“In general, Jewish Federations can do a better job in showing they impact lives, through funding of constituent organizations, particularly the small ones that don’t have a strong voice of their own,” he says. “We need to do a better job engaging younger people, by using social media and all the tools at our disposal to show how we’re relevant in the 21st century.”

As an example, Cohen points to the Annual Holocaust Commemoration Day ceremony held at the Connecticut State Capitol earlier this month. “It showed what Jewish Federations can do as the voice of our community,” he says. “Other people are aware of the need to remember the Holocaust because federations and Jewish Federation Association of Connecticut are out there speaking on behalf of the Jewish community.”

The current ‘Information Age’ is one of competition, for limited philanthropic dollars, as well as for limited “mental time,” Cohen says. “We’re competing not only with other worthy organizations, but with 24-hour news and the online Sudoku game,” he says. “We have to show our positive impact in those few moments when someone sits down at their computer. If we demonstrate that, we’ll do nothing but grow and be of service to the community.”

Comments? email cindym@jewishledger.com.