The Milwaukee Jewish Federation has just welcomed Mitch Moser as the new executive director of the Jewish Community Foundation, following the retirement of Caren Goldberg, who has served the Federation for 23 years. Moser starts April 1.
“Mitch has served in nearly every leadership position for the Federation over the years and will bring his knowledge of the community to this work,” Goldberg said.
In his role as executive director, Moser lists three primary goals: continuing to work with past and potential donors to grow the size of the JCF; appropriately, efficiently and intelligently managing the JCF’s assets; and handling grants and investments.
“Mitch has the expertise and community experience we need, to achieve great things for the Jewish Community Foundation,” said Miryam Rosenzweig, president and CEO of the Federation. “I’m so grateful that we’ve found someone this capable and ready for this critical responsibility. Mitch will take us from strength to strength.”
Moser said he strives to “take care of the needs of the Jewish people, and build a strong future for the Jewish community in Milwaukee, Israel and around the world.”
Moser grew up in Milwaukee and attended public school. When he was 9-years-old he began going to Steve & Shari Sadek Family Camp Interlaken JCC. “I spent 13 incredible summers there, and that’s what started me along my true Jewish path,” he stated.
After undergraduate studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and earning his law degree at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, he returned to Milwaukee, with a desire to get involved in the Jewish community.
He recently completed a 28- year career as a lawyer with Quarles & Brady, specializing in product liability litigation.
Over the years, Moser has been involved with the Federation as a campaign chair, board member, in young leadership, and planning allocations at various levels. He observed that his new role will allow him to combine all his Federation work into one position. He has also spent time on the Camp Interlaken committee, and nearly three decades as a BBYO-Wisconsin Region advisor.
Moser is active in ways beyond his lengthy career as a lawyer and longtime involvement with the Federation. In January 2018, he completed the World Marathon Challenge, a logistical and physical feat in which participants complete seven marathons on seven continents in seven days.
He had not initially planned on actually participating in the challenge. But after training with some runner friends just for fun, he started getting into good shape, and the next thing he knew he was spending a week running marathons in Antarctica, Cape Town, Perth, Dubai, Lisbon, Cartagena and Miami.
“I never thought I could run one marathon, let alone running seven of them in seven days,” he said. “And now I can’t imagine running a marathon again. But if you train and you prepare, you can really accomplish incredible things. It was a great lesson to learn.”