{"id":88695,"date":"2025-07-09T16:35:55","date_gmt":"2025-07-09T21:35:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=88695"},"modified":"2025-07-10T05:51:43","modified_gmt":"2025-07-10T10:51:43","slug":"nola-jewish-federation-ceo-robert-french-steps-down-in-anticipation-of-hire-as-dallas-federation-ceo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/nola-jewish-federation-ceo-robert-french-steps-down-in-anticipation-of-hire-as-dallas-federation-ceo\/","title":{"rendered":"NOLA Jewish Federation CEO Robert French steps down in anticipation of hire as Dallas Federation CEO"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By ALAN SMASON, Special to the CCJN<\/p>\n<p>Robert French, the CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans, announced his resignation today, July 9, 2025. The resignation took most of the New Orleans Jewish community by surprise, as French was approximately six months away from the expiration of his initial three-year contract.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_88700\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/P1090406-scaled.jpeg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-88700\" class=\"wp-image-88700 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/P1090406-300x200.jpeg\" alt=\"Robert French, CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans. (Photo by Alan Smason)\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/P1090406-300x200.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/P1090406-1024x683.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/P1090406-768x512.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/P1090406-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/P1090406-2048x1365.jpeg 2048w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/200;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-88700\" class=\"wp-image-88700 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/P1090406-300x200.jpeg\" alt=\"Robert French, CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans. (Photo by Alan Smason)\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/P1090406-300x200.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/P1090406-1024x683.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/P1090406-768x512.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/P1090406-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/P1090406-2048x1365.jpeg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-88700\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Robert French, CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans. (Photo by Alan Smason)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>French, who came to New Orleans from a similar job in the El Paso, Texas area, began his term of office as Federation CEO on February 1, 2023. Based on his performance \u2013 especially in the period following the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks \u2013 it was expected he would be offered a similar contract extension for another three years.<\/p>\n<p>In an email announcing his departure, French said, &#8220;Serving this extraordinary community has been one of the greatest honors of my professional life. I\u2019ve been continually inspired by the strength, resilience, and deep sense of purpose that defines Jewish New Orleans. It has been a privilege to work alongside so many of you \u2014 leaders, staff, volunteers, donors, clergy, partners, and friends \u2014who give so generously of yourselves to ensure our community\u2019s vitality, security, and future.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He went on to announce that he would be assuming the vacant position of president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Dallas, beginning in September. The interim post is being held presently by Rabbi Mordechai Harris.<\/p>\n<p>French, a native of London, immigrated to the United States to continue his studies in business administration at two California universities. He worked in the non-profit sector for 29 years at two synagogues \u2013 first at Stephen Wise Synagogue in Los Angeles and later at Temple Israel in New York City.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>French&#8217;s appointment to replace outgoing Federation CEO Arnie Fielkow capped an extensive nationwide search by a select Federation committee during 2022.<\/p>\n<p>During his tenure, French demonstrated a foundational and unwavering commitment to Israel as he organized many extensive trips to Israel.<\/p>\n<p>French promised he would work closely with the Federation board, staff and volunteer leadership to make for a smooth transition in the weeks ahead.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Though I\u2019ll be based in a new city, I will always carry this community with me \u2014 with pride, affection, and heartfelt appreciation,&#8221; he concluded.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"Tumblr\",\"Email\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"NOLA%20Jewish%20Federation%20CEO%20Robert%20French%20steps%20down%20in%20anticipation%20of%20hire%20as%20Dallas%20Federation%20CEO\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":88700,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[4420,8790,8795,7332,8788,12697,781],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88695"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88695"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88695\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88701,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88695\/revisions\/88701"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}