CU Boulder Hillel Director Moving Up

After five-and-a-half years, Seth Reder will be leaving Hillel at CU Boulder to become Senior Director of Talent at Hillel International, starting in November.

Seth issued this statement on Friday, September 15th for Rosh Hashanah:

Rosh Hashana—the Jewish New Year—which begins this week, is a time for reflection and new beginnings. As I reflect on the new year, I too, will be starting a new journey. Beginning in November, I will be assuming a new role with Hillel International as the Senior Director, Talent Management. As you may know, this is also a return to Hillel International, where I served as the Associate Director of Leadership Programs from 2017 to 2018, and I’m thrilled to remain in the Hillel movement. As my new role will be remote from here in Colorado, I am grateful that I will be able to remain involved in the Boulder Jewish community.

For the past five and a half years, it has been a true pleasure and honor to serve the CU Boulder Hillel students, staff, and community as the first ever Executive Director. I am so proud of the incredible work and growth we have been able to accomplish, and I am excited to watch CU Boulder Hillel continue to grow and flourish as a vibrant community for 2,500 Jewish students. Since joining CU Boulder Hillel as the Executive Director, we have seen many significant successes, beginning with our founding as an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. In just five and a half short years, we have grown our operating budget and overall revenue by 225%, quadrupling the number of individual donors.

Additionally, we grew our student engagement reach by 340% through meaningful programs, initiatives, and creating a welcoming culture of leadership, Jewish values, and authentic community. Some programmatic highlights include inviting Eva Schloss, Anne Frank’s step-sister, to speak with over 1,100 students and community members in partnership with Chabad, unique student leadership retreats and Ski Retreat Shabbatons, alternative Spring Break trips to Argentina, weekly Shabbat dinners averaging 80-120 students, and bringing 3-4 busses of students each year to Israel.

Through every program and experience, CU Boulder Hillel strives to build a vibrant Jewish community that inspires each student to make an enduring commitment to Jewish life, learning, and Israel.

During the past several months, I have been working tirelessly to ensure the continued success and future sustainability of CU Boulder Hillel as an independent organization. Over the summer, I secured a $150,000 gift to remodel, re-landscape, and improve the exterior of our building – helping to transform our organization’s image and enhance our programming space with a newly constructed amphitheater patio to match the stunning mountain views from our backyard. Additionally, I secured a $150,000 grant through the federal Nonprofit Security Grant Program to implement significant security reinforcements to our physical building, to help ensure that the safety and security of our program is a top priority. Finally, I secured a $180,000 matching challenge grant over the next two years to support our organization’s continued operational and capacity growth to meet the growing demands of our student engagement and programming.

In the coming weeks, our board of directors will appoint an interim Executive Director, and with the help of Hillel International, the board will launch a search for our next permanent Executive Director in several months. In the meantime, our incredible Assistant Director, Megan Burmeister, will continue to hold the strategic and creative vision for student engagement and programming – along with our Springboard Innovation Fellow, Shira Finke, and IACT Coordinator for Israel Engagement, Jacob Wilson, to ensure everything is running smoothly and CU Boulder Hillel doesn’t miss a beat.

Working with CU Boulder Hillel and the entire Buffs community has been an incredible privilege, and I am grateful to have had the opportunity to be a part of such a vibrant, passionate Jewish community. Our next generation of Jewish leaders at CU Boulder continues to shine bright, and their continued success would not be possible without the support of alumni, students, parents, and the greater community.

With Sincere Gratitude,

Seth Reder