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Dear Colleagues,
We are delighted to announce that Dr. Christine Beresniova will be joining us as the Council of American Jewish Museum’s new Executive Director to lead our organization into its next chapter. She begins her new role on December 2, 2024.
Christine comes to us from the Holocaust Center of Florida, where she was most recently the Lead Curator and previously Vice President of Education. With a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies and an M.A. in International Education, she brings years of experience in the fields of Holocaust museums and Jewish education and engagement. She approaches this work with a deep and personal commitment to Jewish culture and communal life and a belief in the power of culture to counter antisemitism.
Christine’s vision is strongly aligned with CAJM’s Strategic Framework. As she has shared, “I am passionate about promoting American Jewish stories through collaboration, and excited by the opportunity to help Jewish museums and other cultural institutions flourish in the evolving landscape of Jewish American cultural life.”
We offer profound thanks and gratitude to former Executive Director Melissa Martens Yaverbaum, who over the past ten years has led CAJM through tremendous programmatic growth, creative alliances, and increased impact in Jewish museum spaces.
CAJM has forged dynamic partnerships throughout the Jewish-museum community, with other culturally specific museums, and with the field more broadly, including its meaningful initiatives to understand and counter antisemitism. Accordingly, the organization is recognized as a valued thought-leader among peers and supporters such as the IMLS, NEH, and NEA.
We are indebted to our fellow search committee members, Marsha Semmel and Alisha Babbstein, and to the CAJM board for their wisdom throughout this process.
We are eager for Christine’s leadership, vision, scholarship, and creativity to further inform and amplify CAJM’s work and to help guide us all through these complicated times. We look forward to introducing you to her!
Sincerely,
Laura Mandel, CAJM Board Chair
Susan Bronson, Immediate Past Chair & Search Committee Chair
November 14, 2024
Photo credit: Macbeth Studio, Orlando, FL
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