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Battle-Tested, Board-Approved
OUR COMMUNITY
Battle-Tested, Board-Approved
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New Federation CEO Steve Ingber earned the job.
JACKIE HEADAPOHL DIRECTOR OF EDITORIAL
From fall of 2019 to last month, the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit was without an “official” CEO as Federation leaders conducted a national search. However, there was an “unofficial” captain at the helm, COO Steve Ingber, who navigated through the rough waters of the COVID pandemic to unify the response of Federation and other agencies to the needs of the Jewish community.
Former Federation CEO Scott Kaufman was consulting with federations across the country during the pandemic. “I got to watch Steve go through a trial by fire,” he said. “Detroit performed extraordinarily well during the pandemic. He earned the role and came through battletested.”
Federation leaders officially named Ingber the CEO last month.
“Often, we look afar when right under our nose is the perfect person,” Hills, where is parents still live. The youngest of three children, he attended public schools and then went to the University of Michigan, where he graduated with a business degree. After graduation, he started working for his grandfather, tearing apart cars. He then opened an automotive wholesale distribution business in Metro Detroit, which he ran for the better part of 10 years.
“I’ve had three jobs my entire life, and I loved them all. I loved being in the automotive world. I liked being the chief operating officer here. And, so far — it’s new — but said Penny Blumenstein, who was on the CEO search committee. “He took over responsibilities very quietly and without any fanfare. People are Penny willing to follow him. To Blumenstein me, that is the sign of leadership.”
For Ingber, “This is the dream job I never knew I wanted.”
Ingber was born and raised in a Conservative home in Farmington Hills, where is parents still live. The youngest of three children, he attended public schools and then went to the University of Michigan, where he graduated with a business degree. After graduation, he started working for his grandfather, tearing apart cars. He then opened an automotive wholesale distribution business in Metro Detroit, which he ran for the better part of 10 years.
“I’ve had three jobs my entire life, and I loved them all. I loved being in the automotive world. I liked being the chief operating officer here. And, so far — it’s new — but
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JOHN HARDWICK
Get to Know Steve Ingber
Family: Married to attorney Jill S. Ingber, director of recruitment and associate development at Dickinson Wright PLLC. Four sons: Jacob, 12, Cooper, 10, William and Lucas are 7. “It’s a crazy house,” Steve Ingber says. “It’s a busy house and, you know, we work hard, we play hard. We have a basketball court in our backyard where you can often find many of the neighborhood kids and, our own kids … It’s sports. We’re taking this kid to swimming and just get to baseball, to tee ball. It’s great fun. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Something about you that people would be surprised to
know: “At one time, I hosted a TV show in college called Talking Sports with Steve-O that was on the University of Michigan cable network.”
Favorite Jewish holiday: “I enjoy family at any holiday, but since I’m a bagel guy, I’ll say breaking the fast.”
Favorite movie: Fast and Furious franchise.
Favorite superhero: Batman
Favorite sport: “To watch, football. To play? Anything with my kids.”
Favorite places to go: “We love to go Downtown, whether to a restaurant or the Riverwalk or Belle Isle. We love going to any sort of outdoor space where we can get out and do something.”
OUR COMMUNITY
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I love my new role as CEO. I think that’s what makes people successful. Enjoy what you’re doing. Are you excited when you get up and go to work? I am.”
JOINING FEDERATION
When Ingber applied for the job as COO at Federation five years ago, he didn’t have a lot of experience in the Jewish communal world. “I think that’s why it took them so long to hire me. I interviewed probably the better part of three months because I didn’t have the experience of growing up or coming along in the Federation system,” Ingber said.
Although he went to religious school through high school, he said he never really participated in Jewish life at U-M, where he met his now-wife, Jill, in freshmen year. After school, he came home and got married. He and Jill became members of Temple Israel and they eventually sent their four boys to the early childhood center at Temple Emanu-El. Ingber volunteered on the board at Temple Israel and at Hebrew Free Loan, which he said he really enjoyed.
“When I was hired as COO, I was hired for my business skills, not for my nonprofit skills,” Ingber said. “That’s how I got my start here.”
Three things jumped out during those interviews,
Scott Kaufman
according to Kaufman. “One, he was a very resourceful, problem solver. Two, he was super-organized. Third, he’s a natural people connector. He’s a likeable, engaging person. People gravitate to him.”
Ingber said when he was being hired for the COO position, the committee asked him what he would do first. “I said, ‘I’ll listen. I can’t tell you what’s broken until I fully understand the organization from the inside.’”
And that’s what he did. He listened to lay and professional leaders, rabbis and educators, agency professionals and community partners.
“I saw his passion for connecting with the Jewish community, local and nationally, flourish over time,” Kaufman said. “I watched him build relationships with directors, rabbis, lay leaders and people throughout the Jewish community as we solved problems together.”
Ingber cites his proudest achievement as COO as getting Federation listed as a four-star charity with Charity Navigator. “I wanted people to know we were making good use of the dollars,” he said. “As of last year, 88 cents of every dollar we raised provided direct services.”
The toughest thing he had to do, he said, was letting people go during the pandemic, when Federation was forced to downsize. “It’s the hardest decision leaders have to make,” he said. “If they become numb to that, they’re not good leaders.”
— STEVE INGBER
DEALING WITH THE PANDEMIC
“I’ll never forget,” Ingber said. “I believe it was March 10, 2020, a Wednesday. We had a board meeting. I convened all the agency leaders and said, ‘I don’t know what this coronavirus thing is, but this is going to be big, and we’re going to have to work on it together.’”
Ingber worked with Matt Lester and Dennis Bernard, who co-chaired Federation’s COVID emergency taskforce before they became presidents of the Federation and the United Jewish Foundation, respectively.
“I worked with Ingber when he first came on as COO and, to be honest, I never thought of him as a potential CEO,” Bernard said. “As Matt Dennis Bernard and I took on roles of running the COVID response, I watched him grow in front of me as he went from an operational to a strategic focus. It was a fabulous movie to watch.”
Bernard added that as they were raising funds
to combat COVID, Ingber went to federal, state and local funding sources and got funding from Oakland County, Michigan and United Way matching fund programs, resulting in an additional $3 million.
“Steve also got all five of the day schools to get together and talk about their needs,” Bernard said. “We looked at needs for Jewish day schools all together, and no one got left behind. That was Steve’s idea.”
Ingber invited every Federation agency and non-Federation agency to the table. “The litmus test to get in is if you can serve Jews,” Ingber said. “We all checked our egos at the door and said, ‘Here’s what we’re going to do.’ I’m all about building community, doing it together.”
The COVID Emergency task force raised a record number of dollars. They made sure that people had proper PPE; they helped agencies with getting federal loans; they ensured that no Jew in Metro Detroit would go hungry, bringing in food and expanding Meals on Wheels for seniors. They helped get the day schools open. They got people tested and vaccinated.
“COVID taught us how to break down walls,” Ingber said. “We’re all partners in this, and we all need to win together, or we don’t. Judaism is a team sport.”
EARNING THE JOB
“Typically, when you hire someone, you interview them, check references and take some level of gamble — some level of unknown,” said Federation President Matt Lester. “There is no unknown with Ingber. He may be the only person I Matt Lester know who literally earned the job.”
Lester cited universal respect and admiration from Federation staff, Jewish agencies, rabbis and community members as another contributing factor to Ingber’s hire as CEO.
“Generally, what is a tough decision became in the end very easy,” Lester added. “He implemented collaborations and coalitions. He’s a good fundraiser. He’s likeable. He doesn’t care about getting credit. He cares about outcomes.”
Former Federation President Beverly Liss was on the search committee that hired Ingber as COO five years ago. “He definitely proved himself as COO. He was Beverly 100% in, all the Liss time. He was working from the moment he woke up until he went to sleep,” she said. “When COVID hit, he was all-in.”
Former Federation President Larry Wolfe chaired the CEO viewed with the search committee and proved himself to be much more than just a good manager.”
Wolfe began hearing from agency leaders and rabbis about the wonderful job Ingber was doing as de facto CEO. “The search committee decided to recommend him based on his actions over the last 18 months. He was our man. The rest is history,” Wolfe said.
According to Federation’s Chief Marketing Officer Ted search committee. The committee was well into its search, fielding plenty of resumes when COVID hit, Larry Wolfe and everything came to a screeching halt. He said Ingber didn’t apply for the CEO job until 2021.
“I asked him why he waited,” Wolfe said, “and he said he had respected the process of what we were trying to do. He interCohen, with whom Ingber works closely, Ingber’s role as CEO “is an opportunity for Ted Cohen him to make even more of an impact. “He has strengths important to our community, and he always finds a way to strengthen relationships and work with others. I appreciate how he rolls up his sleeves and engages with the work and gets a lot done.”
VISION FOR THE FUTURE
Ingber said his No. 1 goal is to engage more people with the Federation.
“If we have 10,000 donors, that means we have 60,000 people who aren’t donors,” Ingber said. “And it’s not all about dollars. It’s also about getting people to build community. The key to a successful Federation, successful campaign and successful community is getting people more involved.”
Ingber added that it doesn’t matter whether people give $10, $18 or $1.8 million to Federation, “everybody is part of the community. That’s important. We all can make a difference, whether it’s in dollars or just coming to our programs or volunteering — there are tons of ways to be involved.”
Although the Federation does have pressing challenges, such as longstanding real estate and infrastructure issues, the organization is healthy, he says.
“We wanted to right-size some of our endowments, and we’ve done that,” he said. “Right now, we are in a position of strength, and I think that’s the time to really look at what we’re doing and ask ourselves if we’re doing it the right way. Let’s not wait until our house is on fire to make changes. Let’s make sure we’re meeting the needs of the community when they need to be met.
“I’m real proud of where we are,” Ingber continued. “We’ve done a great job, and it’s not just me. It’s the staff. It’s the agencies. It’s the community as a whole. It really stepped up. We weathered the storm because we have a strong community.”
Ingber said although he wouldn’t declare the pandemic “over,” he does believe the tide is turning.
“A year ago, we had no schools open, and we had no summer camp prospects. Now we have every school open, and our summer camps are going to open. We have been, in partnership with Oakland County, vaccinating thousands of people. We have more people in the office. We have more people getting jobs. We have people who need less assistance. I think we are coming out of this.
“Federation was a part of all that.”
