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NEW YORK, NY — The Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations (COP) has chosen Shoshana Simones of Phoenix, Az., a member of Hadassah, The Women’s Zionist Organization of America, for its inaugural Ambassadors Young Leadership Program. Hadassah is one of the COP’s member organizations.
Launched in 2026, the Ambassadors program was created to cultivate the next generation of Jewish communal leaders. Simones is one of 17 “COP Ambassadors” selected because of their accomplishments at their respective organizations, their commitment to Jewish communal service and their dedication to building connections among Jewish organizations.
Over the next year, the Ambassadors will complete an intensive curriculum comprising organizational leadership, public speaking and advocacy, responding to antisemitism, fundraising, US–Israel relations and the history and structure of the American Jewish community. In addition to imparting specific skills and a well-defined base of knowledge, the COP Ambassadors program aims to cultivate a spirit of collaboration by fostering relationships among the participants.
The Ambassadors program recently kicked off with a three-day meeting in New York City. The 17 participants were introduced to the COP and its senior leaders, several of whom, including CEO William Daroff, addressed the group. Sessions included a briefing on the demographic shifts shaping American Jewish life and an exercise in which the Ambassadors were encouraged to talk openly about difficult subjects with Ambassadors from different backgrounds.
Over the next 13 months, the Ambassadors will come together in person twice more - in June at a New York City leadership summit with an antisemitism focus, and on a 10-day mission to Israel in February 2027. In between, there will be group classes, one-on-one study sessions and briefings by government officials and senior leaders of COP and its member organizations about issues affecting Israel and global Jewry.
Said Simones, “My role is not only to represent Hadassah – to share its successes and its approach to various communal challenges with my fellow Ambassadors – but also to bring back new ideas and new relationships that will help Hadassah connect with the next generation of Jewish leaders.”
Hadassah National President Carol Ann Schwartz has no doubt that Simones is up to the challenge. “Shoshana represents the young leader of tomorrow,” said Schwartz. “She has the ability to envision the future and to create a compelling picture of what Hadassah can achieve in it.”
Simones, the owner of an eponymous content-marketing consultancy for small businesses, joined Hadassah in 2022, drawn to the idea of an organization through which she would be able to advocate for both women’s and Jewish causes. Soon after joining, her chapter’s former president noticed her commitment and drive, and nominated her for the inaugural class of Evolve Leadership Fellows, a then-new Hadassah initiative created to identify and nurture the next generation of Hadassah leaders.
At around the same time, Simones decided to form a Phoenix branch of a related Hadassah program. Called Evolve Hadassah: The Next Generation, it encourages younger members to create community through shared educational, social and volunteer activities.
Before long, Simones had joined a third program in the Evolve family: Evolve Keepers of the Gate. A donor society created to inspire a spirit of giving among younger members, Evolve Keepers helps them understand the fundamental role philanthropy plays in enabling a nonprofit to realize its mission. In Hadassah’s case, that means, among other things, supporting patient care and pioneering medical research at the Hadassah Medical Organization, Hadassah’s Jerusalem-based hospital system.
The generosity of Hadassah’s members and supporters makes possible another Hadassah program – one with which Simones is extremely familiar because of its role in her husband’s family history. During World War II, the program, called Youth Aliyah, saved the life of his paternal grandmother, then a German girl living in Poland under the Nazis, by bringing her to one of its "youth villages" in Israel. Since 1934, Youth Aliyah has offered more than 300,000 vulnerable children and teens from 80 countries, including Israel, a home, a chance to continue their education and the support they need to thrive.
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