Lauren Ades credits her early interest in philanthropy during her childhood to her grandfather. She recalls that he would take time out of his day to drive Russian immigrants to the grocery store, during a time when they may not have gotten the lay of the land of their new homes or may not have had a car to drive to the store.
That formative memory of her grandfather’s good deeds proved to be one of the factors that got her involved in Jewish philanthropy. While she works as a corporate and real estate lawyer by day, much of her time out of work is spent on her duties as the board chair of the Louise D. and Morton J. Macks Jewish Connection Network. She’s served in many roles at The Associated, from community connector to a member of the Young Adult Division — formerly IMPACT — event committee.
She juggles all of these responsibilities while also being a mother of two — Ellie, 9, and Benjamin, 7. Along with Ades’ husband, Jonathan, and their dog, Ollie, the family lives in Lutherville and are members of Beth El Congregation in Pikesville.
“It’s hard when you have young kids at home, and they’re like, ‘You’re not going to be home for dinner again?’ But I always tell them, and I told them this more when they were young, that Mom’s doing something important,” Ades said. “I know I’m missing after-school time, but I’m doing it for something important, and I felt that teaching my kids that lesson was really important. … It’s important for me to show my kids what philanthropy looks like.”
Ades, 42, was born and raised in Owings Mills. She attended McDonogh School in middle and high school, and it was actually where she met her husband, Jonathan. She came back to Baltimore after graduating from Emory University and New York Law School because they had started a long-distance relationship, and they married soon after.
Attending law school was originally not in the cards for Ades, who had wanted to major in business. But a class on business law that she took at Emory changed her trajectory completely. She still wanted to pursue corporate real estate, which is what made her want to become a business major — but this time, as a lawyer.
Ades is a Member at Pessin Katz Law, P.A. and Chairs the Firm’s Corporate and Real Estate Group, where she often represents real estate developers in legal matters and facilitates commercial financing. She has also been featured in “Best Lawyers in America ®” for Corporate Law and Real Estate Law.
On top of her work as a lawyer, Ades first got involved with The Associated because she was looking for a way to reconnect with her friends when she returned to Baltimore. One of them suggested that she join the Young Adult Division to meet other young Jewish professionals.
“I joined an events committee for young adults. After that, I joined The Associated’s Young Leadership Council, and quickly found that this was a passion of mine,” she said.
Her involvement with The Associated netted her the Harry Greenstein Young Leadership Award in 2019, a title she shared with Doni Greenwald.
Ades first got involved in the Jewish Network not as a leader, but as a downtown Baltimore Community Connector for the former Macks Center for Jewish Education. She would hold Shabbat dinners and other events to help new Jewish transplants to the area find their footing in the community. She later joined the CJE board, then became its chair — and when CJE closed its doors, she was chosen to lead the Macks Center for Jewish Connections, which would then rebrand into the Jewish Network.
The Community Connector program that led to her current position is still an important part of the Jewish Network, and is now 30 connectors strong.
“I led the transition process, and helped hire our executive director [Addie Lewis Klein],” Ades said. “I’m now in my third year as board chair, but we call the first year ‘Year Zero’ because that was when we were getting started.”
Ades notes that her work as a lawyer and her work as the Jewish Network’s chair have a surprising amount of overlap.
“I tell our young associates here that volunteer work and board work is important, not just for our community, but for developing leadership skills. I can really say that the leadership skills that I learned chairing IMPACT when I was 28 have transferred into my leadership of the law firm,” she explained. “You get to learn those skills in the less stressful environment of doing volunteer work, and then you can bring it back to your job.”
Since the Jewish Network’s launch, one of the things Ades is proudest of is how its culture has developed. Because a lot of their work is focused on engaging people in the Jewish community who might not be involved in Jewish life otherwise, actively communicating with those constituents and meeting their needs has been key.
“In the first two years of our work, we had hundreds of coffee dates just meeting with people and finding out … what are they looking for, and what would make them show up?” she said. “I’m proud that we’ve set a culture in the agency of being warm and welcoming.”
