Andrew Cushnir, incoming president and CEO of The Associated: Jewish Federation of Baltimore, has been busy.
Since April 1, he’s been meeting with volunteer leaders, donors, rabbis, agency executives and communal professionals. He described it as a “warm and wonderful whirlwind.”
“This is a very special community with a deep warmth and a sense of magic that comes from people being committed to one another,” he said.
Cushnir, 60, will officially start his new role on May 20. He brings decades of professional experience, including 20 years with the Jewish Federation Los Angeles, where he most recently served as executive vice president and chief development officer.
He arrived in Baltimore last month. His wife, Sharon Spira-Cushnir, works as the executive director of a Reform synagogue in Los Angeles. She plans to join Cushnir in Baltimore at the end of the fiscal year.
They are currently renting a house near Mt. Washington and plan to explore all the synagogues in Baltimore.
Cushnir grew up in a Conservative Jewish family in California, and while Judaism was always present in his household, it wasn’t expected that Judaism would be as big of a part of his life as it is now. Most of his friends didn’t stay active in the community after their b’nai mitzvah. But a positive experience with USY inspired Cushnir to pursue a different path.
“I had a terrific experience as a teenager in my USY chapter at my congregation in the northern San Fernando Valley part of Los Angeles,” he said. “It was the first time in my life that I remembered feeling the warmth of being part of a close-knit Jewish community and, ever since then, I have found lots of different opportunities to recreate that feeling of warmth and connection that one gets when they’re part of a Jewish community.
“Being able to professionally enable other people to have that feeling and to strengthen the community has been a lifelong dream of mine and something that really gets me quite excited,” he added.
As an undergraduate, Cushnir attended the University of California, Davis, and UCLA, where he studied political science. At the time, he thought he would get involved in law, politics or Jewish community — and ultimately, his career touched on all three fields at various points.
“One of the things I’ve learned in life is that careers and life journeys have lots of twists and turns,” Cushnir said. “And if you’re lucky, they take you to a place where you find meaning and purpose. For me, working in the Jewish community has been exactly that.”
His first job was as a legislative fellow in the California state legislature. He then did a Coro Fellowship, a civic leadership training program. After that, he landed a job as a Jewish communal professional for the Anti-Defamation League in Los Angeles, where he worked for two years.
Following that, he went to law school and practiced law for seven years.
Lawyers are taught to think in a certain way that is beneficial to any career path, Cushnir said. While a lawyer, he was also active in the Jewish community as a layperson. He loved serving as a layperson, which motivated him to work in the Jewish world full time.
Cushnir started at the Jewish Federation Los Angeles in 2004. His 20 years there saw numerous challenges, including a rise in antisemitism, the pandemic and the start of the Israel-Hamas war.
“My time at the LA Federation was great on the regular days,” Cushnir said. “And then I felt, especially, the power of being in the Jewish Federation during times of crisis. We were able to rally the community when it needed us most after wildfires in Los Angeles, during COVID, in response to Ukraine and certainly even in the last months in response to the Oct. 7 massacres.”
Outside of work, Cushnir is a big Los Angeles Lakers fan and enjoys gardening. He has also been a vegetarian for 45 years, motivated by animal welfare and the positive environmental impact of a meat-free diet.
A lifelong Californian, Cushnir said he had always heard that the Baltimore Jewish community was special, so when the opportunity to serve as president and CEO of The Associated arose, he took it.
The Associated’s model is unique, Cushnir said. It puts The Associated at the center of the local Jewish community and allows it to lead in a way that is perhaps unlike any other in North American Jewry, he said.
“The fact that The Associated fundraises for and plans with and for the whole community puts The Associated at a special place in the center of the community,” Cushnir said. “I view the opportunity to be the CEO as a sacred trust, to do all that I can to make the Baltimore Jewish community and The Associated even stronger.”
