The Jewish Community Relations Bureau|American Jewish Committee (JCRB|AJC) has hired Gavriela Geller as its new executive director. She succeeds Marvin Szneler, who left JCRB|AJC last month after 20 years as its director. A Kansas City native and a 2009 graduate of Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy, Geller will become the fourth director to lead the organization in its 74-year history. JCRB|AJC advocates on behalf of the Kansas City Jewish community to eliminate injustice and discrimination at home and abroad.
“Working together with our neighbors to stand up against discrimination, hatred and divisiveness has never been more important,” said Geller, who will take over as JCRB|AJC’s director on Oct. 22. “The Jewish community has always acted on the premise that we’re stronger together than alone. I’m honored to join an organization with a long track record of standing up for these values in Kansas City.”
Geller returns to Kansas City after a short stint at the Jewish Community Relations Council of St. Louis, where she served as senior policy associate, directing the agency’s policy and advocacy efforts since January of this year.
“I look forward to continuing to work with the St. Louis community and our partners in this new capacity,” Geller said via email late last week.
Geller previously worked at AJC, the global Jewish advocacy organization, advancing immigration reform and strengthening Latino-Jewish relations across the country. She also served as AJC’s immigration policy analyst, identifying advocacy opportunities and representing the organization among various national coalitions. She is fluent in Spanish and holds a Master of Arts in Jewish cultural arts from George Washington University.
In addition, Geller was a paralegal at the National Immigrant Justice Center, where she worked with detained and LGBTQ immigrants as part of Avodah: The Jewish Service Corps.
JCRB|AJC Board Chair Jason Krakow said, “Gavriela’s extraordinary experience in national advocacy, local community relations and strategic visioning will be tremendous assets to our organization.
“As we approach our 75th year, we’re thrilled to bring her back to Kansas City to lead our work into the future.”
Guided by Jewish values, JCRB|AJC builds bridges between civic, faith and ethnic groups, and advocates on issues of social justice, anti-Semitism and promoting Israel’s place in the world. It serves as the Western Missouri and Kansas Regional office of AJC.
Geller became a Bat Mitzvah at Congregation Beth Torah and credits her congregational upbringing there and at Congregation Beth Shalom “with establishing a firm connection between Judaism and the pursuit of social justice.” She is the daughter of Kathryn Geller and the late Bruce Geller.
Her first order of business at JCRB|AJC will be gearing up for the JCRB|AJC Human Relations dinner on Nov. 18, where Irv Hockaday will be honored with The Henry W. Bloch Human Relations Award. She also plans to become reacquainted with the Kansas City Jewish and general communities.
“I plan to do a lot of listening and learning,” Geller said. “I’m looking forward to hearing from members of our Jewish community about their specific interests and hopes for the organization moving forward. I’ll also be spending time getting to know our partners among civic, faith and ethnic communities. As I’ve been working in Missouri, I’m also fortunate to have an existing network of regional partners to help me identify new connections for the organization. I’m thrilled to come back home to Kansas City.”