Jonathan Miller Joins ORT America as Chief Financial Officer
ORT America announces that Jonathan Miller has joined the organization as its Chief Financial Officer. Jonathan brings more than two decades of experience in financial guidance and leadership and advancing business objectives in nonprofit and for-profit sectors. He also has demonstrated expertise in financial planning & analysis, management and reporting and served as a trusted advisor to senior leaders and board members.
“I am excited to have this opportunity. I feel connected to the mission of educating and transforming the lives of children, which is really important to me and I want to be surrounded by committed people who want to help. I look forward to using my experience and skills to help ORT America realize even greater success in the future,” he said.
“We are delighted to welcome Jonathan to ORT America. In addition to bringing his financial expertise, he has a passion for our mission. Everyone at ORT is an ambassador for the work we do to improve lives through education; we look forward to seeing his contributions to strengthen our organization,” said Barbara Birch, ORT America President and CEO.
Jonathan most recently served as CFO for Sunnyside Community Services where, as a senior manager, he oversaw finance and IT functions. In previous positions, he had pivotal roles in formulating financial strategies and policies and implementing streamlined processes for more efficient operations. A Certified Public Accountant, he holds a Master of Accounting from University of Miami and a bachelor’s degree from Duke University.
Q & A with Jonathan Miller
What led you to ORT America?
After working in the same position for eight years, I was looking for a new challenge and I also wanted to work in a Jewish organization having never worked for one before. A friend told me about the position and everything fell into place.
Was there something about ORT that was compelling to you?
I first learned about ORT when I was young from my mother, but I didn’t know anything about it. As soon as I learned about this position, I felt that it was what I was looking for. I instantly felt connected to the mission of educating and transforming the lives of children, which is really important to me. I think there are a lot of skills that I have not maximized in my prior work and working at ORT America will enable me to bring my whole self to the job.
How has your previous experience prepared you for this position?
I served as a CFO in my previous position and I think that I have the technical skills and experience in finance. One of my additional strengths is managing and coaching people and the ability to assess what the challenges are in an organization. I hope I can be helpful in this regard. For me, as I start, my priority is to understand the landscape and help to determine where there’s an opportunity for growth while making sure we operate efficiently from a financial and fiduciary perspective.
How do you feel about taking on this major responsibility?
I’m excited to have to work with people who are extremely dedicated to the mission. And I was impressed with the tenure of a lot of Board members. The fact that people were this involved with ORT and in some cases going back for generations is really impressive. I always wanted to be surrounded by committed people who want to help, particularly those less fortunate, in Israel but also in other schools around the world.
What do you’d like to accomplish in this role?
Listening to people is one of my strengths to see where people are at and hopefully offer a different perspective. I hope that I can see where things can be improved and be more efficient to help with fundraising because I think that’s the primary objective. I would like to incorporate more technology into our operation to make our processes more efficient.
