Meet the Jewish Home Leaders
Meet Board of Directors Chair, Dave Swartz
Passion,
vision, and energetic involvement characterize Dave Swartz's years of behind-the-scenes
philanthropy and volunteer support for the Home, and his agenda as the Home's new
Board Chair.
A certified public accountant, Dave provides business advisory services at Good Swartz Brown and Berns, a Division of JH Cohn LLP.
Dave's 35+ years of business experience with a broad spectrum of industries have already made an invaluable contribution to the Home. Over the last seven years he has served as Vice Chair of the Home's Board, Chair of the Budget and Finance Committee, Secretary and Chair of the Board Development Committee, and a member of the Executive Committee.
In all this time he has kept a keen eye on the demographics and fiscal realities of senior care, and the challenges facing the Home and the community in the days and years ahead.
"This is a time of exciting growth and change for the Home as we expand our services, programs, and facilities to serve a much wider portion of the community," he says. "In a time of unprecedented growth in our senior population, it is vitally important for society at large to work with the Home to develop innovative ways of improving the quality of life for this region's seniors."
With a determination to touch and improve many more lives over the next generation, Dave has set an ambitious agenda for his two-year tenure as Chair. Together with the completion of Fountainview at Eisenberg Village, he looks forward to the creation of a new Westside campus, as well as rebuilding and renewing some of the Home's venerable structures.
Dave is also working to create greater collaboration between the Home's mental health services with those in the community, and to promote some of the Home's newest businesses, including Skirball Hospice and the Annenberg School of Nursing. "These are some of the finest programs of their kind in the United States," he said.
Among his many commitments to the Home, to work, and family, Dave finds time for involvement in the United Way, the Jewish Federation, the Amy Phillips Foundation, the Camp Max Straus Foundation, and Jewish Big Brothers of Los Angeles, of which he is past president.
"Taking the position of Board Chair," says Dave, "is my way of thanking the Home for everything it has done for my family and my mother, and the seniors of our community."
Meet CEO-President, Molly Forrest
Leading the nationally-acclaimed Los Angeles Jewish Home through the most ambitious
expansion in its history is Molly Forrest, who has served as the Home's chief executive
officer and president for the past 12 years.
Combining a potent blend of vision and pragmatism, energy and determination, Molly is working to ensure that the Home confronts the aging of our society and helps change the face of senior living in America. A veteran of senior housing and healthcare issues, she is well prepared for the Home to take a leadership role.
In the late 1970s Molly served in a governmental position in Oregon working to develop HUD and FHA financing for senior/handicapped subsidized housing. While in Oregon, she was also a nutrition supervisor for one of the state's largest programs providing home meals for seniors.
Upon joining the Jewish Home in 1996, Molly began instilling the philosophy that "getting old should be an opportunity for personal growth, personal connections, and family."
Under her leadership, the Jewish Home has seen remarkable growth and revitalization. It has expanded independent-living Neighborhood Home accommodations from 17 residents to 50.
Most recently, ground was broken on Fountainview at Eisenberg Village, the first new urban Continuing Care Community Retirement facility to be developed in California in over a decade and the fastest-selling CCRC in the history of the state.
Forrest also oversaw development and completion of the Home's award-winning 96-bed Goldenberg•Ziman Special Care Center, and the 239-bed Joyce Eisenberg-Keefer Medical Center, with an additional 10 beds in the Lisa and Ernest Auerbach Behavioral Health Center.
A graduate of Oregon State University, Molly is active in a variety of community organizations including the Association of Jewish Aging Services, the California State University Northridge (CSUN) Professional Health Care Administration Committee, the CSUN Alzheimer's Association Center Advisory Committee, the Geriatric Education and Research Organization, the Council of Agency and Federation Executives, and Tel-Aviv/LA Partnership Task Force.
She is a recipient of the Jewish Communal Professionals of Southern California Allan J. Kassin Award for Outstanding Professional Achievement, the San Fernando Valley Business Journal Health Care Leadership Award, and the Jewish Free Loan Association Ben & Anne Werber Communal Service Award. She is a frequent guest speaker regarding geriatric issues for various leading healthcare, eldercare and nonprofit organizations.
"The fate of senior care tomorrow for much of the population is something we believe needs to be addressed today," Molly says. "As a result, we should provide the best — and that's what we try to accomplish every day at the Jewish Home."