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Past and President
Looking Both Ways with the UJF
By Karen Pearlman
As it says goodbye to the energetic and oft-times visionary Steve Solomon,
the United Jewish Federation of San Diego has quite the new incoming president
in Ken Polin.
A New York native who calls himself “the classic San Diegan who
came from somewhere else in the late 1970s” Polin, an attorney living
in La Jolla, has been involved the UJF in San Diego since his time working
as a member (and as president) of the Lawrence Family Jewish Community
Centers of San Diego County.
Polin seems most certainly to be, as he says, “the right guy at
the right time.”
“I see the Federation as an increasing facilitator in the community,”
Polin said. “A strong sense of community is a vital part of life.
The major thrust of my administration is to keep doing the good things
the Federation has been doing.”
Polin, known by UJF members as a master of organization and at getting
people to focus, comes quite prepared for the UJF presidency. He has held
several other positions within the Federation, including priority grants
chair, planning and allocation chair, assistant treasurer on the finance
committee and executive committee member. He has also chaired the community
vision portion of UJF’s Strategic Plan, helping the process of growth
and change take hold.
Polin was voted in as president by the UJF board after being selected
by Solomon, who has been a catalyst for many positive changes within the
Federation.
“The Federation had been stagnant, hadn’t changed with the
culture and the times and a change was long overdue,” said Solomon,
a graduate of Patrick Henry High whose father, Herbert, was a UJF president
back in the 1960s. “We wanted to see a strategic, bold plan for
our community and be a much more powerful force for cohesion and involvement
in our community. We want [UJF] to be warm, welcoming, inviting. Ken understands
all of this and he knows [all about] the strategic plan and the changes
we’ve been making and want to keep making.”
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Polin, married for 29 years to Lori, whom he met while a student at American
University, has four children, and is on the Board of Directors of UCSD
CONNECT, a business accelerator dedicated to the creation and sustained
growth of innovative technology and life science businesses.
Polin, Soloman and more than 200 other San Diegans traveled to Israel
together on a 10-day trip in late April as part of the desire to bring
the community closer together. The UJF Community Mission to Israel was
a huge success and brought some cohesion to the very diversified and dispersed
Jews living throughout San Diego County.
“The mission to Israel was a phenomenal experience,” Polin
said. “There were nine rabbis, including three Orthodox rabbis,
leaders from all the agencies and others who were part of this community
experience.”
Polin said he intends to build upon that experience to keep the UJF growing
as it changes with the times, becoming more donor- and community-centric
and, if you will, more user-friendly.
“There’s a lot of challenges, a lot of things we’re
trying to do, and in some cases they’re very trend-setting and certainly
not like anything else done in San Diego,” Polin said. “There
are people who liked the old way, people who don’t like the old
way, but I see it as the cup is half full. There is a lot of great stuff
going on but a lot more for us to work on.”
For feedback, contact editor@sdjewishjournal.com.
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