UJIA has appointed its first woman CEO, Mandie Winston, who will relocate to the UK from Israel to start her new duties in January.

She brings to the role more than two decades of experience in strengthening Jewish communities, building ties to Israel and promoting Israeli innovations for humanitarian purposes.

Her current job is with JDC, the global Jewish humanitarian organisation, where she is executive director of its disaster response and international development division.

Married with two children, Ms Winston was raised in London, where she was heavily involved in communal life, serving as a leader of Liberal Judaism’s youth movement. After making aliyah, she was an educator on gap year programmes for UK Jews.

At JDC, she has worked on community development and led humanitarian interventions supporting both Jews and non-Jews in need.

For example, Ms Winston fronted flagship emergency response and disaster recovery programs in Haiti, the Philippines and Nepal and was central to aid efforts for Syrian refugees.

She was also key to an initiative addressing poverty among farmers in Africa through access to Israeli agricultural technology and Jewish philanthropy.

Having visited Israel for the first time as a teenager on a UJIA-supported tour, her new role “feels like a homecoming. I’m excited to be leading an organisation that builds the kind of lifelong connections between British Jews and Israel that have shaped my own life.

“UJIA is renowned for its strategic, innovative philanthropy and I can’t wait to get to work, making a real difference to communities in both Israel and the UK and strengthening the connections between us.”

Her appointment, which follows a global search, means that acting CEO Natie Shevel will revert to his role as the charity’s Israel director.

UJIA chair Louise Jacobs said that Ms Winston “knows and loves the British Jewish community, shares our vision and has a superlative record of leadership within the NGO sector”.