VP, Membership and Development

Susan Milamed joined HIAS as Vice President for Membership & Development in January 2007. She has more than 20 years experience in fundraising at organizations devoted to social justice, community empowerment, health, education, and Jewish life. Before assuming her position at HIAS, Ms. Milamed was vice president for development and planning at the World Union for Progressive Judaism, where she was responsible for North American operations. As assistant vice president for development at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, she directed its $135 million comprehensive capital campaign; she previously had served as HUC-JIR’s national director for institutional giving.

Ms. Milamed holds a Master of Arts degree in Linguistics, with a specialization in Yiddish language and folkore, from Columbia University, and an A.B. in Religion from Boston University, where she graduated magna cum laude. She also studied at Hebrew University, Jerusalem, and Hebrew College, now in Newton Centre, MA. Her fieldwork and publications on the growth of landsmanshaftn (mutual aid associations) among Yiddish-speaking Jewish immigrants in New York has been cited in the scholarly literature on the field. She is a member of the Forward Association and a past National Executive Board member of Workmen’s Circle/Arbeter Ring.