BUSINESS & PROFESSIONAL

senior life

Up To
The
Task
Rochelle Upfal brings

her experience home as
Jewish Senior Life CEO.

Bill Carroll

Special to the Jewish News

Second of two parts

t age 51, Rochelle Upfal
already has more than 28
years of professional experi-
ence helping elderly people
— and she's really just getting started
with adults in the Jewish community.
Upfal, of West Bloomfield, is now CEO
of Jewish Senior Life of Metropolitan
Detroit (JSL), a newly created job result-
ing from the merger last year of Jewish
Home & Aging Services (JHAS), Jewish
Apartments & Services (JAS) and other
local Jewish organizations.
She oversees seven residences and
nine major services, with 233 employ-
ees, about 600 volunteers and a budget
of almost $20 million a year, all devoted
to taking care of close to 3,000 Jewish
adults.
Carol Rosenberg of Troy and Marsha
Goldsmith Kamin of Huntington Woods,
formerly executive directors of JHAS
and JAS respectively, are retaining their
positions on the JSL executive team
for the time being, according to Upfal.
Rosenberg says she is heading the JSL
Foundation, the fund-raising arm of the
organization, and Goldsmith Kamin says
she is specializing in daily operations.
A search committee of the JSL
board, with the help of a national
search firm, spent more than a year
finding and interviewing CEO candi-
dates, narrowing the field to seven,
then two, before the board awarded the
position to Upfal. She took over June 7
at JSL's Oak Park office.

26

Carol

Marsha

Rosenberg

Goldsmith Kamin

July 8 • 2010

iN

Rochelle Upfal grabs

JSL executive reins.

"The board was impressed with
Rochelle's knowledge and experience
in the assisted living industry and her
understanding of the Jewish community,"
said JSL President Fred Blechman of
Bloomfield Hills. "On top of that, she's
very articulate, personable and charming."

Special Services Director

Upfal spent 28 years with Wingate
Management Corp. of Southfield, later
sold to a national church organization;
both are developers of low-income
senior housing with about 4,000 hous-
ing units spread over 26 area proper-
ties. She was director of social services
with a staff of 12, arranging programs
and services for all of the residents.
"She took care of everything for our
elderly residents and did an excellent
job," said Leo Sklar of West Bloomfield,
one of the original Wingate owners.
A graduate of West Bloomfield High
School, Upfal received an elementary
education degree and a master's in social
work from the University of Michigan,
interning at the Jewish Community
Center in West Bloomfield and JVS in
Southfield along the way. She even did
a short stint at the old Borman Hall in
Detroit before joining Wingate.
"I'm fortunate that this background
really helped me prepare for the new
job at JSL," Upfal said while sipping tea
at a local coffeehouse. "Besides work-
ing with the elderly and disabled, my
28 years encompassed budgets, hiring
and all aspects of management."
She said she decided to leave the
position and seek the CEO job at JSL.
"I always wanted to return to work in
the Jewish community," she said. "In
the past 28 years, I probably encoun-
tered only 10 Jewish people, at the
most. I felt that the Jewish community
is where I belong."
"My husband and I talked it over and
decided it would be best for the family
that I return to a Jewish environment,"
Upfal said. "I feel I have the qualifica-
tions and I've always had the desire, so
this seemed like a perfect fit. I want to
`give back' to . the Jewish community."

Upfal's husband, Nathan, is an
attorney and had been serving on the
JSL board. With her taking the top job,
he resigned from that position to avoid
any possible conflicts. They have two
children: Jessie, 20, a Univeristy of
Michigan student, and Josh, who
just graduated from Bloomfield Hills
Andover High School. The family
belongs to Congregation Shaarey
Zedek of Oakland County.

Upfal's mother is Naomi Harwood, a
retired school social worker; her father
is Muni Mark, a retired fundraiser for the
Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit.

Upfal's affinity for elderly people really
took hold with her affection for her mater-
nal grandfather, Abraham Beitner, who
lived with her family for several years
before passing away at 80 in 1976.
"I developed a strong affection for him
and it has carried over into my later work
with older adults," she explained. "He
was an energetic man who even attended
Oakland Community College in his 70s.
"I think my current family exemplifies
the true role models of successful aging.
My mother, stepfather, father, stepmother
and mother-in-law are all in their 80s and
90s, and they all live independently."

Respected Professional

Leslie Knight of Chicago, who is
regional vice president for the American
Association of Homes and Services for
the Aging, has known Upfal for 28 years.
"She's a well-respected professional in
the field of aging services," he said. "The
local Jewish organization in the Detroit
area (JSL) is getting a strong advocate
for low-income elderly people."

Upfal agrees that a major goal of JSL is
to keep the community informed that the
needs of older Jews are well recognized
and that resources are in place to meet
those specific needs, while helping fami-
lies respond to individual challenges.

"But the broader aspect of this is to
make sure all Jewish adults in the corn-
munity benefit, not just those residing
in assisted living homes. My challenge
is to ensure we get the word out to
them to achieve maximum participation
for these seniors so they can enjoy their
older years," she added.
This type of assistance includes
transportation, recreational events,
nutritional programs, etc.

The Detroit area has the second-larg-
est elderly population in the U.S. (behind
Florida). About 25 percent of local Jewish
residents is older than 65 and about 15
percent is older than 80. Many caregivers
for seniors are older than 65 themselves.
Upfal said JSL will continue to work col-
laboratively with the JCC, JVS and Jewish
Family Service of Metropolitan Detroit as

part of the merger. "This will include fund-
raising, social planning and the intermin-
gling of our staffs': she said.
Upfal said it remains to be seen how
the nation's new health care law will
affect JSL. "Hopefully, it will play out
favorably for us, but I don't see a major
impact until at least 2014," she predicted.

Regarding the future for Rosenberg and
Goldsmith Kamin in JSL, Rosenberg, a
30-year veteran, said, "I never envisioned
myself leading the organization over the
next several years. Rochelle has a new
passion for the leadership of JSL; our
triangle of executive experience and
knowledge will give JSL new strength. I'm
proud to say Marsha and I have carried
out a seamless transition in the past year
to reorganize, while continuing to provide
the utmost care for our elderly residents."

Funds For Extra Care

Rosenberg sees her strength in seeking
give-giving and donor opportunities for
the JSL Foundation, which she says
now contains about $4 million (covering
close to 200 separate funds) to provide
extra care for residents in JSL facilities.
In addition, the separate Federation
Foundation has about $15 million toward
a goal of $50 million announced by
Robert Aronson, Foundation senior devel-
opment adviser, at last year's merger
meeting. He said this will "fund not only
the agencies involved in the merger, but
also provide assistance for all elderly peo-
ple in the community." The main source
of these funds is philanthropic gifts.
Goldsmith Kamin, with 20 years of
experience, says she foresees her role
mainly in daily internal JSL operations,
compared to Upfal's role in external
operations and strategic planning.
"It was clear that the JSL board
wanted a change for the CEO posi-
tion; someone different, who was from
an outside organization to provide a
fresh new approach," Goldsmith Kamin
declared, "and neither Carol nor I fit that
category. I'm happy we've accomplished
a lot together in the past year. We hit
the ground running when the merger
was completed, combining marketing,
branding, budgets, payroll, employee
hiring and all of the other tasks involved
in blending two organizations together."
Upfal said she will assess the JSL
organization before making any changes.
Blechman pointed out at last year's
merger meeting that the merger was
not accomplished to reduce executive
jobs, headcount or services. "But there
may be some efficiencies down the
road," he said. 0

Part 1, on the rededication ofJSL's Hechtman
II Apartments, ran July 1.

