metro
New Leadership
Re craf/ ram „ Surce I i8
Deaf at 5 Broadway Thursdays:
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Heidi Budaj moves from JCC to ADL
to continue her work in the community.
I
Bill Carroll
Contributing Writer
A
MINIS
atorI of /milt
44 Mom
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26
December 20 • 2012
m
fter moving through lead-
ership ranks at the Jewish
Community Center, Heidi
Budaj now holds the top position at
the Anti-Defamation League Michigan
Region.
Budaj, 48, of West Bloomfield,
replaced Betsy Kellman of Huntington
Woods at the end of November as
ADI:s Michigan regional director, the
fourth person to hold that post since
the local office opened in the 1960s.
Kellman, who was director for 11
years, will stay on as a consultant and
to help with events for ADL's 100th
anniversary celebration now under
way.
"Betsy is an incredible professional,
and I have large shoes to fill," says
Budaj. "But I think we both have the
same type of background; we believe
strongly in what we do. It's noble to
fight anti-Semitism and discrimina-
tion of all kinds:'
Budaj seems perfectly suited for
the job because her family has been
strongly involved in ADL, mainly
in Atlanta, Ga., Budaj's hometown,
where her aunt, Barbara Balser, is now
national chairperson of the centennial
observance.
From Atlanta, Budaj moved with
her family to Houston, where she
attended high school. She then
went to Pennsylvania University in
Philadelphia (a family tradition),
where she earned a degree in English
literature. Then she got married and
moved to the Detroit area, where she
spent the next 20 years mainly raising
three children.
After a divorce, she married Jeffrey
Budaj, a certified public accountant,
and now they have five children in the
family. Her in-laws, Hungarian Jews,
were Holocaust survivors. Budaj's
unusual last name (pronounced Boo-
dye) stems from her father-in-law,
now deceased, who escaped from a
prison camp by wearing a barber's
coat with the name "Budaj" on it.
During her years in Detroit, she
has been active in several areas of the
Jewish Federation of Metropolitan
Detroit and Congregation Shaarey
Zedek's Sisterhood.
"Then I decided that this empty-
nester should get a real job," Budaj
says. "I feel that women like me
are very lucky to be able to do this;
reach a point in our lives when we
can take time to go after our dreams.
Having an important job in the com-
munity really makes a difference:'
She joined the JCC in West
Bloomfield in 2006 and made
an immediate hit running the
Jewish Book Fair. She then took
over the Jewish Life and Learning
Department, now called Arts, Culture
and Education. And she rose quickly
to the job of program director, with
eight departments reporting to her.
'Dynamic And Creative'
"I heard about the ADL opening and
decided it would be an important
place to advance my talents in the
Jewish community:' she explains. "I
went through a whirlwind two weeks
of interviews here and at ADL head-
quarters in New York where I met the
ADL national board:'
Heidi Budaj
"The JCC's loss is the ADL's
says Mark Lit, JCC executive director.
"Heidi is a wonderful person; dynam-
Gets Busy Right Away
ic, creative and a real team player. She After only a few days on the job, Budaj
made a big impact here, handling the
already was looking into complaints
book fair and the Stephen Gottlieb
about alleged anti-Semitic remarks on a
Music Festival. It's easy to see she real- national television program and in ele-
ly cares for the Jewish community:'
ments of a display at a local museum.
At ADL, Budaj has a staff of four,
"We looked into the museum matter
counting Kellman and education
and the caller had misread the exhibit
wording," Budaj explains. "The exhibit
director Harry Weaver, 36, of Canton,
who was mugged and shot in Detroit
is perfectly acceptable. Often, callers
after a meeting of an organization
misconstrue quotes and, upon closer
unrelated to ADL.
inspection, we find no offensive lan-
"Harry is paralyzed from the waist
guage.
down and undergoing rehabilita-
"Of course, we encourage people
tion," said Budaj. "So far, we've raised
to report to us all incidences of anti-
Semitism, bigotry or racism, and we
approximately $18,000 toward a
$60,000 goal to help Harry. We would
are happy to investigate each com-
plaint:'
love to get a van donated by a local
dealership that wants to help this
Attorney Alex Stotland of
Birmingham, chairman of the local
wonderful man get back to teaching
[the ADL program] No Place For Hate
ADL board's 20-member executive
in Detroit area schools:'
committee, said the board is "excited
The ongoing fight against hate
about Heidi's hiring and the energy
and halting anti-Semitism are major
and unique skills she will bring to
parts of Budaj's mission, which also
her role as regional director. We look
forward to working with her as ADL
includes a variety of education pro-
grams and a large amount of time
celebrates its 100th anniversary and
spent fundraising to help pay for
continues the mission to stop defama-
ADL's expansion into a civil rights/
tion of the Jewish people and secure
human relations agency.
justice and fair treatment for all:'
❑