High-Tech,
High-Touch Exec

Caring for families in Jewish Detroit.

Vivian Henoch

Special to the Jewish News

D

on't mistake her size for her stature in the Jewish
Detroit community.
Standing tall at 5-foot-1, Shaindle Braunstein
loves shopping for shoes (the higher the heels, the better)
along the career path she has taken to her role as chief
administrative officer at Jewish Family Service (JFS) of
Metropolitan Detroit.
Self-described as "driven, strategic, sharp and highly
caffeinated," Shaindle greets the world with wide blue-
eyed wonder, an easy smile and a quick wit that others
describe as "Amy Poehler-esque."
"I love that Google is a verb now:' she quips. "You can
Google and learn just about anything today:'
With no direct healthcare experience, but an insa-
tiable desire "to learn and to read, to ask and to listen
to others:' Shaindle came to JFS in 2011 to lead Project
Chessed, an innovative healthcare program that con-
nected low-income, uninsured Jewish families with vol-
unteer physician services and donated care through local
hospitals.
As the Affordable Care Act reshaped the healthcare
landscape in recent years, Shaindle led Project Chessed
into a new era. The program shifted to a health care
navigation model under her leadership, helping more
than 10,000 individuals from across the region access
healthcare coverage over the last two years.
In her new role at JFS, Shaindle takes on a broader
range of responsibilities, overseeing fmance, IT and stra-
tegic planning critical to the agency's long-term success
and sustainability.
Shaindle started her career in communications and
production management for Crain's Publications. Prior
to joining JFS, she served for nearly nine years as direc-
tor of the David B. Hermelin ORT Resource Center, a
program of World ORT, the world's largest non-govern-
mental education agency. With an undergraduate degree
in interdisciplinary studies from Wayne State University,
Shaindle has recently earned an MBA from Walsh
College.
A resident of West Bloomfield, Shaindle is married
to Mendy Cohen. They are the proud parents of four:
Shimmy, 20, now in Israel on a tour of duty with the IDF;
Devora, 18, a freshman at Oakland University, transfer-
ring in the fall to the School of Social Work at Wayne
State University; Shira, 16, a junior at Oakland Early
College; and Tsvi, also 16, a junior at West Bloomfield
High School.

On Jewish Family Life
And Early Influences
Q: How have your family experiences influenced your
community outlook and your work?
Shaindle: I was born at Sinai Hospital in Detroit,

Left: Shaindle Braunstein, taking on a larger
role at JFS.

grew up in Oak Park, went to Akiva Hebrew Day School,
then to Wayne State University. I am deeply rooted and
invested in the Jewish community here where I always
have felt the close bonds of family and friendship.
My parents instilled in me the love of learning and I
still hear my father's voice in my head when I say to my
children that all experiences are educational. There's
nothing in this world that you can't learn from if you
open yourself up to the opportunity.
As for early influences, I must give Gary and Malke
Torgow credit as well. I grew up around the block from
them and babysat for their children from the time I was
13 years old. I spent a lot of time in their home with their
children while they were in the next room holding com-
munity meetings or working on one community project
or another. Being present in their home, even in the
background, gave me the sense of what it meant to be
building community.
In terms of other experiences that pulled me toward
not-for-profit work, I think back on a part-time arrange-
ment I had in 1999 working with Harlene Appleman at
the Jewish Federation. I was working on the website and
training educators in using technology, and Harlene was
actually my first exposure to a woman in a leadership
position in the Jewish community. It was Harlene who
called me when the ORT position opened. I was working
at a job I actually loved with an automotive magazine,
but Harlene encouraged me, "Here's your opportunity
to build a program and shape it to your vision:' And, of
course, I took the job.

On Career Moves
Q: You are well respected in the community as an accom-
plished Jewish professional. What got you started on your
path?
Shaindle: At ORT, I became involved in an organiza-
tion called the "Independent Sector" with the focus
on answering the question: What can not-for-profits
and social entrepreneurs do to fill the vacuum that
exists between what people need and what govern-
ment can provide. That involvement set the stage for a
pivotal experience for me. In 2010, I was invited to the
American Express Non-Profit Leadership Academy. It
was an intensive week in New York — something like
a boot camp for social service organizations. Of the 20
people from around the country, I represented the only
nonprofit in Michigan, as well as the only Jewish organi-
zation.
It was exhilarating to be a part of that group, with
exposure to American Express CEO Kenneth I. Chenault
and other futurists. That experience crystallized for me
the fact that the challenges we face in the not-for-profit
sector are very much like those in the business sector.
Change is the constant we all must learn to anticipate
and manage.
This, in turn, led me to solidify my roots, not only in
the not-for-profit community at large, but also in the
Jewish not-for profit space, and I've been continuing to
move forward in this direction through my work at JFS.
High Tech on page 16