I love my new role as CEO. 
I think that’s what makes 
people successful. Enjoy 
what you’re doing. Are you 
excited when you get up and 
go to work? I am.”

JOINING FEDERATION
When Ingber applied for the 
job as COO at Federation 
five years ago, he didn’t have 
a lot of experience in the 
Jewish communal world. “I 
think that’s why it took them 
so long to hire me. I inter-
viewed probably the better 
part of three months because 
I didn’t have the experience 
of growing up or coming 
along in the Federation sys-
tem,” Ingber said.
Although he went to reli-
gious school through high 
school, he said he never 
really participated in Jewish 
life at U-M, where he met his 
now-wife, Jill, in freshmen 
year. After school, he came 
home and got married. He 
and Jill became members of 
Temple Israel and they even-
tually sent their four boys to 
the early childhood center 
at Temple Emanu-El. Ingber 
volunteered on the board at 
Temple Israel and at Hebrew 
Free Loan, which he said he 
really enjoyed. 
“When I was hired as 
COO, I was hired for my 
business skills, not for my 
nonprofit skills,” Ingber said. 
“That’s how I got my start 
here.”
Three things jumped out 
during those interviews, 

Scott 
Kaufman

according to 
Kaufman. “One, 
he was a very 
resourceful, 
problem solver. 
Two, he was 
super-organized. 

Third, he’s a natural people 
connector. He’s a likeable, 
engaging person. People 
gravitate to him.”
Ingber said when he was 
being hired for the COO 
position, the committee 
asked him what he would 
do first. “I said, ‘I’ll listen. 
I can’t tell you what’s bro-
ken until I fully understand 
the organization from the 
inside.’”
And that’s what he did. 
He listened to lay and pro-
fessional leaders, rabbis and 
educators, agency profession-
als and community partners.
“I saw his passion for con-
necting with the Jewish com-
munity, local and nationally, 
flourish over time,” Kaufman 
said. “I watched him build 
relationships with directors, 
rabbis, lay leaders and people 
throughout the Jewish com-
munity as we solved prob-
lems together.” 
Ingber cites his proudest 
achievement as COO as 
getting Federation listed as a 
four-star charity with Charity 
Navigator. “I wanted people 
to know we were making 
good use of the dollars,” he 
said. “
As of last year, 88 cents 
of every dollar we raised pro-
vided direct services.” 
The toughest thing he had 
to do, he said, was letting 
people go during the pan-
demic, when Federation was 
forced to downsize. “It’s the 

hardest decision leaders have 
to make,” he said. “If they 
become numb to that, they’re 
not good leaders.”

DEALING WITH 
THE PANDEMIC
“I’ll never forget,” Ingber 
said. “I believe it was March 
10, 2020, a Wednesday. We 
had a board meeting. I con-
vened all the agency leaders 
and said, ‘I don’t know what 
this coronavirus thing is, but 
this is going to be big, and 
we’re going to have to work 
on it together.’”
Ingber worked with Matt 
Lester and Dennis Bernard, 
who co-chaired Federation’s 
COVID emergency task-
force before they became 
presidents of the Federation 
and the United Jewish 
Foundation, respectively.
“I worked with Ingber 
when he first came on as 

Dennis 
Bernard

COO and, to be 
honest, I never 
thought of him 
as a potential 
CEO,” Bernard 
said. “As Matt 
and I took on 
roles of running 
the COVID response, I 
watched him grow in front 
of me as he went from an 
operational to a strategic 
focus. It was a fabulous 
movie to watch.”
Bernard added that as 
they were raising funds 

Get to Know 
Steve Ingber

Family: Married to attorney 
Jill S. Ingber, director of 
recruitment and associate 
development at Dickinson 
Wright PLLC. Four sons: 
Jacob, 12, Cooper, 10, William 
and Lucas are 7. 
 “It’s a crazy house,” Steve 
Ingber says. “It’s a busy 
house and, you know, we 
work hard, we play hard. We 
have a basketball court in 
our backyard where you can 
often find many of the neigh-
borhood kids and, our own 
kids … It’s sports. We’re taking 
this kid to swimming and just 
get to baseball, to tee ball. It’s 
great fun. I wouldn’t have it 
any other way.”

Something about you that 
people would be surprised to 
know: “At one time, I hosted 
a TV show in college called 
Talking Sports with Steve-O 
that was on the University of 
Michigan cable network.”
 
Favorite Jewish holiday: “I 
enjoy family at any holiday, 
but since I’m a bagel guy, I’ll 
say breaking the fast.”

Favorite movie: Fast and 
Furious franchise.

Favorite superhero: Batman 

Favorite sport: “To watch, 
football. To play? Anything 
with my kids.”

Favorite places to go: “We 
love to go Downtown, wheth-
er to a restaurant or the 
Riverwalk or Belle Isle. We 
love going to any sort of out-
door space where we can get 
out and do something.”

14 | JUNE 3 • 2021 

OUR COMMUNITY

“WE’RE ALL PARTNERS IN THIS, 
AND WE ALL NEED TO WIN 
TOGETHER, OR WE DON’T. 

JUDAISM IS A TEAM SPORT.”

— STEVE INGBER

continued from page 13

