Welcome to New DFO James Hockhousen

Dear Parents, Friends and Colleagues:

I am very happy to announce the hiring of our new DFO (Director of Finance and Operations), Mr. James (Jim) Hockhousen.

Jim comes to us with 18 years experience in the non-profit environment. Jim’s last position was with The Corliss Institute in Warren, RI, where he served as the Director of Finance and the Interim Executive Director for three years. For 15 years prior to that, Jim served as the Director of Finance at Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Providence. In both positions, Jim was responsible for all finances of the operations, including overseeing a $20 million endowment and installation and management of three computer systems and software. He also worked closely with each Board of Directors of these organizations. Jim was also in charge of Human Resources for both of these positions.

As part of his job at JCDSRI, Jim will be responsible for all financial aspects of the school including facility and human resources and will be a primary partner to the head of school in long- term planning and managing the school.

I would like to thank the search committee: Minna Ellison, Alan Harlam, and Laurie Sholes who invested their time and effort to help identify the best candidate for this position. I would like to express my gratitude also to Mike Gerhardt, our interim DFO, who lead the search and sustained the office in the last few months.

We at the school are excited to welcome Jim. When he visited the school for the first time and entered the Kindergarten class, he completely and naturally answered the students that greeted him with a “Shalom” – by answering them with a Shalom. It was so authentic, even though it probably was the first Hebrew word Jim had ever spoken. So we all welcome you, Jim, with a Shalom and much success.

Sincerely,

Dani Steiner
Head of School

Alan Harlam
JCDSRI Board President