Many students consider teachers to be the foundation of CESJDS, as they are crucial to academic success. However, behind-the-scenes administrators are just as critical to the growth of the school. Two new administrators joined the school this month: Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Larry Roadcap and Director of Marketing and Communications Suzie Thompson. Their primary goal is to ensure the continued success of JDS.

Roadcap began working at JDS on Jan. 3, replacing former CFO Julie Hoover. Although Hoover initially intended to retire in the summer of 2021, she continued working until a new CFO was hired. 

Roadcap has 25 years of experience in banking and consulting, working with both large and small teams of people during that time. He also worked with many people nationally and internationally. With this experience, Roadcap was eager to join a pluralistic Jewish school.

“I believe in the mission of Jewish day schools and really like the pluralistic environment that [JDS] has,” Roadcap said. “It is pretty familiar to me because I’ve been working at the Jewish Community High School of the Bay in San Francisco, which is also a pluralistic Jewish day school.”

Thompson began working a week later on Jan. 10, after the former Director of Marketing and Communications Laurie Ehrlich transitioned from her full time position at JDS to pursue other interests professionally. Ehrilch will remain a consultant to JDS until March to ease the transition for Thompson.

Thompson has worked in the marketing and communications industry for over 20 years. For the last 15 years, she worked in the nonprofit sector at The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, where she built the marketing and communications department from the ground up.

“As I get to better know the [JDS] community and those that we’re serving, I’d really love to build upon the marketing and communications efforts for the school to ensure that all members of the community are informed and involved,” Thompson said.

The search processes for each of the new positions were careful and extensive. For the CFO position, there was a search advisory group composed of a few board members, and an outside search firm also helped them find the right person. The search process for finding a new Director of Marketing was not as lengthy, as it utilized an advisory group but not a search firm.

Roadcap will run the business side of operations at JDS, meaning he will oversee the allocation of money into the correct places. His job is to ensure that the school is running cost-effectively and to plan for the future of the school financially. This also entails marketing by highlighting students’ achievements and networking. 

“Both of them are going to want to get to know the school and the different parts of the school, get to know the people in their departments that they’ll work closely with and some of the other leaders in the school just to establish relationships,” Head of School Rabbi Mitch Malkus said.

Thompson and Roadcap have been asked to do an audit, an official inspection of the different areas of the school to help identify the weaknesses and strengths of JDS. This will help the school identify its weaknesses to ensure that everything is being run effectively.

“I’m super excited to bring them on board,” Malkus said. “I think they’re going to bring a wealth of experience and also a lot of new energy to JDS, so I think they’ll be great.”