National Human Services Assembly Names Lee Sherman New President and CEO
April 5, 2016FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WASHINGTON, April 5, 2016—The National Human Services Assembly (NHSA), a Washington, D.C.-based organization composed of nearly 80 national nonprofits, has selected sector veteran Lee Sherman as president and CEO of both NHSA and National Assembly Business Services, Inc. (NABS).
“Lee’s personal commitment to the human services sector, and his professional and volunteer experience, embrace all the qualifications needed to lead the National Assembly on its continuing path of excellence,” said Jatrice Martel Gaiter, NHSA board chair and executive vice president, external affairs for Volunteers of America.
President and CEO of the Association of Jewish Family & Children’s Agencies (AJFCA) since 2009, Sherman comes to NHSA with more than 25 years of executive-level experience in both the nonprofit and corporate sectors. Under his leadership, AJFCA more than doubled its corporate sponsorships; created a new civic engagement initiative for next generation leaders that serves as a national model for organizational sustainability; and successfully advocated with colleague organizations for a five-year, $12.5 million federal grant for services to Holocaust survivors.
“The challenges facing the human services sector continue to grow as we live in a world in which needs outstrip resources, and competition for those resources grows every day,” Sherman said. “We also must respond to the voices of fear and recrimination that are all too prevalent in our public discourse.”
As incoming CEO, one of Sherman’s top responsibilities will be the continued implementation of NHSA’s National Reframing Human Services Initiative. The initiative seeks to build broader and deeper public support for human services and to improve public understanding of the important work being done by the sector. NHSA launched the initiative in 2015 in response to deep funding cuts and stagnating charitable giving that has left service providers ill-equipped to address the complex issues facing their diverse communities.
“The National Assembly’s Reframing Initiative is the single best tool today for changing the conversation,” Sherman said. “I look forward to working with the board and members of the National Assembly to impress upon the public the shared values that can ensure our communities move forward for all of their constituencies and participants.”
Sherman earned Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees in English, both from the University of Virginia, as well as a Juris Doctor from the Marshall-Wythe School of Law at the College of William and Mary. His community leadership activities include board and committee positions with The Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore, Jewish Federation of North America, Roundtable of Faith-Based Health and Human Services Organizations, Institute for Christian and Jewish Studies, Council on Accreditation and National Human Services Assembly.
Sherman will join NHSA on June 6, 2016, and will be based in the Washington, D.C. office of NHSA.
About the National Human Services Assembly
The National Human Services Assembly, a Washington, D.C.-based organization comprised of nearly 80 national human service nonprofits, is focused on shaping public dialogue and building capacity for the human services sector while facilitating a robust learning community among nonprofit professionals. The Assembly’s members include such national organizations as AARP, the American Red Cross, Boy Scouts of America, Girl Scouts of the USA, The Salvation Army, United Cerebral Palsy, United Way Worldwide, YMCA, and YWCA. In aggregate, members and their local service networks and affiliates collectively touch, or are touched by, nearly every household in America—as consumers, donors, or volunteers.
National Assembly Business Services, Inc. is a wholly owned for-profit subsidiary of the National Human Services Assembly. PurchasingPoint®, operated by NABS, is a group purchasing program available to members and their affiliates, as well as other national nonprofit associations and foundations. The program helps reduce participating nonprofits’ overhead expenses, as part of a $24 billion purchasing consortium, to command lower pricing on commonly purchased goods and services.
# # #
Contact:
Michelle Sims
Director of Marketing
(202) 347-2080 ext. 16
msims@nassembly.org