Dangoor Senior Leadership Programme: Community ThinkTank

The latest gathering of the Dangoor Senior Leadership Programme (DSLP) 2025-26 brought together leaders from across the cohort for a lively and thoughtful day of learning, guided by co-programme directors Larry Shulman and Michelle Janes. The title for the session was Community ThinkTank, with participants considering the Opportunities, Threats, Strengths and Weaknesses of their own organisations before considering those of the wider Jewish community in support of the JLC’s Forge the Future initiative. As they considered the broader communal picture, they were joined by members of the JLC team including interim CEO Debbie Fox, COO Abigail Carmel and Head of Strategic Programmes Claire Mandel.

Warm, energetic and rich with insight on a personal, group and communal level, the ThinkTank reinforced the value of reflective practice and high‑quality dialogue at the heart of community leadership.

As Larry and Michelle expressed in their closing message, an important strength of the community lies in how its leaders show up for one another—and days like this demonstrate that the DSLP cohort continues to model the kind of leadership our community needs.

DSLP participant Erica Marks concurred saying, “We are deepening our connections with our cohort, which is leading to better shared understanding and growth.”

Fellow participant Shimon Gillis, COO of Jewish Futures added, “Delighted by the opportunity to discuss the deep rooted challenges within the community and to work through these challenges with a talented group of leaders”.

The next events for the group will be an online forum with three communal CEOs followed by a residential in March which will feature Windsor Leadership and include sessions on The leader I am; the leader I need to be.

To read more about the DSLP programme and the 2025-26 cohort, click here.