Jewish Federation Los Angeles

Jewish Federation Los Angeles

The Basic Pension Plan for Employees of the Jewish Federation Council of Greater Los Angeles was established in 1982 to serve qualified employees of the Federation. Rabbi Noah Farkas serves as President and CEO of the parent organization, with Board Chair Daniel Gryczman — who has a background in real estate development and family office management — providing strategic oversight. The plan is a legacy obligation nested within the larger non-profit, not a standalone investment office. The pension plan deploys capital across a notably wide range of strategies for an entity of its size. The investment committee, which includes Anthony Chanin of Sonco Investments, has been documented with a mandate covering co-investment, buyout, distressed debt, early stage venture, growth equity, mezzanine, secondaries, and special situations. The plan's direct assets include ownership of the Goldsmith Center at 6505 Wilshire Boulevard, a Valley office property, and a portfolio of real estate partnership interests. It also holds State of Israel Bonds, tying the portfolio directly to Federation's broader mission. The plan operates with an estimated $130 million in assets, though the Federation does not publicly disclose an exact AUM figure. The investment board draws on a network of Los Angeles-based principals including Jordan Bender, a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs Private Wealth Management; Moshe Sassover, Co-CEO of Thrifty Oil; and Melissa Held Bordy, CFO of Held Properties. The Federation maintains collateral professional networks — Real Estate & Construction, Legal, and Finance & Business — that connect the investment team to a local deal ecosystem in one of the country's largest metro economies. September 2023: The Federation publicly reported on its broader community endowment growth, though pension-specific deployment metrics were not broken out (per the firm's public disclosures). The structural distinction is the mandate's breadth relative to the plan's size. Few sub-$150 million pension plans allocate across venture, mezzanine, and distressed strategies simultaneously. The plan's governance — an investment committee composed of local real estate and private wealth operators — makes it more of a hybrid between a traditional pension and a networked family office, sourcing deal flow through Los Angeles's concentrated Jewish professional community rather than a conventional consultant-driven RFP process.