Ari Fertig comes to JLC with extensive experience in political and social justice organizing.

Most recently Ari has worked with The Conversation US (TCUS) as manager of university editorial relations, handling relationships with over 50 college and university member media teams and successfully pitching TCUS member articles to The Washington Post, Newsweek, The Atlantic, Fortune, The New Republic, Scientific American, U.S. News and World Report and many other outlets.

His organizing experience includes stints as regional field organizer on the Committee to Elect Bill Keating, campaign manager on the Committee to Elect Michael Day and deputy campaign manager on the Committee to Elect Jason Lewis, and as a health reform campaign organizer, and later as information and marketing coordinator, with Health Care For All. Ari was a JOIN For Justice Fellow and a FrontLine Leadership Academy Fellow.

Ari will be taking the helm of NEJLC as of June 1, when current executive director Marya Axner officially steps down. The two will be working together closely in the transition.

Said Rabbi Barbara Penzner: “Ari brings with him great talents, energy and commitment, and we are excited to have him come on board to help us continue to build our community of supporters and activists, and to strengthen our impact in the Massachusetts State House and the Boston Jewish community. While we are sad to see Marya step down, we are looking forward to Ari’s leadership at this critical time, when the rights of working people are increasingly under attack.”

Said Ari Fertig: “It’s an honor to lead an organization that is so crucial to the fight for social justice in New England. I feel a deep commitment to support the fight for working families and to do so from a particularly Jewish lens. Both the Jewish and labor communities are at a crossroads, and I know that we are all stronger when we work together.”

JLC New England is the local branch of the Jewish Labor Committee, an organization committed to mobilizing the Jewish community to speak out in support of workplace equity—fair pay, a safe working environment and basic job security. Among its campaigns were support for the Stop & Shop workers; the gas workers of United Steelworkers Locals 12003 and 12012, who were locked out from National Grid for six months; hotel workers of UNITE HERE Local 26, who were on strike from Marriott for 46 days; and the dining hall workers, also of UNITE HERE Local 26, who fought for a first contract at Tufts University, all of whom won contracts.

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