Barak Hermann has been named executive director of the Jewish Community Center of Central New Jersey in Scotch Plains, succeeding longtime director Richard Corman, who left in June to take up a position in Manhattan.

Hermann, 36, is in his fourth year as assistant executive director of JCC MetroWest, which serves Essex and Morris counties, and as leader of its senior management team.

He supervised staff at JCC MetroWest's West Orange and Whippany facilities, managing an operating budget of $16 million, and was recently promoted to chief operating officer of the JCC in Whippany.

He has also been active with the New York-based Jewish Outreach Institute in efforts to involve unaffiliated Jews from Morris County in community activities.

Central JCC president Mindy Goldberger, who served on the selection committee, said both the committee and the board were unanimous in their selection of Hermann.

In a July 25 letter to JCC members announcing his appointment, she said that he not only met the criteria established at the outset of the search process but "also has the capacity to lead our center with passion, enthusiasm, and excellence."

She declined to discuss his appointment in more detail, saying she would prefer to delay publicity about it until Hermann comes on board in October and members have a chance to meet him. She did say that there were a number of other applicants for the job, including some who would have had to move to the region if appointed.

No such move is needed for Hermann. He and his wife Cory and their three sons, ages seven, five, and one, live in Randolph, a relatively easy 35-minute commute to the campus in Scotch Plains and only about six miles longer than his current drive to West Orange.

Hermann said his decision to leave JCC MetroWest is unrelated to the announcement last month that because of budget shortfalls, the organization is considering vacating the athletic facility in Whippany as a JCC operation. The agency has already announced plans to seek an alternative venue for a day-care facility currently based on the campus in Whippany.

Defending the agency at a recent public forum, Hermann said the Whippany JCC, which opened in 1992, had been able to attract only 2,000 people out of a potential area Jewish population of 40,000. He suggested that efforts on behalf of the Morris County community might better be centered in Randolph, nine miles west of the current building.

In an interview last week, Hermann said he would have been happy to stay at JCC MetroWest and that he expects recently completed renovations will bring new successes to the West Orange JCC and programs being developed in Morris County will be successful as well.

He said he was attracted by the opportunity to become the chief professional officer at the Central JCC.

"The stars were aligned," he said. "I was excited about the staff there, and it was just an incredible opportunity to become part of the leadership there, to have overall accountability, and to help create Jewish community — which is what I love to do."

The operating budget of the Central JCC is $5.3 million, up from $450,000 when Corman was hired as executive director in 1987.

Before coming to MetroWest, Hermann worked at the Suffolk Y Jewish Community Center in New York, where he was involved in programming, overseeing the youth and teen departments, and directing a day camp of 600 children.

Like Corman, Hermann has a master's degree from Yeshiva University's Wurzweiler School of Social Work in New York City. He is also a graduate of the 18-month JCCs of North America Association's Executive Development Program.

Given that Corman held the Central JCC post for over two decades, it was a long time since the organization's lay leaders had had to face a selection process of this magnitude. The board of directors initiated the process when he announced his resignation in April, naming a search committee headed by past presidents Marcia Wasser and Steve Tripp.

Steven Rod, vice president for professional development services at the JCCA, served as a consultant. A final group of candidates was introduced to board and staff members in late June.

Goldberger said that the members agreed on a candidate with a proven record in effective outreach, collaboration, and relationship building.

"General management and operations, strategic planning, and fiscal planning were also of significant importance," she said. "The interview process was rigorous, focused, and intense. Barak Hermann emerged as the absolute right executive director for our JCC."

Corman is now chief operating officer at the Manhattan Jewish Experience, a Jewish outreach organization in New York City. He said at the time of his departure that he would be available to consult with the incoming executive director as he or she settled into the job.

"I'm only a phone call away," he said.