After 11 years on the job, Michael Hopkins said he had “no regrets” as he resigned as CEO of JCC MetroWest.
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December 25, 2008
JCC MetroWest announced the resignation last week of Michael Hopkins, its chief executive officer for the past 11 years.
In a letter sent to JCC members and posted on its website, board chair Dolly Luwisch praised Hopkins for having “overseen the expansion and renovation of our community center” and having “touched the lives of thousands of individuals every day.”
“He will be sorely missed,” wrote Luwisch.
Hopkins’ resignation is effective Feb. 18; a transition plan will be announced soon, Luwisch added.
Appearing before a board of trustees meeting on Dec. 16, Hopkins delivered his resignation in person and in writing, saying his decision was motivated by “personal reasons, perhaps including a relocation.”
“I am leaving because it feels like it’s time to do something different,” Hopkins told NJ Jewish News in a telephone interview on Monday. “But I’m not sure at this time what that would be. There comes a time when it feels like the right thing to do is something different.”
In an e-mail statement, JCC’s chief marketing director, Catherine Kolbeck, called Hopkins “an incredible CEO” and said board members were “saddened by the news of Michael’s resignation.”
“His resignation was completely voluntary. Michael resigned for personal reasons,” Kolbeck told NJJN in an interview prior to sending her e-mail.
Speaking for Luwisch, Kolbeck described Hopkins as someone with “many accomplishments to be proud of.”
These included the expansion and renovation, budgeted at $21 million and dedicated in 2007, of the Leon and Toby Cooperman JCC, Ross Family Campus, in West Orange.
He also kept “the board of trustees advised of the necessity to respond to a highly competitive marketplace especially in the areas of early childhood, camping, and fitness services,” wrote Kolbeck.
Hopkins told NJJN he was “most proud of helping to transform the JCC into what it is today, a vibrant JCC serving the Jewish community. When I started to work here, there were 10 pieces of cardiovascular equipment. Today there are 110. There were 250 parking spots on the property. Today there are over 500 — and we frequently run out of parking.
Michael Hopkins participates in the 2007 New York Jewish Environmental Bike Ride organized by Hazon, the education and advocacy organization.
“This place is hopping,” he said of the West Orange center. “Our membership has never been larger. In West Orange, it is just a tad under 5,000 units or 12,000 individuals, and we serve about twice as many nonmembers. Before the renovation two-and-a-half years ago, the membership was about 3,000.”
‘No regrets’
But Hopkins’ tenure also included what he and other community leaders called a “painful” decision to cease fitness operations at the JCC’s second facility, the Lautenberg Family JCC on the Aidekman Family Jewish Community Campus in Whippany, which opened in 1992.
Citing a mounting deficit, JCC MetroWest announced in 2006 that it would vacate the athletic facility on the Aidekman campus, and United Jewish Communities of MetroWest NJ would seek an outside fitness provider to operate it.
The privately owned Gold’s Gym has been operating the fitness facility — which includes a gym, swimming pool, and exercise facilities — since the fall.
JCC MetroWest continues to run other programs on the Aidekman campus.
“In Whippany it was clear over the years that the Jewish community wasn’t using the facility in the numbers that it would be a viable service for us to offer,” said Hopkins on Monday. “We still operate the JCC in Whippany. We run children’s programs and older adults’ programs. We run a variety of programs. We don’t run just sports and fitness.
“We are constantly adding programs and deleting programs,” Hopkins said. “It is the sign of a healthy organization, constantly looking at the needs of our community and the financial implications of those services.”
And while the privatization of the fitness facilities disappointed Jews in Morris County, Hopkins praised the work of Morris County Connection, an outreach effort to unaffiliated Jews. The program involves the JCC along with MetroWest’s Jewish Family Service, The Partnership for Jewish Learning and Life, and the Bohrer-Kaufman Hebrew Academy of Morris County in Randolph.
“We are probably touching more Jews than ever before,” Hopkins said.
As he contemplated “30-plus years” of work in the Jewish community, Hopkins said he had “no regrets.”
“I grew up in Buffalo and my parents sent me to the JCC there all the time. I literally knew when I was 18 that I wanted to be a JCC director. But I have always believed I would have a second career, and as much as I am committed to the JCC field, I always knew I would do something else,” he said.
In the meantime, Hopkins said, he “will continue doing what I’ve been doing for 11 years, which includes trying to raise money for our final countdown campaign” to retire the $9 million debt incurred by the JCC expansion.
He said he expects to meet in Florida next month with potential donors.
“There is no shortage of work,” he said. “Every day there are 1,000 people who come into the building and a ton of stuff going on — always.”
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