JFSLA Appoints Randy Magnin as Chair of Board of Directors

At last week’s Board Installation, Randy Magnin was appointed as the new Chair of the Jewish Family Service LA Board of Directors for the 2022-2024 term. Joining the Agency more than 30 years ago as a member of the JFSLA Young Leaders group, Randy is a long-time Board member who has also served as Treasurer and chair of the Finance Committee.

“It’s still sinking in,” Randy said. “When I look at the list of past Chairs of this organization, it’s just humbling to think that mine will be added to that list. My late grandfather used to have a saying that success is a byproduct of service to your community, and so I’ve always been drawn to serve.”

Randy graduated from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and is a Certified Public Accountant. He worked for a large public accounting firm before opening his own practice. He also served as a past president of the Rotary Club at Beverly Hills. Randy has been married to his wife, Kim, for more than 30 years and has two young adult children.

Randy and his wife were first introduced into JFSLA by a coworker named Hilary Lottenberg, of blessed memory, who was then a JFSLA Board member. Lottenberg was JFSLA’s first member of the JFS Young Leaders group. She had a passion for finance and brought many other dynamic leaders onto the Board.

Randy and his wife began volunteering with the JFSLA Young Leaders Group at the SOVA food pantry, serving Passover and Thanksgiving meals, helping beautify JFSLA’s domestic violence shelters, and more. Because of Randy’s commitment to the organization and his financial background, he was asked to join the Board’s Finance Committee. In the following years he would serve as Treasurer and chair of the Finance Committee.

“I can remember my first Installation dinner like it was yesterday,” said Randy. “This was probably close to 30 years ago. I sat down at a table with Stanley Hirsh, of blessed memory, who was a staunch supporter of the agency. Stanley’s family helped name the JFS Gunther-Hirsh Family Center among other JFSLA spaces. Stanley was on one side of me, and on the other side of me was Arthur Laub, who was an honorary life-serving past president of the Board – and they gave me the third degree. They were asking me all kinds of questions about who I was and what I was going to do for JFSLA. That was my introduction to the Board.”

Over the years, Randy has seen the agency grow and expand. With a lens on the financial operations of JFSLA, he has helped ensure that funding has become more secure and better administered. 

While recognizing that we have come out of the worst years of the pandemic, Randy knows that there are more political and financial clouds on the horizon, which means JFSLA will have to be prepared.

“I’m not sure it’s getting any easier out there,” he said. “I wish I could say, ‘Wow, we just came through a really hard time. We’ve got great financials. We’re on easy street.’ But I just don’t see that personally. I think we have economic clouds on the horizon. We have political clouds on the horizon. And all of these are going to affect our clients. But I also know that JFSLA is going to continue to be on the front lines fighting for our clients.”

Randy continues to feel confident that JFSLA will overcome any challenge because of the lay leadership and staff at JFSLA who rally behind the agency’s inspiring mission.  

“In my opinion, the most important key to JFSLA’s resilience is that its lay and staff leadership are highly focused on an extremely compelling mission – namely to provide life-improving social services that help the people of Los Angeles live with dignity and exercise self-determination as we strive for a more compassionate Los Angeles where no one has to navigate life alone,” Randy said. “It is because of our compelling mission and our long history that I know without a shadow of a doubt that together, we will continue to be resilient. We will weather the storms ahead of us, just as we did the previous, with grace, perseverance, and commitment to service. I am beyond honored to be the next Board Chair.”