Hillary Gardenswartz is the Program Manager at Atra: Center for Rabbinic Innovation.
As Program Manager, Hillary helps plan and facilitate the work that helps Rabbis learn and adapt their practice, applying new skills to strengthen their communities.
Hillary is a program leader and educator with more than 20 years of experience in Jewish education and the nonprofit sector. Across her career, she has been driven by questions about leadership, engagement, and how strong relationships help people and communities thrive. She loves translating ideas into meaningful programs, helping people grow as leaders, and creating environments rooted in trust, learning, and shared purpose.
Before joining Atra, Hillary served as Director of Student Experiences at Civic Spirit, where she developed and expanded programs that helped young people connect civic learning to their own lives and communities. Previously, as a Senior Project Manager at The Jewish Education Project, she designed and managed national programs, networks, and professional learning experiences for educators across a wide range of Jewish settings. She began her career as a high school Jewish studies teacher and Rabbinics department chair, experiences that continue to shape her approach to facilitation, coaching, and leadership development. Most recently, Hillary worked in executive search at Sandler Search, partnering with mission-driven organizations as they sought to identify and recruit senior leaders.
Hillary holds a BA from Brandeis University in Politics and Near Eastern and Judaic Studies and MA degrees in Jewish Education and Talmud and Rabbinics from the Jewish Theological Seminary. She lives in New York City and spends an inordinate amount of time training for the New York City Marathon, which she has completed 12 times with Fred’s Team, raising money for Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.