Joel Zarrow is not just starting a new job as the Park City Community Foundation’s new president and CEO; he’s starting a new life. An East Coast resident and fledgling empty nester, he and his wife sold their Philadelphia house and are excited to call Park City home.
“We were just considering what are the possibilities? What's going to be our next adventure?" Zarrow said. "I knew I wanted to stay in work that’s meaningful and contributing to the community. And this is just a perfect fit. So along with being attracted to the mission of the organization, I mean, how do we solve the community's most pressing issues? The opportunity of seeking our next adventure as empty nesters, and then it's Park City. I mean, the place I'm coming here, just like a whole bunch of other people want to come here. It's an extraordinary community.”
Zarrow has over 20 years of public, private, and nonprofit experience. Many of those roles have been in leadership positions committed to advancing equity in education. He said a big part of his new role will be focused on the impact the community foundation has on the community.
“So the question is, how do we focus our impact?" Zarrow said. "I mean, these issues are massive. And Park City isn't alone in dealing with them. But really, the whole country and every mountain town community is dealing with issues like climate change, affordable housing, mental wellness, healthcare. So these issues are too large for just any single organization to manage. So the question is, what's going to be our piece? What's going to be our contribution? How are we going to make sure that we make the difference we say we're going to make and not diffuse our impact, or diffuse ourselves so much that we actually don't make change in the community.”
The community foundation says it connects local nonprofits with donors and community leaders. According to its website, it’s had a nearly $50 million impact to the community since it was founded in 2007. According to Kristi Cumming, the community foundation’s board chair, Zarrow’s experience will help the organization prioritize and help solve the community's most pressing problems.
“Having Joel leading that is, you know, he has just a wealth of experience in convening and in the nonprofit world, and also in results-oriented projects. So he had the whole package for us in terms of where we need to go in this organization to bring it to the next level,” Cumming said.
Zarrow’s first day with the foundation was June 13. He succeeds Joelle Kanshepolsky, who had served as the interim CEO since July 2021.