For JCC’s Lara Knuettel, ‘failure was not an option’

Knuettel gave birth to another boy, one she wasn’t expecting. It was exactly eight days into her new position of CEO of Denver’s Jewish Community Center that she learned of the enormous, institution-killing debt of the JCC. She had an eight-day grace period. From that time on, the child-raising began in earnest, and it was by no means assured that the child would survive. The short answer is, it did. But what a tense journey along the way. The JCC recently concluded a debt-clearing arrangment through the assistance of Rose Community Foundatin, three major donors — the foundations of Michael Staenberg, Donald Sturm and Larry Mizel — plus other donors. But until then, from her eighth day on the job, Lara Knuettel could do nothing […]