Yana Vishnitsky reflects on her 38-year career at JFS

lower entrance to Jewish Family Service on Tamarac is jammed with resettled immigrants lining up for free Thanksgiving turkeys. Accessing the main office upstairs requires dexterity, stamina and tactful nudges. A receptionist notifies Yana Vishnitsky, JFS’ president and CEO since 2000, that her 10:30 a.m. appointment has arrived ahead of schedule. “Yana is on the phone but she’ll be out shortly,” she assures. Yana — for that’s what everyone calls her — rounds the circuitous hallway in less than three minutes and leads the way to her unpretentious inner sanctum. Hardly in a state of disarray, the room still signals a sense of imminent departure. “I take it one day at a time,” Yana says of her official retirement from JFS on Dec. 9, 2016. […]