Jewish Community Partners

Abbey Cowens’ recent arrival at the Memphis Jewish Federation is a true homecoming.

After five years away from the organization, the Federation welcomed Cowens back to its full time staff earlier this spring, this time as an organizational leader.

Cowens’s first official role with the Memphis Jewish Federation began in 2016 as a Database Manager, a position she held for three years before becoming the Manager of Campaign Operations. She credits former staffer Stacy Wagerman with introducing her to the Federation through its Grants Committee, a group she quickly grew to love. Prior to that, after earning a sociology degree from the University of Cincinnati, she worked as an editor for a local Jewish newspaper. She then transitioned into sales for trade show displays and later spent seven years as a project manager for Sonoco Corrflex, where she honed her skills in client service and strategic execution – skills she brought with her to the Federation.

In 2020, Cowens left the Federation to take on a new challenge as the Executive Director of the Memphis Opportunity Scholarship Trust (M.O.S.T.). During her five-year tenure, she led the organization to remarkable growth, increasing its reserves by $4 million and modernizing its operations. While this was a proud professional accomplishment, Cowens always knew she would eventually return to Jewish philanthropy.

For Cowens, the events of October 7, 2023 were a catalyst for her to return to the Jewish world. “The D.C. fly-in was particularly pivotal for me,” she said. “It clarified that while I loved my work at M.O.S.T., my place was back in the Jewish world. I felt an urgency to re-engage with this work and help strengthen Jewish life here in Memphis.” This pivotal moment led her back to the Federation, where she now works as the Executive Vice President of Advancement.

In her current role, Cowens focuses on fresh and creative ways to sustain Jewish Memphis, working alongside a talented team and dedicated lay leaders. Her goals for the Annual Campaign are clear: to ensure the needs of the Memphis Jewish community are met and that the community continues to thrive as the warm, welcoming, and vibrant place it has always been.

The Memphis Jewish community is more than just a workplace for Cowens; it is home. When her family moved to Memphis in 2014, her youngest son was just two years old. This community has profoundly shaped both of her boys’ Jewish lives, from attending Jewish day camps and youth groups to celebrating their bar mitzvahs. “The truth is, they are far more involved Jewishly than I was at their age,” she said. “And that is thanks to the strength and uniqueness of this Memphis Jewish community. It has given them – and our family – an identity and belonging that we deeply value.”

Cowens is a native of a Cincinnati suburb but she, her husband, Jeff, and their two sons have called Memphis home for over a decade and her parents even moved to Memphis in 2017 to be closer to their grandchildren. In her free time, she enjoys reading, taking walks, and cheering on her favorite college and WNBA basketball teams, joining in with her family’s obsession with the Cincinnati Bengals, and playing card games like Euchre with her family.

“We’re all thrilled to have Abbey back, particularly leading all our Fundraising and Engagement efforts,” said Laura Linder, CEO and President of Jewish Community Partners, the umbrella organization that runs the Memphis Jewish Federation. “She’s an incredible asset to our entire team, and as September kicks off this year’s Annual Campaign activities, we’ve already seen how valuable her passion and creativity are to its success.”

Join Abbey and your other Federation leadership on Super Sunday, the Memphis Jewish Federation’s largest single-day fundraising event for our Annual Campaign, at 10 a.m, September 14 at the Memphis Jewish Community Center.