Executive director Kancher to depart Holocaust Center
Pam Kancher, who has steered the Holocaust Memorial Resource & Education Center through 15 years of growth and paved the way for its forthcoming downtown museum, will step down as executive director by the end of the year.
The organization will announce Kancher’s departure today.
Among Kancher’s public achievements: developing the Holocaust Center’s Stand Up to Bullying program, which has served nearly 40,000 students; facilitating a community celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act; collaborating on a high-profile and high-tech partnership with the USC Shoah Foundation; and leading a commemoration of the 75th anniversary of Kristallnacht, a critical and devastating event in the Nazi terror campaign against Germany’s Jews.
“Under Pam’s leadership, the Holocaust Center developed a unique voice and role in the community, becoming a wellrespected, award-winning educational organization,” said Michelle Hicks Feinberg, president of the Holocaust Center Board of Directors, in the announcement.
But Kancher’s legacy might be felt more through the internal work she did to strengthen the small Maitland-based organization. As her innovative partnerships and civic collaborations grew, she saw the center’s budget nearly triple and the staff size nearly double. The organization’s growing influence led to its biggest partnership yet and what is likely to be her most enduring legacy: Plans to transform the center into a world-class museum in the heart of Orlando.
“Because of Pam’s leadership, we are now in a position to recruit a CEO who will bring our vision for the Holocaust Museum for Hope & Humanity to downtown Orlando,” said Hicks Feinberg. “Without Pam’s tireless efforts, we would not be at this important moment in our history.”
A local CEO search committee has been formed, Hicks Feinberg said, with plans to hire a national search firm to find Kancher’s replacement. The board is looking for a CEO with experience in building, curating and opening institutions similar to the size and scope of the new 40,000-square-foot Museum for Hope & Humanity, which will have a highly visible location in the former Orlando Regional Chamber of Commerce building near I-4.
The new museum, which more than quadruples the size of the center’s current Maitland location, is “poised to be a national and international leader for this type of education,” Hicks Feinberg said. The USC Shoah Foundation partnership will make the museum one of only a few worldwide that lets guests interact directly with Holocaust survivors through hologram technology.
Kancher said her lack of expertise in the work ahead contributed to her departure.
“The center needed someone with experience of building a museum from the ground up,” she said, saying leaving the position she has held since 2006 is “a little bit” bittersweet.
Kancher doesn’t have firm post-departure plans but intends to remain in Central Florida, she said.
Hicks Feinberg said that Kancher had been a perfect successor to Tess Wise, the Holocaust survivor who founded the center in 1981.
“For Tess, as a survivor, this was a passion project,” Hicks Feinberg said. “When Pam came on, she truly took over with the same level of passion. She really has built bridges for us with so many organizations.”
Those bridges included partnerships with the city of Orlando and Orange County to secure the new museum’s location and financial support.
“Thanks to Pam’s wisdom, hard work and passion for its mission, the Holocaust Center has become one of the most important educational and cultural organizations in our region,” said Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer in a statement. “Orlando is a city built on diversity and inclusion and welcoming our neighbors from around the world, and the Holocaust Center has played a critical role in fostering that culture. I especially appreciated our collaborations that have laid the groundwork for the new museum in the heart of Downtown Orlando.”
Kancher expressed pride in what she and the organization had accomplished during her tenure: “There is a strong foundation for the work ahead, and I look forward to helping during the transition.”
And she said she would remember her time with the Holocaust Center fondly.
“My goal was to work for an organization where I could wrap my arms around its mission,” she said. “It’s been a fun ride.”