Toby Rubin is the founder and former CEO of UpStart, an accelerator for early stage nonprofits. During her 10 year tenure as CEO, she built a team of leaders (lay and professional) that brought UpStart from an idea to a high-impact, paradigm-shifting national organization. UpStart is known for accelerating the success of early stage startups that are re-designing Jewish life to meet the modern needs of Jews and others Of course, one of the most successful “UpStarters” is Urban Adamah and Toby has therefore had the pleasure of engaging with this organization since its early beginnings. Through her work with UpStart, Toby also led the development of adjacent business lines to educate and train professionals working in Jewish organizations at all developmental stages. These endeavors encouraged leaders to use the mindsets and practices of entrepreneurship and “human centered design” to better reach the changing audiences and needs of 21st century Jewry. Currently, Toby consults for startup non-profit executives and leaders of innovative program initiatives, with a focus on executive leadership coaching. She is the Chair of the Board of Directors of New Left Accelerator, an organization supporting innovative work in secular progressive politics. Toby recently completed her term as Governance Chair of the Board of the Jewish Film Institute. Prior to founding UpStart, Toby spent 7 years at the BJE-San Francisco filling a variety of roles from program director, to Interim Executive Director. In her first career she litigated to secure education rights of persons with disabilities that included a US Supreme Court victory. Over the course of the past 45 years, Toby has served in lay leadership positions on local and national boards, shifting her focus from secular to primarily Jewish organizations as a result of her experience as a Wexner Heritage Fellow in the mid-90’s. She and her husband Robert have been married for 41years and they find great joy in their 3 amazing young adult children, son-in-law, and the cutest grandchild EVER!