Marcella Kanfer Rolnick is Vice Chair of GOJO Industries, market leader in professional skincare and inventor of PURELL Instant Hand Sanitizer. Marcella focuses on diversification of her family's enterprise through new ventures and strategic planning to meet the long-term vision. She champions the GOJO commitment to social, environmental and economic sustainability, a commitment that is driven by the GOJO purpose: saving lives and making life better through well-being solutions. Throughout her career, Marcella has performed numerous other roles within the company, including establishing the e-business practice and launching new markets. She also was a management consultant in New York City, vice president of business development for a multi-media nonprofit in Boston, and an associate at a boutique investment firm in San Francisco.
Marcella is passionate about facilitating organizational effectiveness and innovation, especially within the Jewish nonprofit community. She drove the reconstitution of the national Jewish social entrepreneurship fellowship program, Joshua Venture Group, and co-founded the Lippman Kanfer Institute for Innovation in Jewish Learning and Engagement at JESNA. She is President and Chair of the Lippman Kanfer Family Foundation, and is a director of American Jewish World Service, the Jewish Community Board of Akron and The Lippman School. She recently spearheaded a community-wide Appreciative Inquiry process called Imagine Jewish Akron” to envision and plan for a positive future for the local Jewish community.
In 2008, Crain's Cleveland Business named Marcella one of Forty under Forty” [who make a difference]; Cleveland Jewish News named her one of 20 On the Rise” Cleveland area professionals; and she received the Woman of the Year” Award for Innovation by the Women's History Project of the Akron Area. In 2006, Marcella was named by Jewish Women International as one of 10 Women to Watch.”
Marcella earned her MBA from the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University and her BA from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public Affairs at Princeton University. Marcella currently resides in Akron with her husband and three young sons.