ADL chooses Obama aide as Abe Foxman successor
Anti-Defamation League’s new national director will be 43-year-old Jonathan Greenblatt, currently a White House aide.
The Anti-Defamation League has named a successor to longtime national director Abe Foxman.
The Jewish civil rights organization has chosen 43-year-old White House aide Jonathan Greenblatt for the job. Foxman is retiring next July after nearly three decades leading the New York-based advocacy group.
The ADL announced the appointment Thursday at a meeting in Los Angeles, and praised Greenblat's lifelong commitment to Jewish social causes, and his relationship to ADL.
“I’m confident that ADL will continue to thrive and grow under Jonathan’s leadership and I look forward to working with him to ensure a successful and smooth transition,” Foxman said in a statement.
Greenblatt has served on the White House Domestic Policy Council, helping oversee community service programs such as AmeriCorps. He is a co-founder of Ethos Brands, a premium bottled water company that helps support clean water programs worldwide.
He is the grandson of a Holocaust survivor who fled Nazi Germany. Greenblatt graduated from Tufts University and the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. He will take over as ADL national director in July.
Mr. Curtiss-Lusher, the ADL's National Chair said “Jonathan brings to ADL an impressive track record of leadership in both the nonprofit and for-profit sectors and a deep and abiding commitment to our mission of combating anti-Semitism and defending the civil rights of all people.”
At the White House, Greenblatt serves as director of the Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation in the Domestic Policy Council, where his portfolio includes national service, civic engagement, impact investing and social enterprise.
Greenblatt interned for the ADL while in college at Tufts University and later participated in an ADL professional leadership program.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
