Israel Policy Forum’s board of directors has elected David A. Sherman of Chicago to succeed Susie Gelman as Board Chair, Marc Gary of Atlanta and Matthew J. Fassler of New York to serve on the board, and Sharon Bergman, Thomas Kahn, and Daryl Messinger to serve on the executive committee.
Sherman is the chairman of Benj. E. Sherman & Sons, Inc., a Chicago-based real estate firm. He is a former chairman of the Israel Action Network, the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago, and the Jewish Community Relations Council of Chicago. He is a former campaign chairman of the Jewish United Fund, a board member of the Crown Family Foundation, and a past board member of the Alliance for Middle East Peace.
“Israel Policy Forum is deeply respected in Washington and in the Jewish community for its exceptional content and its thoughtful approach,” said Sherman, who has served on Israel Policy Forum’s board and executive committee for the past four years. “That is a testament to the outstanding, incredible leadership of Susie Gelman as Board Chair, and of our staff led by David Halperin. I am excited to build on Susie’s many impressive achievements as I succeed her as chair of the Israel Policy Forum board and to work alongside such a terrific team.”
Gelman was honored this week prior to her stepping down as Board Chair, a position she held for seven years, during which the organization’s budget and staff quintupled and its policy research, government relations, community education, and young professional program (IPF Atid) were developed and expanded.
President Joe Biden, President Isaac Herzog, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, Representative Kathy Manning (NC-6), and Representative Dan Goldman (NY-10) provided recorded video messages in Susie’s honor for the event. President Biden expressed that “For seven years, [Susie] has led the board of Israel Policy Forum with passion, purpose, and a sense of possibilities of what we can achieve if we work together.”
“Serving as Board Chair has been the highlight of my non-profit experience,” said Gelman upon being honored on Wednesday night. “I will remain actively involved with Israel Policy Forum, I am confident that David [Sherman] will take IPF to even greater heights, and I can’t wait to see the impact that we will continue to make.”
Marc Gary is the executive vice chancellor emeritus of the Jewish Theological Seminary. He joined JTS in 2012 as executive vice chancellor and chief operating officer and oversaw the design and construction of the new JTS campus. Prior to joining JTS, Marc served as executive vice president and general counsel of Fidelity Investments in Boston and BellSouth Corporation in Atlanta.
Matthew Fassler has been involved with Israel Policy Forum for more than 15 years. He is a managing member of the Winterbottom Group, LLC. Previously, he served as chief strategy officer of XPO Logistics, a Fortune 500 logistics firm, and spent more than 20 years at Goldman Sachs in Global Investment Research. He was an AJC LEAD Fellow and previously served on the boards of the Coro New York Leadership Center and the Children’s Aid Society College Prep Charter School.
Thomas Kahn, who previously served on the board of directors, will become Israel Policy Forum’s treasurer, replacing Larry Gottlieb who has been re-elected to the board, and Dana Linden, a member of the executive committee, will become secretary, replacing Alisa Levin who has also been re-elected to serve on the board. Sharon Bergman and Daryl Messinger join the executive committee as at-large members, having both previously served on the board of directors.
