American Jewish Committee taps former board chair as president

John Shapiro, the former chairman of the American Jewish Committee’s board of trustees, was elected president of the organization.

Shapiro was elected at the group’s recent Global Forum in Washington, D.C., the AJC announced in a statement Wednesday. He succeeds Stanley Bergman.

Shapiro, managing director of Chieftain Capital Management, Inc., which he co-founded in 1984, was appointed to the AJC’s Executive Council in 2005. He previously served as president of the UJA-Federation of New York and currently serves as chairman of Lawyers for Children. He is also on several boards, including The Jewish Museum and the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

“I am honored to be handed the responsibility to lead AJC,” Shapiro said. “The challenges are enormous, from the pernicious efforts to delegitimize Israel, to the resurrection of anti-Semitism, especially in Europe, to the BDS movement activities on campuses.”

Other senior AJC officers elected at the Global Forum included Harriet Schleifer as chair of the board of governors, and Matthew Bronfman, chair of the board of trustees.