The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) is delighted to name David Schizer as its next CEO. Schizer – the Dean Emeritus of Columbia Law School and a noted Jewish community leader – will take the helm of the global Jewish humanitarian organization on January 1, 2017, pending his approval by the JDC Board at its regular Board Meeting next week. Succeeding Alan H. Gill as CEO, Schizer was unanimously nominated by a Selection Committee of JDC’s Board of Directors and confirmed by the Board’s Executive Committee.

Brooklyn-born Schizer was the youngest dean in the history of Columbia Law School, where he presided over a $150 million annual budget and 400 employees. During his ten years of service as dean, he launched and successfully completed a $353 million capital campaign, doubling the school’s traditional fundraising. Schizer also expanded the faculty and forged a new partnership with Columbia Business School. A seasoned leader in the Jewish community, Schizer is a member of the Board of Directors of the 92nd Street Y and Ramaz School, is President of America’s Voices in Israel, and Co-director of Columbia’s Center for Israeli Legal Studies. He also served previously on the boards of Natan and Columbia-Barnard Hillel, and as a senior advisor to the Tikvah Fund.

“Although I am part of an incredibly fortunate generation of American Jews, I am named for a grandfather who fled pogroms and political upheaval in Ukraine. Every Jewish family has a history of poverty, religious persecution, or violence – the only difference is how long ago it was. So for me personally, it is profoundly meaningful to be appointed CEO of an extraordinary organization that has been a lifeline to Jews in their hour of need, and that renews Jewish life throughout the world, including in places where my own family once lived,” said Schizer. “In these difficult times, JDC’s work has never been more important, and I am proud to be a part of it.”

Schizer holds undergraduate, graduate, and law degrees from Yale University. He clerked for Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg of the U.S. Supreme Court and Judge Alex Kozinski of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.

Schizer and his wife, Meredith, reside in New York together with their three children.