Amanda Nguyen is the CEO and founder of Rise, a social movement accelerator. She is a 2019 Nobel Peace Prize nominee. She penned her own civil rights into existence and unanimously passed the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Bill of Rights, after having to navigate the broken criminal justice system after her own rape. 24 bills protecting nearly 45 million sexual violence survivors have been created modeled off of her federal law. The federal law was the 21st bill in modern US history to pass unanimously on the record.

Amanda has been named a Forbes 30Under 30, by Foreign Policy as a Top 100 Leading Global Thinker, Marie Claire as a Young Woman of the Year, and The Tempest’s #1 Woman of Color Trailblazer.

Previously, Amanda was appointed by President Barack Obama to the United States Department of State as his Deputy White House Liaison and served at NASA. Amanda graduated from Harvard University.

Paula A. Johnson, president of Wellesley College, is an innovator recognized the world over for advancing, promoting, and defending women’s education, health, and well-being. This critically important work is deeply informed by her broad range of experience as a pathbreaking physician-scientist and educator who is an expert in health care, public health, and health policy. With a remarkable track record of accomplishments—including founding the Connors Center for Women’s Health and Gender Biology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital—she has led in the field of women’s health, taking an approach to biology that integrates insights from sociology, economics, and many other fields.

A cardiologist, President Johnson was the Grayce A. Young Family Professor of Medicine in Women’s Health at Harvard Medical School and professor of epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Her research—and the research, health care models, and training programs of the Connors Center—has had an impact on women across the country through its influence on health care and health policy reforms. Her work has also influenced and educated emerging leaders beyond the borders of the United States who are seeking to improve the health of women globally. Recently, President Johnson co-chaired the landmark report of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, entitled Sexual Harassment of Women: Climate, Culture and Consequences in Academic Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.

President Johnson is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine, the nation’s leading advisory organization providing expertise on issues relating to biomedical science, medicine, and health. She has been recognized as a national leader in medicine by the National Library of Medicine and has received several honorary degrees and numerous awards for her contributions to science, medicine, and public health. Most recently, she received the Stephen Smith Medal for Distinguished Contributions in Public Health by the New York Academy of Medicine.

In her three years as president of Wellesley, she has advanced women’s higher education, championing cross-campus efforts to integrate the ideals of inclusive excellence into every aspect of academic and residential life. She Under her leadership, the College is also developing new opportunities across all fields by drawing on the synergies found at the intersection of science, the humanities, and social sciences.

President Johnson attended Harvard and Radcliffe colleges, received her A.B., M.D., and M.P.H. degrees from Harvard, and trained in internal medicine and cardiovascular medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. A native of Brooklyn, New York, she and her husband are the parents of a son and a daughter.

Dr. Deborah E. Lipstadt, Dorot professor of Holocaust Studies at Emory University in Atlanta, has published and taught about the Holocaust and antisemitism for close to 40 years. Professor Lipstadt’s book, ANTISEMITISM: HERE AND NOW has just been published to stellar reviews.Publisher’s Weekly described it as “measured and carefully noninflammatory.. intelligent and evenhanded.” Kirkus described it as a “tour de force.”

She is probably most widely known because of the libel lawsuit brought against her (1996) by David Irving for having called him a Holocaust denier. Irving then was then arguably the world’s leading denier.

After a ten-week trial in London (2000), in an overwhelming victory for Professor Lipstadt, the judge found Irving to be a “neo-Nazi polemicist” who “perverts” history and engages in “racist” and “anti-Semitic” discourse. The Daily Telegraph (London) described the trial as having “done for the new century what the Nuremberg tribunals or the Eichmann trial did for earlier generations.” The Times (London) described it as “history has had its day in court and scored a crushing victory.” According to the New York Times, the trial “put an end to the pretense that Mr. Irving is anything but a self-promoting apologist for Hitler.”

Her TED talk about the trial has received over 1.3 million views. The movie DENIAL, starring Rachel Weisz and Tom Wilkenson with a screenplay by David Hare, tells the story of this legal battle. It is based on her book HISTORY ON TRIAL: MY DAY IN COURT WITH A HOLOCAUST DENIER (Harper Collins 2006) and recently reissued as DENIAL (Harper Collins 2016). The film was nominated for a BAFTA as one of the best British films of the year.

Her book, THE EICHMANN TRIAL, (Schocken/Nextbook 2011) published in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Eichmann trial, was called by Publisher’s Weekly, “a penetrating and authoritative dissection of a landmark case and its after effects.” The New York Times Book Review described Deborah Lipstadt as having “done a great service by… recovering the event as a gripping legal drama, as well as a hinge moment in Israel’s history and in the world’s delayed awakening to the magnitude of the Holocaust.”

She has also published BEYOND BELIEF: THE AMERICAN PRESS AND THE COMING OF THE HOLOCAUST (Free Press, 1986) which surveys what the American press wrote about the persecution of the Jews in the years 1933-1945.

At Emory she directs the website known as HDOT [Holocaust Denial on Trial/ www.hdot.org ] which contains a complete archive of the proceedings of Irving v. Penguin UK and Deborah Lipstadt. It also provides answers to frequent claims made by deniers. At Emory Lipstadt has won the Emery Williams Teaching Award. She was selected for the award by alumni as the teacher who had most influenced them.

Professor Lipstadt was an historical consultant to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and helped design the section of the Museum dedicated to the American Response to the Holocaust.

She has held Presidential appointment to the United States Holocaust Memorial Council (from Presidents Clinton and Obama) and was asked by President George W. Bush to represent the White House at the 60^th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. She was part of a committee that advised Secretary of State Madeline Albright on matters of religious freedom abroad.

She is frequently quoted in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Forward, and Tablet. She regularly appears on BBC, CNN, NPR, and PBS among many others.

Eleonor Faur is a Sociologist from University of Buenos Aires, and a Ph.D. from FLACSO-Argentina. She works at the National University of San Martín, as an Associate Professor and also Researches at the Institute for Economic and Social Development (IDES, Argentina). In 2018, she is teaching at ICDD, Kassel University, holding the Ela Batt Cathedra. Her fields of research are Gender, Social Policies and Inequalities, and she specializes in the Political and Social Organization of Care and in Comprehensive Sexuality Education.

Her experience combines social research, teaching, program management and design and policy dialogue. She led UNFPA’s Argentina Country Office for almost 7 years, and served as a Consultant for UNICEF, UNDP and UNFPA in Latin America.

Although Eva Stupka was born and raised in Kishinev, Moldova, she found her home several years ago at an Active Jewish Teens (AJT) International Conference. A grassroots Jewish youth program founded by JDC and Jewish youth in the former Soviet Union, AJT today has approximately 3,200 teens from over 60 locations across the FSU who explore and strengthen their Jewish identity, gain leadership skills, and engage in building their local and global Jewish communities.

Eva was active in the Kishinev Jacobs Jewish Campus’ (KJJC) Haverim Youth Club, which is where she began nurturing her newly-discovered Jewish identity years ago. Having grown up in a society that was void of Jewish religion and culture for decades, Eva discovered as a young girl that her family hid their identity during World War II as a means of protection.

Through AJT, Eva has had the opportunity to visit the U.S. as part of JDC and BBYO’s global partnership to strengthen Jewish teen life. She met thousands of Jewish peers from North America and 30 countries throughout the world. Eva was the 2017 Co-President of Active Jewish Teens and remains active today as song leader, another avenue where she feels she is “making sure Jewish tradition and history” are celebrated.

“These experiences were electric,” Eva says, “reminding me at every turn that Jewish teens are the very future of the Jewish people.”

“Today we are a confident generation that is not afraid of identifying as proud Jews, ready to change the world for the better, build bridges with our fellow Jews around the world, and know what we want in the future,” Eva says.

This is a far cry from what her great grandmother’s family endured in order to survive. Eva thinks about those who came before her while gathering with her peers, lighting Shabbat candles, volunteering to help those in need, and learning new Jewish traditions.

“Have no fear, babushka,” Eva says she would tell her great grandmother. “Everything I knew about myself, everything I thought about my identity, changed in an instant 11 years ago. And for that, I am very lucky.”

Laurie Akers is a soprano, multi-instrumentalist, cantorial soloist and composer whose broad range of musical influences creates a musical style that resonates with a vast range of audiences. Following her professional debut in the Lyric Opera of Chicago TOSCA and graduation from the acclaimed University of Michigan’s Musical Theatre program, Laurie relocated to New York City and spent ten years performing in US Broadway National, European, and South American musical tours and concerts. Laurie was honored with the title of Miss USO, in which she spent a year serving as a US ambassador, and travelling globally to visit US troops. In addition to her work with the USO, Laurie created a musical program and curriculum for NYC’s Young Adult Institute, a non-profit organization that creates programs to enhance the lives of people with developmental disabilities.

Laurie serves as the host of the Jewish Rock Radio Chicago Sings series. This role has fueled her passion of bringing artists together to collaborate and share music on both local and national platforms. Laurie’s diverse musical performances include participating as a soloist alongside Keith Urban, Broadway Barks with Bernadette Peters, Broadway Sings BCEFA annual concerts, and the Illinois Holocaust Museum’s annual Kristallnacht program. In addition, Laurie is regularly called upon to serve as a guest artist and concert soloist at congregations throughout the country.

Laurie’s music is routinely featured in programs throughout the country including the 2015 URJ Biennial’s Jewish Rock Radio Stage, Rick Recht’s Songleader Bootcamp, and numerous FIDF (Friends of the Israel Defense Forces), JNF (Jewish National Fund) and JUF (Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago) events. Her song, Stand Strong, served as the anthem for the March of Our Lives rally in suburban Chicago, the RAC’s (Religious Action Center) Illinois launch, and has been shared at numerous social justice events throughout the country including the NEA conference in Houston, Texas and the Consultation on Conscience convention in Washington, D.C. Laurie’s compositions can be found in multiple Transcontinental Music Publication’s anthologies including Chazak v’ Ematz, Shabbat Anthology IX and the upcoming Niggun Anthology Volume III. Laurie has been commissioned to compose music for some of the most prestigious congregations in the country including Park Avenue Synagogue in New York City. Laurie recently released her first album, The Key of We, which can be found on ITunes, Spotify and CD Baby.

Laurie serves as the cantorial soloist and musical director at Congregation Or Shalom in the northern suburbs of Chicago, and she is currently pursuing cantorial certification through the Cantors Assembly. Laurie and her husband, Brad, have three children.

Mandie is the Executive Director for JDC GRID – JDC’s platform for global disaster response and development. Mandie’s career at JDC has spanned Asia, Africa, Europe, the former Soviet Union and the Caribbean.

Mandie led JDC’s emergency response and disaster recovery programs in Haiti (2010), the Philippines (2013) and Nepal (2015) as well as interventions to serve Syrian refugees (2014 ongoing). She served as JDC’s Country Director for India from 2011 until 2017 and as the Regional Director of the Africa Asia Region in JDC from 2014 to 2017. Mandie has represented JDC in multi-year assignments in Sri Lanka following the Indian Ocean Tsunami and in Moscow where she served as Deputy Director, founding women’s health programs.

Mandie currently leads the team responsible for launching a new cutting-edge international development intiative: Tikkun Olam Ventures (TOV). TOV addresses the poverty of small holder farmers including women and young adults in Africa by improving their livelihood through access to markets and Israeli agricultural technology.

Mandie holds an MSc in International Relations with a specialization in development economics from the New School in New York. She lives in the development town of Mitzpe Ramon in Israel’s Negev desert.

Michal Frank has been leading JDC’s operations in the former Soviet Union since joining JDC in August 2014. Starting in 2019, Michal has assumed additional global responsibilities as JDC’s Co-Chief Program Officer.

Michal oversees JDC-FSU’s vast humanitarian assistance and community development work in 11 countries throughout the region, which reaches nearly 100,000 people each year. Since assuming her position, Michal has been focusing on JDC-FSU’s strategic development, transitioning and restructuring operations to face current and future realities.

Michal earned an LLB (Hons) from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She later returned to her alma mater where she received an MBA, also with honors. She is a member of the Israel Bar Association.

Michal came to JDC from an impressive career in government and business. She served as the Deputy Director-General for Internal Affairs and Development in Israel’s Prime Minister’s Office, where she directed activities related to municipal authorities, urban planning and regional development; internal security and emergency preparedness; and Diaspora affairs.

Michal also has a rich business development background, having served in senior management roles at investment firms, as well as in Israel’s Ministry of Finance, as Senior Advisor to the Director-General of the Government Companies Authority, taking part in the privatizations of some of Israel’s biggest enterprises.

Mirai Chatterjee is the Director of the Social Security Team at Self-Employed Women’s Association, (SEWA). She is responsible for SEWA’s Health Care, Child Care and Insurance programmes. She is currently Chairperson of the National Insurance VimoSEWA Cooperative Ltd and actively involved with the Lok Swasthya Health Cooperative, of which she is a founder. Both cooperatives are promoted by SEWA. In addition, she is Chairperson of the Gujarat State Women’s SEWA Cooperative Federation of 106 primary cooperatives with 300,000 members. She joined SEWA in 1984 and was its General Secretary after its Founder, Ela Bhatt.

Ms Chatterjee serves on the Boards of several organizations, including the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), Save the Children and PRADAN. She was advisor to the National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganized Sector and is in the Advisory Group on Community Action of the National Rural Health Mission. She was also a Commissioner in the World Health Organization’s Commission on the Social Determinants of Health. She was a member of the National Advisory Council (NAC), appointed by the Prime Minister of India in 2010. She was conferred the Global Achievement award by the School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University.

Ms. Chatterjee has a B.A. from Harvard University in History and Science and a Masters from Johns Hopkins University’s School of Public Health, USA.

Nela Hasic is the Regional Director of the NGO “Think Pink- Zajedno smo jedno”, which is continuation of Women’s Health Empowerment Program (WHEP) in Bosnia-Herzegovina; she has been working for JDC from 2004 to 2018.

WHEP is a non-sectarian partnership between the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), an overseas humanitarian aid organization that works in over 70 countries, and Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the world’s largest grassroots network of breast cancer survivors and activists. WHEP is an innovative public movement which provides psychosocial support services by and for women with breast cancer and their families, provide free preventive checkups for those in need, as well as a variety of public education programs to encourage early detection of breast cancer. The Program also provides organizational development training to NGOs active in this sector in 20 different cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In 2002, after spending what Nela describes as a rewarding decade in Israel – working and raising her family, learning Hebrew and English, they returned to Sarajevo. Nela began working with JDC in January 2004, and was soon appointed Director of WHEP for Bosnia, where she has expanded the program’s reach.

In 2017 she decided to establish new organization to continue WHEP activities in Bosnia and Herzegovina and region.

Nela is deeply committed to the WHEP, and has helped to expand it to Hungary, Russia, and to Georgia. In 2009, Nela helped WHEP expand its activities to Montenegro, and she now also supervises the program activities there.

WHEP Bosnia builds bridges between Bosnia’s complex Muslim, Roman Catholic, Orthodox and Jewish communities by bringing women, and their families, together to fight a shared enemy: breast cancer. It is still largely taboo for women to discuss personal health issues, and this project is blazing new territories by openly discussing female health issues.

In 2008, she organized first Race for the Cure in Sarajevo, bringing totally new format in Bosnia. Today twelve years later, The Race for the Cure is one of Bosnia’s most recognizable public events. It is a manifestation of altruism that brings thousands of people from all over the country together in order to bring awareness to the issue of women’s health and breast cancer.

Rabbi Angela Warnick Buchdahl serves as the Senior Rabbi of Central Synagogue in New York City, the first woman to lead the large Reform congregation in its 180-year history. Rabbi Buchdahl first joined Central Synagogue as Senior Cantor in 2006, and was chosen as Senior Rabbi in 2014.

Rabbi Buchdahl was invested as a cantor and also ordained as a rabbi by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion where she was a Wexner Graduate fellow. She earned a B.A. in Religious Studies from Yale University in 1994. Born in Korea to a Jewish American father and a Korean Buddhist mother, Rabbi Buchdahl is the first Asian American to be ordained as cantor or rabbi in North America.

Rabbi Buchdahl has been nationally recognized for her innovations in leading worship, which draw large crowds both in the congregation’s historic Main Sanctuary and via live stream and cable broadcast to viewers in more than 100 countries. Rabbi Buchdahl has been featured in dozens of news outlets including the Today Show, NPR, PBS and was listed as one of Newsweek’s“America’s 50 Most Influential Rabbis.” She serves on the boards of Auburn Theological Seminary, AJC, Avodah Jewish Service Corps, and the UJA-Federation of NY.

Rabbi Buchdahl and her husband Jacob Buchdahl have three children.

Dr. Sigal Shelach is committed to improving the lives of all Israelis. Driven by a desire to understand how things work to make them better, Sigal knows the importance of asking the right questions. With her tenure as CEO of JDC Israel coinciding with the organization’s major strategic planning process, this focus will serve Sigal, and JDC, well.

Sigal holds an MA and PhD from Tel Aviv University’s Department of Labor Studies, specializing in employment and migration. After working for six years as a Senior Research Fellow at Israel’s Ministry of Economy and Industry she joined JDC in 2007 as Director of Minorities and Immigrants programs within its Israel Employment Initiative. In this role she brought about a sea change in employment services in the Arab-Israeli sector not least by forging relationships with a major philanthropic foundation and the Israeli Government.

In 2012, Sigal was promoted to Director and given overall responsibility for JDC’s efforts to help Israelis exit poverty through employment. She steered the Initiative toward providing tools for Israel’s ever evolving workforce. As Deputy Director of JDC-Israel since 2014, Sigal also applied her forward-thinking approach to shaping JDC’s overall strategy in Israel.

As the first CEO of JDC-Israel to have “risen through the ranks” of JDC’s field staff, Sigal is keen to actively involve her colleagues in planning for the organization’s future. “Our professionals’ connections to grassroots Israeli life are vital for generating postive change.”

In her current role at JDC-TEVET, Suzan is responsible for developing innovative initiatives for the integration of two main populations into the job market: Arab men and women who are disengaged from the labor force and working for lower wages than the general population, with emphasis on developing interventions and innovative employment opportunities such as telecommuting and e-commerce, and on enhancing capacities and skills relevant to effecting change in the employment field.

Suzan has extensive knowledge and experience in the employment of special needs populations, accrued during her research work at the Myers-Joint-Brookdale Institute and accompanying programs for Israeli Arab society and disadvantaged women from their stage of development through their adoption by the government.

Suzan also has broad experience advising social and business organizations in the development of employment programs for disenfranchised groups. She has also been a lecturer in career management programs. Suzan holds a Bachelor’s degree in behavioral neuroscience, an additional degree in social work, and a Master’s in Law studies and Criminology – all from Hebrew University.

Originally from Colorado, Tzipi Zipper moved to Israel alone at the age of 15. After completing high school, she joined the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and served as a combat commander in the Engineering Corps. During her service, Tzipi was stationed throughout the country and served during Operation Cast Lead in 2009. Upon completing her service, she became the first woman to pass a high-level security training course to work at select security checkpoints.

Sadly, it was while working at one such checkpoint that Tzipi was hit by a car in an accident, sustaining injuries that at first appeared relatively minor, but were later revealed to be more serious than originally determined. Diagnosed with a chronic pain condition, the formerly agile young woman soon found herself in a wheelchair.

Alone in Israel and faced with a major life adjustment, Tzipi could have easily lost her spirit. Instead, she discovered a new family through JDC’s Center for Independent Living (CIL) in Tel Aviv. Through her involvement with the CIL, Tzipi regained the confidence needed to perform daily tasks and achieve her long-term aspirations. At the CIL, Tzipi forged close friendships and a strong support network.

Eager to give back, Tzipi helped organize numerous projects and programs at CIL. She has hosted events, taught an English class, held numerous meetings with funders interested in supporting the CIL, and gained experience in accessibility advocacy. In the past, Tzipi was involved in CIL’s peer counselling program while also assisting people with disabilities in understanding and exercising their rights, as well as promoting awareness of the need for accessibility and advocating for the enforcement of accessibility legislation.

Previously, Tzipi lived in Sderot and studied at the Mechina at Sapir College. Currently, Tzipi is enrolled in at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya where she just completed a degree in law and is now studying for a graduate degree in law and emerging technologies in an accelerated joint degree program.

Tzipi’s experiences and work with JDC and CIL inspired her to continue to give back to the community. Tzipi volunteers as a boarding school counselor for youth at risk and new ‘Olim’ in a project started by her scholarship program ‘Heseg’. There she helps prepare teens for life after high school and military service. Additionally, Tzipi volunteers in an on-campus student program in which she gives private lessons in law to new Olim and students who speak Hebrew as a second language.

To this day, Tzipi has retained her passion for sports and takes every opportunity she can to kayak and ski and was on the Israeli national para-curling team. She currently resides in Tel Aviv and works as a paralegal in a Tel Aviv-based law firm as well as a legal research assistant.