David Harris served as CEO of the American Jewish Committee (AJC) from 1990 to 2022.
The organization was described by The New York Times as “the dean of American Jewish organizations,” and by French President Nicolas Sarkozy as “the most effective, influential, and respected American Jewish organization.”
Harris was referred to by the late Israeli President and Nobel Laureate Shimon Peres as “the foreign minister of the Jewish people.” He is the most decorated Jewish organizational leader in U.S. history, and is the recipient of four honorary doctorates, including from Brandeis University.
Throughout the past five decades, Harris played a pivotal role in helping shape critical global issues — from the rescue of Ethiopian Jewry and Soviet Jewry (including two detentions by Soviet authorities) to helping expand Israel’s diplomatic footprint throughout the world.
He has been committed to preserving Holocaust memory, exploring new relationships in the Arab and larger Muslim worlds, combatting global antisemitism, and promoting intergroup dialogue and cooperation.
He is the author of several books, as well as hundreds of op-eds and articles. His memoir, On the Front Lines: A Lifetime of Global Jewish Advocacy, was published earlier this year by KTAV and the University of Miami, and a new book, Antisemitism: Everything We Need to Know, will be published by Oxford University Press in the summer of 2025. He also hosts a weekly television show, “Defending Israel”, for the Jewish Broadcasting Service (JBS).
Harris studied at the University of Pennsylvania and London School of Economics. He also was a Visiting Scholar at Johns Hopkins University and both a Junior and Senior Associate at Oxford University.
He is the son of two Holocaust survivors, and a husband, father of three married sons, and grandfather of seven, soon to be eight, grandchildren.