JDCA Adds Glickman and Kurtzer to Board

WASHINGTON – Guiding the Jewish Democratic Council of America’s (JDCA) unique work of mobilizing Jewish voters, the organization’s Board of Directors now includes two former officials with strong policy and leadership experience, Amb. Daniel Kurtzer and Hon. Dan Glickman. “The inclusion of leaders like these exemplifies the growth of our movement and the impact of our work. Both bring unparalleled expertise to our Board,” said JDCA Board chair former U.S. Representative Ron Klein (FL). 

Hon. Dan Glickman served as the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture from March 1995 until January 2001 in the Clinton administration. Before his appointment as Secretary of Agriculture, he served for 18 years in the U.S. House of Representatives for the 4th Congressional District of Kansas. He is now a senior counselor and chair of the International Advisory Board at APCO Worldwide and is a long-time board member and former lead director and Chair of the Governance Committee of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME Group), senior advisor to the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, and recent past chairman. 

Glickman has written his memoir, Laughing at Myself; My Education in Congress, on the Farm and at the Movies, published by the University of Kansas Press in 2021. He has been actively engaged in promoting bipartisanship in the U.S. Congress, retiring as vice president of the Aspen Institute and executive director of its Congressional Program in early 2021 after 10 years.  He served as chairman of the Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. (MPAA) from 2004 until 2010. 

Amb. Daniel C. Kurtzer is the S. Daniel Abraham Professor of Middle East policy studies at Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs. Following a 29-year career in the U.S. Foreign Service, Kurtzer retired in 2005 with the rank of Career-Minister. From 2001-2005 he served as the United States Ambassador to Israel and from 1997-2001 as the United States Ambassador to Egypt. 

Throughout his career, Kurtzer was instrumental in formulating and executing U.S. policy toward the Middle East peace process. Secretary of State John Kerry appointed Kurtzer to the Secretary’s Foreign Affairs Policy Board. Governor Chris Christie appointed Kurtzer to serve on the New Jersey-Israel State Commission. Previously, Kurtzer served as an advisor to the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, and as a member of the Advisory Council of the American Bar Association’s Middle East Rule of Law Initiative. In 2007, he was named the first Commissioner of the professional Israel Baseball League.

Kurtzer is the co-author of Negotiating Arab-Israeli Peace: American Leadership in the Middle East; co-author of The Peace Puzzle: America’s Quest for Arab-Israeli Peace, 1989-2011; and editor of Pathways to Peace: America and the Arab-Israeli Conflict. He has authored numerous scholarly articles and op-eds on foreign policy issues. 

To speak with a representative of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, please contact [email protected].

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