All Attendees Welcome
Women’s Voices on Sexual Assault as a Weapon of War and Antisemitism: October 7th and Beyond
Featuring Jackie Subar, Meredith Jacobs, Sheila Katz, Carole Nuriel, Carly Pildis, Carol Ann Schwartz
Speakers
Meredith Jacobs
CEO, Jewish Women International (JWI)
Meredith Jacobs is CEO of Jewish Women International (JWI), a 125-year-old nonprofit dedicated to ending violence against women and girls. Since assuming the role of CEO in 2020, Jacobs has shepherded the development of numerous JWI initiatives, including the National Center on Domestic & Sexual Violence in the Jewish Community; the Collaborative of Jewish Domestic Violence Agencies; the Women’s Financial Empowerment Institute; ReStart: job readiness for survivors; the Jewish Gun Violence Prevention Roundtable; and the international expansion of JWI’s Young Women’s Leadership Network.
An award-winning journalist and former editor-in-chief of Washington Jewish Week, Jacobs is the author of The Modern Jewish Mom’s Guide to Shabbat (HarperCollins) and co-author, with her daughter Sofie of the bestselling series of interactive journals, Just Between Us (Chronicle Books). Prior to joining JWI, she founded ModernJewishMom.com, the first Jewish parenting website (now part of Kveller), and was the host of the WYPR radio show, Connecting Family and The Jewish Channel television holiday specials, Modern Jewish Mom.
Named one of the “50 Most Influential Jews of 2020” by The Jerusalem Post, Jacobs is a sought-after speaker, moderator and writer. Her opinion pieces appear frequently in outlets such as JTA, eJewishPhilanthropy, and the Forward. She is a member of the advisory board of the Women’s Business Collaborative (WBC) and serves on the Women’s Economic Empowerment Council for the State of Maryland — an advisory council to Brooke Lierman, Comptroller of Maryland. In 2024, Jacobs was a member of the expert panel on Improving Access to Services for Domestic Abuse Victims in the Military, sponsored by the Department of Defense. She earned a B.A. in English from Haverford College and holds a Masters of Science in Business from Johns Hopkins University.
Sheila Katz
CEO, National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW)
Sheila Katz is the CEO of National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW), a 130-year-old Jewish feminist civil rights organization with over 210,000 advocates working for the full equity and safety of women, children, and families in the United States and Israel. Under Sheila’s leadership, NCJW has responded to threats to reproductive freedom, voting rights, childcare access, equal pay, and other civil rights issues.
Before coming to NCJW, Sheila was the vice president for student engagement and leadership at Hillel International, where she founded award-winning programs to expand student participation in Jewish and civic life, including Ask Big Questions and MitzVote. Sheila was recently named as one of the top 10 faith influencers by Religion News Service and as one of the 50 most influential Jews in the world by the Jerusalem Post. In 2022, Sheila was the commencement speaker for her alma mater Ithaca College. She currently sits on the board of governors of Tel Aviv University.
Carole Nuriel
Senior Regional Director, Israel, the Middle East and North Africa, ADL
Carole Nuriel has been working with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) for 22 years. Prior to assuming her current position as Senior Regional Director, Israel and MENA Countries, Carole was ADL’s Senior Middle Eastern Affairs Analyst with 24 years of experience in this field, focusing on manifestations of anti-Semitism in Middle Eastern media outlets. In her current position Carole is focused on promoting ADL’s programming, advocacy and partnerships globally as well as ADL’s work in Israel including advancing social cohesion, raising awareness to anti-Semitism and de-legitimization of Israel and working with ADL’s partners in Israel (government offices, IDF, INP, NGOs and others).
Carole served in the Israel Defense Force’s Intelligence Corps during her compulsory service. Later she worked for the Israel Broadcasting Authority, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and at the Shalem Center. Carole holds a BA in Arabic language and literature from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and an MA in Arabic language and literature (majoring in classic Arabic language). She speaks Hebrew, French, Arabic, English and Spanish. Carole is married with three children.
Carly Pildis
Director, Community Engagement, ADL
Carly Pildis has dedicated her career to fighting for justice and equity on a global and national scale. he currently serves Director of Community Engagement for the ADL. Past work includes Columnist for the Forward, Director of Grassroots Organizing for the Jewish Democratic Council of America, Contributing Editor at Tablet Magazine, RESULTS, Obama for America 2012, Jubilee USA Network and American Jewish World Service. In addition, she has served as a board member for the JCRC of Greater Washington, The Young Jewish Leadership board of the Greater Washington Jewish Federation, JDCA’s Next Gen Leadership Council and the Inter Jewish Muslim Alliance (IJMA). She has been featured in Forward, Refinery 29, Washington Jewish Weekly, Tablet Magazine, the Washington Post, Politico, CNN, Haaretz and the Jerusalem Post. She has spoken at the ADL Never Again is Now Summit and National Leadership Summit, The Israel Forum at the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan, Z3, The Jewish Council for Public Affairs Conference, The Israeli Embassy, AIPAC Policy Conference, and RESULTS International Conference. In her free time, Carly enjoys engaging in Jewish Twitter and making Shabbat with her family.
Carol Ann Schwartz
National President, Hadassah
Carol Ann Schwartz is National President of Hadassah, The Women’s Zionist Organization of America – the largest Jewish women’s organization in the United States and with an international network of supporters – dedicated to advancing women’s health and empowerment, fighting antisemitism, strengthening the US-Israel relationship, and healing the world through our hospitals and youth villages in Israel.
Early in her presidency, Carol Ann brought together Hadassah’s global leaders to launch the “End The Silence” campaign to unite people all over the world in speaking out against the weaponization of sexual violence by Hamas in Israel and by others around the globe and in demanding justice. In January, Carol Ann led a global Hadassah solidarity mission to Israel, where she and other Hadassah leaders hand-delivered a petition to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) office in Tel Aviv, demanding that ICRC representatives meet with the Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.
Carol Ann has a life-long passion for Israel and Zionism. She has been actively involved with Hadassah for over 30 years including as a member of the Board of Directors of the Hadassah Medical Organization (HMO), national volunteer leader focused on advocacy and communications, and local Cincinnati Chapter president. Additionally, she serves on the AZM (American Zionist Movement) Board, Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish American Organizations Board and JNF-USA Board of Governors.
Following seven plus years in banking, Carol Ann joined her family in commercial real estate and now runs, along with her sister, the family company started in 1946 by her grandfather.
Carol Ann is also active in her local community in Cincinnati, serving as president of Yavneh Day School (Rockwern Academy) and on several boards, including Adath Israel Synagogue, Jewish Federation of Cincinnati, and Hillel.
Carol Ann earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in marketing and management from the University of Cincinnati and a Master of Business Administration in finance from Xavier University.
Moderator
Jackie Subar
Director of Strategic Partnerships, ADL
Jackie Subar serves as the national Director of Strategic Partnerships at the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). In her capacity she is responsible for bolstering national partnerships and for driving ADL’s critical efforts working with communities and lawmakers alike to advance the organization’s mission to stop the defamation of the Jewish people and to secure justice and fair treatment to all. Jackie has served in many capacities at the intersection of advocacy and community building. Before joining ADL, Jackie was the Assistant Director for American Jewish Committee’s (AJC) Department of Policy and Political Affairs. In this role, she was responsible for advancing AJC’s mission on Capitol Hill; for fostering strategic relationships in the U.S. House and Senate, and for managing AJC’s legislative work on areas related to civil rights, hate crimes, religious minorities, domestic terrorism, and online hate. She worked closely with the Congressional Caucus on Black-Jewish Relations. Jackie has spent her professional career in Washington where she has worked to foster intergroup and diplomatic relations. She obtained her master’s in Public Administration from the George Bush School at Texas A&M University and prior to graduate school spent a year studying in Israel.