National NCJW Leader to Visit New Orleans for Jan. 23 Event

Sheila Katz

The Greater New Orleans Section of the National Council of Jewish Women will welcome Sheila Katz, NCJW’s national chief executive officer, as the keynote speaker at its Jan. 23 meeting.

Katz and Rabbi Yonah Schiller, executive director of Tulane Hillel, will speak on “What is happening on college campuses around the country,” sharing their views on issues facing Jewish students on college campuses around the country, including Tulane.

Katz, who spent 12 years as Hillel’s international vice president for student engagement and leadership, is also an alumna of the Wexner Foundation Fellowship and Teach for America. She will also discuss the impact of today’s campus challenges on the future of NCJW and Jewish organizations in general.

During her 12 years at Hillel, Sheila engaged Jewish students and professionals around the world through programs including “Ask Big Questions,” a national initiative she co-founded and directed, which helps guide students through conversations to help them understand themselves and others. She also spearheaded MitzVote, Hillel’s non-partisan civic engagement campaign that helped almost 19,000 students register to vote or request absentee ballots leading up to the 2018 midterm elections.

In 2014, Katz was appointed by the White House to committees advising President Obama on higher education and women’s rights.

Schiller became executive director of Tulane Hillel in 2008, and recently announced he will be leaving Tulane to assume a new role with the Jim Jacobs Foundation this summer. Schiller created and implemented the process of an organizational re-imagining and re-structuring of Tulane Hillel.

Schiller and Katz know each other from their work with Hillel.

“Hearing from two such knowledgeable and insightful leaders will provide an engaging discussion of what is occurring on campuses and how our Jewish students can deal with rising anti-Semitism and anti-Israel factions that are so pervasive today,” said NCJW New Orleans President Susan Hess. “It promises to be an important and thought-provoking evening on a topic of great concern for all of us.”

As part of the evening, Alysse Fuchs will be recognized with the Section’s Emerging Leader award.

The dinner meeting will be on Jan. 23 at 7 p.m. Cost for the dinner and meeting is $36. Click here for reservations and for the event location.