Meet Our 2020 Leadership Awardees
Each year, the Federation honors distinguished community members whose Jewish values, contributions of time, creativity, energy, and resources sustain and enrich the Jewish community.
Carol Saal Honored with the Robert Sinton Award for Distinguished Leadership
“Carol brings an intensity and passion to every opportunity she has found, or which has found her, in the Jewish world. She is an amazing champion for our community, focused and compassionate.” ~ Nominator
Carol has made volunteerism, leadership, and philanthropy a serious career and has applied her entrepreneurial skills to countless Jewish and non-Jewish causes. Among her many charitable endeavors, she was a founding member of the Center for Clinical Immunology at Stanford University Medical Center—an initiative designed to enable bench-to-bedside research in autoimmune diseases. She was an active fundraiser for the Arthritis Foundation’s Northern California regional chapter and was a parent-founder of the country’s fifth Ronald McDonald House affiliated with the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital.
Carol was American Associates Ben-Gurion University’s (BGU) 13th president, serving four terms and earned an honorary doctoral degree. In May 2012, she was appointed a vice-chair of BGU’s Board of Governors in Israel after serving as a governor for more than two decades.
She and her husband Harry have supported numerous projects and causes, including an auditorium in the Alon Hi-Tech building, student scholarships, the American Associates Student Village at the University’s Sde Boker campus, and most recently supporting the expansion of cybersecurity research.
Her great passion in the local Jewish community is the Oshman Family JCC at the Taube Koret Campus for Jewish Life. She was the driving force in raising a significant amount of money to build the new Center and served as president of the board when the project was initiated. She and her family named the Town Square for their daughter Jessica who passed away in 2004. She was made an honorary lifetime board member in 2016.
Her Federation involvement has spanned over 35 years, including service as a board member, officer, Endowment Fund committee member, and overall Bay Area campaign chair for two years. In 2005, she was honored with the Judith Chapman Memorial Women’s Leadership Award.
Carol helped Harry launch two high-tech companies, including Network General Corp. where she worked as a marketing manager until her retirement in 1992. They have two children, Nathaniel and Jessica (z”l), and two grandchildren, Jared and Dalia.
Named after Robert Sinton, a businessman and community leader whose dedication to the Federation and other Bay Area organizations spanned more than five decades, this prestigious award embodies a passion for Jewish communal volunteerism and includes a financial stipend to a Jewish agency or organization chosen by the recipient.
Alexander Fromm Lurie Honored with the Lloyd W. Dinkelspiel Award for Young Leadership
“Alexander is truly committed. Every task that he undertakes, he does with thoughtfulness, passion, and great commitment to the ‘greater good’ of the Jewish community. He’s a true leader and consummate philanthropist.” ~Nominator
Born in San Francisco and raised in Marin County, Alexander Fromm Lurie is a real estate advisor ranked among the top 1% of San Francisco agents. Founder of The Lurie Group at Compass, Alexander's team is included in the top 100 Bay Area teams with more than $500 million in San Francisco home sales. Additionally, Alexander and his team have created a niche service they call Real Estate Matchmaking, in which they introduce buyers and sellers outside of San Francisco to the best-fit real estate agents throughout North America.
Before real estate, Alexander founded and sold a Chicago-based marketing company YouSwoop as well as an online publication TheChiGuide. Previous to these startups, he was a management consultant with Oliver Wyman.
Lurie cares deeply for the Jewish community, currently serving on the Board of Directors for the Federation and chairs the Regional Leadership Council for the Birthright Israel Foundation. Previously, Alexander served on the Board of Directors for the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) and is a graduate of the Federation's Fed Fellows program, Slingshot Fund Bay Area, and the Federation's Young Adult Impact Grant Initiative.
Son of Rabbi Brian Lurie and Caroline Fromm Lurie and the grandson of Alfred and Hanna Fromm, z”l, the stage was set early on for Alexander’s drive toward community service. Brother to Sonia, Daniel, and Ari Lurie, Alexander is a proud five-time uncle. Passionate about live music and a lover of nature, Lurie is an avid cyclist and seeker of outdoor adventure. He is a graduate of Northwestern University where he double-majored in Communications and Political Science.
Honoring the first president of the Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund, this annual award, inaugurated in October of 1959, recognizes an outstanding young leader in the local Jewish community.
