The Main Event: Building a More Just World through Philanthropy

Date: 
March 10, 2021
TIME: 
7:00 PM - 8:15 PM
Location: 
Online

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Featuring Dr. Judith Rodin and Honoring Carol Saal

The Day of Philanthropy Festival has addressed specific challenges as well as opportunities in our Jewish community. Armed with the knowledge of The Portrait community study, we are exploring new ways to utilize core Jewish values as a guide for your philanthropy. Dr. Rodin, a pioneer, and thought-leader in the fields of strategic philanthropy, resilience, and impact investing furthers this discussion—exploring innovative, impactful, and equitable ways to use philanthropic capital for rebuilding and recovery in the Bay Area and beyond. We will also be acknowledging the contributions of Carol Saal, celebrating her as the recipient of the 2020 Robert Sinton Award for Distinguished Leadership.

For more information and to register, please visit the Day of Philanthropy Festival page. 

Interests: Virtual
Organized By: 
Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund
Event Contact Person: 
Rachel Kaber
415.512.6290
Speakers: 
Dr. Judith Rodin
Judith Rodin is a pioneer, innovator, change-maker, and global thought-leader. For over two decades, Dr. Rodin led and transformed two global institutions: The University of Pennsylvania and The Rockefeller Foundation. Her leadership at Rockefeller ushered in a new era of strategic philanthropy that emphasized large-scale partnerships with business and government to address and solve the complex challenges of the 21st century and championed two new fields that are at the forefront of current thinking: resilience and impact investing.

Dr. Rodin has served as a board member of nine leading public companies, including Citigroup, Comcast, and Aetna, as well as numerous venture-capital-backed startups, and nonprofits including The Brookings Institution. She has been the recipient of 19 honorary doctorate degrees, numerous prestigious honors, and is a sought-after speaker for influential global forums including The World Economic Forum, the United Nations General Assembly, and the Vatican Global Forum. Dr. Rodin has authored more than 200 academic articles and chapters, and has written or co-written 15 books, including The Resilience Dividend: Being Strong in a World Where Things Go Wrong and her most recent title from Wharton School Press, Making Money Moral: How a New Wave of Visionaries is Linking Purpose and Profit.
Carol Saal
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.