Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League
Twitter: @ JGreenblattADL; Facebook: ADL- Anti-Defamation League
Jonathan Greenblatt is the CEO of ADL (Anti-Defamation League) and its sixth National Director. As chief executive of ADL, Jonathan leads all aspects of the world’s leading anti-hate organization. He is an accomplished entrepreneur and innovative leader with deep experience in the private, public and nonprofit sectors.
Since becoming CEO in July 2015, Greenblatt has modernized ADL while refocusing it on the mission it has had since its founding in 1913: to fight the defamation of the Jewish people, and to secure justice and fair treatment to all.
Under Greenblatt, ADL has worked in new and innovative ways to counter anti-Semitism from all sides and to combat extremism in all forms. In 2016, he expanded ADL’s Center on Extremism to enhance the organization’s work in monitoring and neutralizing rising threats to Jews and other marginalized groups. In 2017, he launched ADL’s Center on Technology and Society in Silicon Valley to fight the rising tide of anti-Semitism and hate in social media. He has initiated partnerships with diverse organizations including the Aspen Institute, the European Jewish Congress, Google, U.S. Conference of Mayors and Volkswagen. In 2016, he launched “Never Is Now” which has evolved into one of the largest annual convenings in the world focused on anti-Semitism.
Jonathan has served on numerous corporate and non-profit boards and been recognized on multiple occasions for his leadership at ADL. He has been named by The NonProfit Times to its list of Top 50 Nonprofit Leaders in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019. In 2017, Recode named Jonathan to its inaugural “Recode 100,” a list of the top 100 people in business and technology. He has been named among the Top 50 Most Influential Leaders in the global Jewish community by The Jerusalem Post and as one of the Top 50 Jews to follow on Twitter by the JTA.
Before ADL, Greenblatt served in the White House as Special Assistant to President Obama and Director of the Office of Social Innovation. He came to that role after a long career in business. In 2002, he co-founded Ethos Brands, the business that launched Ethos Water, a premium bottled water that helps children around the world access clean water. Ethos was acquired by Starbucks Coffee Company in 2005. Following the acquisition, Jonathan was named VP of global consumer products at Starbucks and joined the board of the Starbucks Foundation.
In 2009, Jonathan founded All for Good (AFG), the largest database of volunteer opportunities on the Internet. Incubated at Google, AFG developed an innovative strategy to organize the world’s volunteer listings. AFG was acquired by Points of Light in 2011. Prior to Ethos, Jonathan worked as an executive at REALTOR.com joining the company as a product manager and eventually heading up its consumer products unit. REALTOR went public in 1999 (HOMS) and later was acquired by News Corp in 2014.
Jonathan has served as an adjunct faculty member at the Anderson School of Management at UCLA and served as a senior fellow at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Jonathan graduated cum laude with a BA from Tufts University and earned his MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.