Dr. William Recant

Assistant Executive Vice President, American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee

Dr. William Recant is the Assistant Executive Vice President of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee-International Development Program and serves as the senior staff person regarding all of JDC’s non-sectarian and disaster relief programs. He coordinates projects relating to the rescue, relief and renewal of Jewish communities worldwide and develops nonsectarian programs. While serving as the Washington representative for JDC, he helped secure JDC’s license to work in Cuba. He has visited Cuba over 50 times and has helped establish JDC’s programs of community development and Jewish renewal.

He has worked with U.S. government agencies and Congressional members to brief them on issues specific to rescue and relief, and with Private Voluntary Organizations (PVOs) in program coordination, partnership development and cooperation. Will has acted as an intermediary to embassies and officials of countries in which JDC is active and has traveled overseas to coordinate and evaluate existing and potential JDC programs in over 30 countries. He has helped provide relief assistance to the disaster-affected countries of India, Sri-Lanka, Kosovo, Rwanda and Haiti.

Before joining JDC, Will was the Executive Director of the American Association for Ethiopian Jews in Washington, DC, and in that capacity he briefed President George Bush on the condition of Ethiopian Jews in Israel and those remaining in Ethiopia. He also worked closely with the Special Israeli Envoy as liaison to the U.S. Government in the planning and implementation of Operation Solomon, established the Congressional Caucus for Ethiopian Jews, advised State Department officials and members of Congress on Ethiopian Jewry, and spoke to groups nationwide on the plight of the Ethiopian community.

Will holds both a Master’s Degree and Ph.D. in Political Science from George Washington University.