Jeff Mendelsohn

Associate Vice President for Advocacy and Civic Engagement, Jewish Federations of North America

Jeff Mendelsohn is Associate Vice President for Advocacy and Civic Engagement at Jewish Federations of North America in Washington, DC. At JFNA, he leads efforts to empower Federations to combat antisemitism and Israel bias at the municipal level and within civil society spaces. Jeff also spearheads several initiatives that help strengthen and expand Jewish Federations’ grassroots advocacy work around the country and on Capitol Hill. 

Jeff’s career spans law, politics, and advocacy. A San Antonio native and graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, he spent twelve years as chief of staff to two Members of Congress from Texas, more than a decade at AIPAC where he launched and led a national effort to engage non-Jewish constituencies in pro-Israel education and advocacy, and later founded Pro-Israel America, a bipartisan political committee supporting pro-Israel candidates. Jeff is active in Jewish communal life, serves on the Harvard Hillel board, and lives in Washington, DC, with his wife. They have three adult children.