Robert Sugarman Nominated To Lead Presidents Conference

Fresh from his post as lay leader of the Anti-Defamation League, Robert G. Sugarman was recommended by the Nominating Committee of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations to serve as chairman. The term begins June 1.

The full Conference will vote on the recommendation in May, but historically the nominee has been easily approved.

Sugarman would succeed Richard B. Stone who is completing his second term in the job that is arguably the organized Jewish community’s most prominent leadership position, representing 51 national groups in meetings with top national and international elected officials and policymakers. The Conference was founded in 1956 in response to the growth of Jewish organizations.

In a brief phone interview Tuesday, Sugarman said he would “strive to increase the participation of the member organizations.

“The principal issue, I think remain the same: israels security in the face of ever increasing challenges, the most significant being Iran.”

He said that while there is consensus among the member organizations on the need to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, “The challenge will be to build a consensus on the means to do that.”

A Yale Law School graduate, Sugarman was a partner at Weil, Gotshal & Manges, LLP for over thirty years, retiring in 2007. He now represents on a pro bono basis the East End Eruv Association in a lawsuit to install an eruv in Westhampton Beach, Quogue and Southhampton.

In a statement, Alan Solow, immediate past chairman of the Conference and chairman of the Nominating Committee, said there were two finalists in the nomination procvess and “the Committee felt Sugarman, working with the Executive Vice Chairman / CEO, Malcolm Hoenlein, the Conference staff, and member organizations, will continue the Conference’s leadership of the American Jewish community as it has for more than five decades.”