Name:
Elliot Brandt
AIPAC Role:
Chief Executive Officer
Professional Profile/Associations:
AIPAC Chief Executive Officer since late 2024, succeeding Howard Kohr. According to AIPAC's 2023 Form 990, received total compensation of $783,543 as Vice Chief Executive Officer. B.A. in Political Science from Stanford University (1990). Joined AIPAC in 1994 and has worked at the organization for over 30 years. Participated in OTZMA, a year-long fellowship program in Israel in 1991. Career trajectory included leading AIPAC's Pacific Northwest office, then San Francisco, then Western States Director based in Los Angeles, mobilizing Silicon Valley donors and entertainment industry figures in what he called a "retail operation."
Accountability:
As an officer of AIPAC, Elliot Brandt bears individual legal responsibility for the organization's conduct. Under D.C. Code § 29-406.42, officers with discretionary authority must act in good faith, exercise ordinary prudent-person care, and affirmatively report material information and potential legal violations to the board. While the DC Nonprofit Corporation Act provides automatic liability protection for directors of charitable corporations, it extends no such protection to officers—meaning executive officers face potential personal liability for conduct that would be shielded if committed by a director. Federal courts have sustained punitive damages against nonprofit executives while vacating them against directors, and federal tax law treats executive officers as "disqualified persons" subject to personal excise taxes on excess benefit transactions.
The information in these profiles is drawn primarily from AIPAC's most recent IRS Form 990, supplemented by publicly available sources including news reports, official announcements, and public records. As a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization, AIPAC is legally required to file Form 990 annually with the Internal Revenue Service, and these filings are public documents.
However, IRS regulations allow organizations up to eleven months after their fiscal year ends to submit these forms, meaning publicly available data typically lags by approximately one year. This inherent delay underscores why AIPAC—like most major organizations of its size and influence—should maintain a current, public-facing leadership page identifying its board members and senior executives. The absence of such transparency from AIPAC necessitates this project. We are committed to accuracy and will update these profiles as new information becomes available. If you have corrections, updates, or additional sourced information, please contact us at advocacy@dawnmena.org.
