Name:
Harriet Schleifer
AIPAC Role:
Member of AIPAC's Board of Directors
Professional Profile/Associations
AIPAC national board member; retired education-law attorney. Appointed to the Board of Directors of Democratic Majority for Israel (DMFI). Former chair of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations from June 2023 through May 2025, the umbrella organization representing 50 national Jewish groups. Past National President of the American Jewish Committee where she chaired the Board of Governors and Project Interchange; co-founded AJC Central Europe in Warsaw, where the director's office is dedicated to her parents, Holocaust survivors Rubin and Frances Partel. Member of the Board of Trustees of The Washington Institute for Near East Policy; Trustee of Cornell University; Secretary of The Jewish Museum (New York); Board Member of Plaza Jewish Community Chapel and Jewish Broadcasting Service TV. Member of the Executive Committee of Chapel Haven Schleifer Center, a residential organization for people with developmental disabilities that bears the family name. Her husband Dr. Leonard Schleifer is the billionaire co-founder and CEO of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals; he has known President Donald Trump for years as a member of Trump's golf club in Westchester County.
Accountability:
As a member of AIPAC's Board of Directors, Harriet Schleifer bears individual legal responsibility for the organization's conduct. Under U.S. nonprofit law, board members hold fiduciary duties to ensure organizational compliance with applicable legal standards, implement oversight systems for core activities, and respond to credible information about organizational wrongdoing. In Stern v. Lucy Webb Hayes (1974), the federal district court held that nonprofit directors who fail to supervise organizational decisions breach their fiduciary obligations. In In re Lemington Home for the Aged (3d Cir. 2015), the Third Circuit upheld $2.25 million in damages against nonprofit directors who ignored red flags and failed to exercise reasonable oversight. 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.
