Name:
Sandy Perl
AIPAC Role:
Member of AIPAC's Board of Directors
Professional Profile/Associations:
AIPAC national board member and senior corporate attorney at Kirkland & Ellis LLP in Chicago. Ranked as a top private equity lawyer by Chambers USA every year since 2004 and named to Super Lawyers since 2005. J.D. magna cum laude from University of Michigan Law School (1990); recipient of the Elijah Watt Sells Award on the CPA Examination. Appointed by Governor Bruce Rauner to the University of Illinois Board of Trustees (2018–2023). Director of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago; Trustee of the Civic Federation of Chicago; serves on the executive committee of the Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership. Recipient of the Learned Hand Award from the American Jewish Committee.
Accountability:
As a member of AIPAC's Board of Directors, Sandy Perl 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.
