Lunch & Afternoon Plenary

Both of Barbara Adelman’s parents were extremely involved in Jewish organizations in Baltimore since early adulthood – her mother with Hadassah and her father with B’nai Brith. And her father was a “victim” of university quota policies. He had to wait several years for a “space to open” for him at Johns Hopkins. This family history greatly influenced Barbara’s decision to become active with ADL. Her involvement also stems from her deep personal commitment to ADL’s dual mission. Barbara has the privilege of serving in leadership roles both in the Midwest region and at the national level. She previously served as inaugural co-chair of the GLC with Mike Sheetz. She is currently Treasurer and a member of the ADL Foundation Board, the Audit Committee and Vice-Chair of the Foundation Investment Committee and remains a GLC member. She was a past Midwest Regional Board Chair, and remains a member of the Midwest board and its Executive and Management Committees. Barbara also had the pleasure of participating in several ADL missions, including the first GLC Mission to Paris and London, the inaugural Women’s Mission to Israel and the first Civil Rights Mission to Atlanta, Selma and Birmingham. She recently joined a GLC Mission to Chile and had the privilege of joining the ADL contingent participating in the 60th anniversary March on Washington.

Barbara recently retired from a long career in the financial services industry, first as an international corporate banker, then as a financial advisor. Art is another of her passions. She was a docent at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago for over 15 years and currently sits on the Board and serves on the Finance and Investment Committee for The Arts Club of Chicago. Barbara is also a long-time member of The University of Chicago Women’s Board as well as its Steering Committee, and recently became a member of the University of Chicago Divinity School Council.

In her spare time, she and her husband Steve enjoy spending time and relaxing at their Michigan home.

Julia Jassey is the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Jewish on Campus the leading voice for Jewish students in the United States, combatting antisemitism, engaging in grassroots activism, and advocating for the Jewish community. Her work has been recognized widely in the Jewish community and beyond, featured on CNN, CBS, Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and other international news outlets. Working together with students around the country, she has advocated for students at every level—from university administrators to the White House as a contributor to the National Strategy to Combat Antisemitism. She was awarded at the Anti-Defamation League’s Concert Against Hate for her leadership in the Jewish community, and she was considered one of Algemeiner Magazine’s “Top 100 People Positively Influencing Jewish Life” in 2021. She currently serves as a Brume and Allen Scholar at the American Sephardi Federation, and she was formerly the host of the “Nice Jewish Girls” feminist podcast. She graduated from the University of Chicago in 2023, where she studied Political Science and Jewish Studies.

Claire Finkelstein’s current research addresses national security law and policy, democratic governance, and professional ethics.

Finkelstein is the founder and faculty director of the Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law (CERL), a non-partisan interdisciplinary institute affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC). She is a distinguished research fellow at APPC and a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI).

An expert in the law of armed conflict, military ethics, national security law, and professional ethics, she is a co-editor (with Jens David Ohlin) of The Oxford Series in Ethics, National Security, and the Rule of Law, and an editor of six of its volumes: Targeted Killings: Law & Morality in an Asymmetrical World (2012); Cyber War: Law and Ethics for Virtual Conflicts (2015); Weighing Lives in War (2017); Sovereignty and the New Executive Authority (2018); Preserving Cultural Heritage in Times of War (2022), and Between Crime and War: Hybrid Legal Frameworks for Asymmetric Conflict (forthcoming, 2022). She has published widely in national security and democratic governance, and most recently led a working group of over 30 national security professionals to produce a significant report discussing recommendations for closing Guantanamo Bay Prison.

Finkelstein is a sought-after national security consultant, briefing individuals, Pentagon officials, U.S. Senate staff, and JAG Corps members on issues relating to national security law and practice. She is also regularly consulted on matters of personal and professional ethics. She is a frequent radio, podcast, broadcast, and print commentator and has published op-eds in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Bloomberg, and Newsweek. Her other scholarly work has focused on criminal law theory, moral and political philosophy, jurisprudence, and rational choice theory.

As an Emmy, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild award winner, Julianna Margulies has achieved success in television, theatre, and film.

Margulies can currently be seen starring in the third season of the Apple TV+ flagship series “The Morning Show” opposite Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon as Laura Peterson, an anchor at UBA News. Met with critical praise, the show has earned Screen Actors Guild, Golden Globe, and Critics Choice award nominations in the category of “Best Drama Series.”

Recently, Margulies signed on as executive producer of the Jordan Matthew Horowitz’s Oscar-qualified documentary short Jack and Sam. Mixing documentary, archival, and breathtaking animation, the film tells the tale of two Holocaust survivors miraculously reuniting after 80 years. Now in their late 90s, they are spending the precious time they have left rekindling their friendship and educating others about the dangers of hatred. The heartwarming story explores the enduring power of connection and the resilience of the human spirit in the face of unimaginable adversity.

In 2021, Margulies added author to her list of credits with the release of her autobiography Sunshine Girl: An Unexpected Life. The book tells the story of her unconventional childhood and how it shaped some of the crucial decisions she made as an adult. The title is a nod to the childhood nickname given to her by her mother.

Margulies has also starred in Showtime’s “Billions” as Catherine Brant, an Ivy League sociology professor and best-selling author. She joined Damian Lewis and Paul Giamatti for the series’ fifth season which premiered in May 2020.

Previously, Margulies starred in National Geographic’s limited series “The Hot Zone,” based on the best-selling book written by Richard Preston. The critically acclaimed series was National Geographic’s highest rated scripted television series in the network’s history. In 2018, Margulies co-starred in the AMC limited series “Dietland,” based on the book written by Sarai Walker and created for television by Marti Noxon.

Margulies starred and produced the CBS hit show “The Good Wife” as Alicia Florrick, a role that won her two Emmy Awards, as well as a Golden Globe, two Screen Actors Guild Awards and a Critics Choice Award. The series ran for seven seasons.

Other TV credits include her multi-episode guest role in HBO’s “The Sopranos,” “The Grid,” a mini-series from TNT and the BBC (Golden Globe nomination), and TNT’s original mini-series “The Mists of Avalon” (Golden Globe nomination), opposite Anjelica Huston and Joan Allen. Margulies was also one of the original members of the groundbreaking show “ER,” for which she received both an Emmy Award and six SAG Awards as nurse Carol Hathaway.

No stranger to film, Margulies has also appeared in several silver screen gems. In 2009, she starred in “City Island,” opposite Andy Garcia which won the Audience Award at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Other film credits include the dark comedy “The Darwin Awards,” “Snakes on a Plane” opposite Samuel L. Jackson; “Slingshot,” “Ghost Ship” opposite Gabriel Byrne, “The Upside “opposite Bryan Cranston and “Three Christs” opposite Richard Gere. She can also be seen in Bruce Beresford’s “Evelyn” opposite Pierce Brosnan, “Paradise Road” (also Bruce Beresford), “What’s Cooking,” an ensemble drama directed by Gurinder Chadha, Richard Linklater’s “The Newton Boys,” Boaz Yakin’s “A Price Above Rubies,” “Traveller,” and “The Man From Elysian Fields,” opposite Andy Garcia and Mick Jagger.

On stage, Margulies made her Broadway debut in 2006 starring in Festen directed by Rufus Norris. Margulies completed a successful run in Jon Robin Baitz’s Ten Unknowns at Lincoln Center for which she won the Lucille Lortel Award. Other theater credits include: The Vagina Monologues, both Off-Broadway and the Los Angeles premiere, and Intrigue with Faye Off-Broadway.

She has personally been involved in Project ALS since its inception and Erin’s Law. She is a long-standing board member of the New York City-based theater company MCC, a company dedicated to giving the American playwright a voice and a platform. Margulies also spearheads the Holocaust Educator School Partnership (HESP) in partnership with the Museum of Jewish History in New York City. HESP is a paid internship program for undergraduate and graduate students currently studying in the New York metropolitan area. Interns are trained on how to teach the history of the Holocaust and then work with local public middle and high school students to understand this history.

Margulies resides in New York City with her husband and son.