National Leadership Summit

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.

​Michael Solomonov is a beloved champion of Israel’s extraordinarily diverse and vibrant culinary landscape. He is partner in CookNSolo with Steven Cook and is the executive chef and co-owner of Philadelphia’s Zahav,the trailblazing restaurant that put the rich melting pot of Israeli cuisine at the forefront of dining in America today.A 5-time James Beard Foundation Award winner, he is known for his extraordinary skill at transforming simple foods into artful culinary masterpieces and is widely regarded as one of the country’s top chefs and entrepreneurs.

In addition to his duties at Zahav, Chef Solomonov is a partner in Laser Wolf Philadelphia, Federal Donuts, Dizengoff, Goldie, K’Far, and Laser Wolf, K’Far and Jaffa Bar at the Hoxton Hotel in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Awards and Recognition:

• Laser Wolf Brooklyn was named “The Restaurant of the Summer” by the New York Post in June 2022
• Laser Wolf Philadelphia was named one of the “Best New Restaurants in the World” for 2021 by Conde Nast Traveler, The New York Times’ “The 2021 Restaurant List” and GQ’s “Best New Restaurants in America, 2020”
• Zahav was awarded 2019 Outstanding Restaurant by James Beard Foundation, the #1 restaurant in the country
• In 2018, Food & Wine named Zahav one of the “40 Most Important Restaurants of the Past 40 Years”
• Solomonov won the James Beard Foundation Award for Outstanding Chef in 2017

Chef Solomonov is also an avid snowboarder, surfer, and overall fitness fanatic.

Zahav’s famous hummus is available at Whole Foods locations as of January, 2024.

Chef Einat Admony, known as the ultimate balaboosta (meaning “perfect housewife” in Yiddish) is the James Beard nominated chef and owner of Balaboosta, the fine dining Middle Eastern & Israeli restaurant and founder of beloved fast casual falafel chain, Taïm.

Admony is a pillar of the international Israeli cooking community. Her food tells an intricate story of strong immigrant roots and living the American Dream. Having grown up in Tel Aviv, she served as a cook in the Israeli Army before traveling Europe to work in kitchens, and eventually landing in New York City as an ambitious young chef. After 15+ years leading the New York culinary scene and establishing multiple restaurants, Admony continues to innovate and inspire with elevated yet comforting homestyle cooking from her childhood.

Admony is a double-time champion and competitor of Food Network’s Chopped and Throwdown! with Bobby Flay. She has been featured by The New York Times, Bon Appetit, HuffPost, Forbes, among many others. Admony has authored two cookbooks with Artisan Books: Balaboosta (2013) and Shuk (2019). In 2014, she was a recipient of the Great Immigrants award from Carnegie Corporation of New York for exemplary contributions to American life.

Outside of leading several expanding food businesses, Admony can be found at home in Brooklyn or at her country house in the Hudson Valley, cooking for her two children, Liam and Mika, her husband and business partner, Stefan Nafziger, and a steady stream of dinner party guests.

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.

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.

Yaron Nadbornik is currently the President of the Central Council of Finnish Jewish Communities and of the Helsinki Jewish Community.

Yaron is also Vice-president of the World Jewish Congress. In recent years he has taken a strong interest in inter-religious dialogue

and has served as president of the National Forum for Cooperation of Religions in Finland (CORE) (2013-2015 & 2019-2021) and is also a member of the Finnish Religious Leaders President’s Council. Yaron has always been a Zionist and recently made global news when demanding for the release of the hostages with his wife Galith at the Finnish Presidents Independence Day celebration in December -23.

In worklife, Yaron is SVP for Finland’s largest Property Management company Retta Group. Yaron holds a Masters degree in Supply Chain Management.

Zach is a facilitator, educator, and organizer based in Bedstuy, Brooklyn. He currently serves as the Co-Founder and VP of Community Engagement with Project Shema, which works to nurture empathy for the Jewish community and help allies disrupt anti-Jewish harm, including when it is carried alongside Israel-Palestine discourse. He trains leaders around the world in depolarization, storytelling, allyship, and having difficult conversations. Zach has served as a facilitator and consultant with several organizations including Ta’amod, Resetting the Table, A Wider Bridge, and Jewish Women International. He is the proud President of Friends of Roots, a grassroots coexistence and liberation movement of Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank. He also serves on the North American Board of the Union for Reform Judaism where he co-chairs their Racial Equity Diversity & Inclusion Committee, and as a member of the Commission on Social Action, where he helps to set the social justice agenda of the Religious Action Center.