CLARK GRAD TAKES REGIONAL JOB ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE DIRECTOR
Worcester Telegram
NEWS/808210687/1006/NEWS07
Aug 21 2008
MA
A Clark University graduate and former Clinton resident has been named
the New England regional director for the Anti-Defamation League,
the organization announced yesterday.
Derrek L. Shulman of Needham will join the ADL after serving nearly
six years as the New England political director of the American Israel
Public Affairs Committee in Boston. Mr. Shulman is an adjunct faculty
member at Lassell College’s Graduate School of Elder Care Management,
where he teaches marketing and politics. He has also worked as a
daily newspaper reporter and columnist, with articles appearing in
publications such as The Boston Globe and Baltimore Sun, according
to the ADL. He was also a reporter for the Clinton Daily Item.
"We are entering a growth period at ADL, and Derrek is the perfect
choice to lead us through it," said Esta Gordon Epstein, Chair Elect of
the ADL’s New England Regional Board, in a statement released by the
ADL yesterday. "Derrek has the vision, people skills, and experience
to enhance our ability to build bridges between ADL and other groups
and communities, and to promote diversity and appreciation for our
differences."
A former Clinton resident, Mr. Shulman lives in Needham with his wife,
Beth, and their two young children. Mr. Shulman will replace interim
Regional Director Jonathan Kappel. Mr. Kappel was named interim in
the wake of a controversy. Former Regional Director Andrew H. Tarsy
was fired last year by National Director Abraham H. Foxman for calling
upon the organization to recognize the killings in Turkey as a genocide
and to support a congressional resolution on the matter.
Mr. Foxman said at the time that he and the ADL acknowledged the
massacre but feared that calling the slaughter a genocide might
imperil Jews living in Turkey. Under mounting pressure from Jewish and
Armenian groups, the ADL finally labeled the killings as "tantamount to
genocide," but stopped short of backing the congressional resolution.
Mr. Kappel will stay on as development director at the ADL. He said
Mr. Shulman, who could not be reached for comment last night, is
certainly aware of what the ADL has gone through in the past year,
but said he will start the job in October with a focus on the ADL’s
core mission of fighting anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry.