Robert Grey has been elected as the new Chair of World ORT, alongside a new Board of Trustees and lay leaders which will head the organization in the coming years.
Mr Grey takes over following a governance process to restructure ORT’s lay leadership.
His predecessors in the key role include Samuel Poliakov, the first President of World ORT in 1880, and Chaim Herzog, former President of Israel.
The new, larger World ORT Board consists of 20 trustees and includes lay leaders and supporters from across our global network. Countries represented on the Board include Israel, the United States, Britain, Switzerland, Canada, South Africa, Italy, Mexico, France, Argentina, Russia and Brazil.
They will be led by Mr Grey, a long-standing supporter of World ORT and ORT America. Mr Grey chaired an ORT mission to Ukraine in 2017 during which he said seeing the enthusiasm of students was his personal highlight.
Following his election, he said: “I am pleased to be serving with such an outstanding group of Board colleagues and professional leaders. I am looking forward to a productive and collaborative term as World ORT Chair.”
In his professional life, Mr Grey is a partner at the international law firm K&L Gates. He previously served as Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer of PPL Corporation, a large and prominent American utility holding company.
He teaches a seminar on Energy Law at Columbia Law School and is on the advisory boards of Columbia College and Emory Law School.
A serious art collector, Mr Grey is on the Photography Council at the Guggenheim and is also on the advisory board to the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College.
Mr Grey and his wife, Susan, have two children and four grandchildren.
He will be supported in his role by Vice Chairs Philippe Léopold-Metzger of Switzerland and Judy Menikoff from the United States. Yorai Linenberg will serve as Treasurer and Simon Alberga will become Chair of the World ORT Council of Representatives – both men are based in London and have long-standing relationships with ORT UK.
Dr. Conrad Giles, immediate past President, was elected to serve as Honorary President. He stepped down as World ORT President last month.
You can read more about the new World ORT Officers and our lay leadership team here.
