Leadership

Allan J. Jacobs, President

Allan J. Jacobs of Lake Forest, Ill., was re-elected president at the 2012 B’nai B’rith policy conference. During his first term, Jacobs led numerous B’nai B’rith delegations on global missions that included meetings with Israeli President Shimon Peres, Pope Benedict XVI and Jordan’s King Abdullah II, among others.

Jacobs has spoken out against Iran’s relentless quest for nuclear weapons as well as the Iranian infiltration into Latin America. He has called for the fair treatment of Israel at all U.N. venues, spoken out against global human rights abuses and advocated for senior citizens.

Jacobs has been an active B’nai B’rith member for nearly 50 years. Beginning at his local lodge, Jacobs has advanced within the organization to serve as international treasurer, chairman of the Executive Committee and a senior vice president prior to ascending to the international presidency.

A CPA by training, Jacobs works as counsel at Evoy, Kamschulte Jacobs and Co., LLP Certified Public Accountants, in Lake Forest. He is also chairman of the board of Northern States Financial Corporation and NorStates Bank, a member of the American Institute of CPAs and past president of the Lake County Estate Planning Council. Jacobs also served as chairman of the audit committee for the city of Lake Forest from 2006 to 2012.

Gary P. Saltzman, Chairman of the Executive

Gary P. Saltzman, of Centennial, Colo., was re-appointed the chairman of the Executive at the 2012 policy conference. The chairman of the Executive is the No. 2 volunteer leadership position in the organization. It is the chair's responsibility to serve as direct liaison between staff and volunteers and carry out other internal and external responsibilities of the organization.

Saltzman has been an active member of B’nai B’rith for more than 35 years. Prior to his current role as chairman of the Executive Committee, Saltzman held numerous leadership positions, including active involvement in the leadership of BBYO on behalf of B’nai B’rith International. He remains a member of the Denver Lodge board.

Professionally, Saltzman is a Certified Public Accountant with the Wenner Group, LLC and a registered investment advisor with Transitions Wealth Management, LLC.

Ira Bartfield, Senior Vice President

Ira Bartfield has been a member of B’nai B’rith for more than three decades, serving in a number of leadership positions. Aside from his duties as senior vice president, Bartfield is currently the chair of the Center for Senior Services and serves on the Executive Committee and the Board of Governors.

Early in his B’nai B’rith volunteer work, Bartfield won an award for best lodge president, and eventually served as the president of the Virginia State Association of B’nai B’rith and then as president of the Chesapeake Bay Region.

On Sept. 3 Bartfield retired after 41 years as a staff member at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. He worked in the education, visual services and publishing departments in various supervisory roles.

Leon Birgragher, Senior Vice President

Leon Birbragher has remained dedicated to B’nai B’rith International’s activities in Latin America for many years, first through his local lodge. He was elected twice to serve on the board of District 23, a 12-country region that includes Mexico, Columbia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Peru, among others. During his time on the board, Birbragher travelled to all of the district’s countries twice each year. He then ascended to the presidency of B’nai B’rith Latin America for two years, traveling all across the region.

As a B’nai B’rith representative, Birbragher chaired and organized an event in June 2010 in Bogota where B’nai B’rith honored then-President Alvaro Uribe with the Presidential Gold Medallion for Humanitarianism.

A native Colombian and son of a Romanian father and Czechoslovakian mother, Birbragher is married to Celia Sredni de Birbragher. The couple has three daughters, all of whom are art professionals.

Daniel Citone, Senior Vice President

Citone has been involved with B’nai B’rith since 1994, when he was a founding member of the young adult lodge in Rome. As vice president of the adult lodge, he was part of the senior B’nai B’rith leadership delegation that met privately with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican in May 2011. He has also been involved with B’nai B’rith Europe’s Young Jewish Adult Forum.

Citone is noted for creating the “Comitato per Shalit,” a committee that organized petitions and demonstrations in Rome asking for the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit from Hamas captivity.

Citone has a law degree from La Sapienza University and currently works as a business manager at Gruppo Hassan in Rome.

Haim Katz, Senior Vice President

For more than a decade, Katz has served as chairman (and before that vice chairman) of the World Center, the hub of B’nai B’rith activities in Israel.

Katz has been involved with B’nai B’rith since he joined the Hebrew-speaking B’nai B’rith lodge in London at age 18.

Katz, who made aliyah from the United Kingdom in 1982, is married with five children and runs his own law offices in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, Dr. Haim Katz & Partners: Law Offices and Notaries.

Charles Kaufman, Senior Vice President

Chuck Kaufman, of Austin, Texas, has been a member of B’nai B’rith since 1980 and was a former president of a B’nai B’rith district composed of seven Southern states.

During his time at B’nai B’rith, Kaufman served on the Board of Governors, chairing a task force to honor B’nai B’rith’s Sesquicentennial (150th anniversary). In 1992 he initiated and promoted a petition that generated more than 10,000 signatures calling for the freedom of Syrian Jews under the rule of Hafez Assad. B’nai B’rith subsequently worked through its office at the United Nations and with other groups to secure the emigration of thousands of Syrian Jews.

Professionally, Kaufman was a journalist for 16 years before forming his own corporate publishing and media relations firm, Kaufman Communications, in 1989. He also is a faculty member in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Texas State University-San Marcos.

Rosalind Klein, Senior Vice President

Rosalind Klein, a resident of Northridge, Calif., is serving her third term as senior vice president. Klein joined B’nai B’rith in 1990, after the B’nai B’rith Constitution was amended to admit female members. In 2000, Klein was elected the first female president of the Southern California Region. Two years later, Klein was elected senior vice president, the first woman ever to hold that position.

During her most recent term, Klein served on multiple committees, including the Budget and Executive Committees, as well as the Label A. Katz Young Leadership Award Committee. She was also responsible for moderating a roundtable discussion in Montevideo, Uruguay, titled “Challenges to the Jewish Community” during B’nai B’rith’s 2011 policy conference.

Klein is married to Howard Klein, a prominent California probate attorney, and she managed his office for 18 years prior to her retirement in 2004.

Seth J. Riklin, Treasurer

Seth J. Riklin, of Sugar Land, Texas, has an extensive background with the B’nai B’rith senior housing program. Riklin is co-chair of the B’nai B’rith International Senior Housing Committee. He is currently the vice president (and former president) of the B’nai B’rith Goldberg Towers, a 300-unit federally subsidized apartment building for seniors, located in Houston.

Formerly a practicing attorney and accountant, he is president of Hill Country Wind Power, L.P., a wind energy developer in Texas with 100,000 acres leased, or being leased, for its projects currently under development.

Riklin’s efforts are inspired by his father, the late Sam J. Riklin, who served as president of the San Antonio, Texas, B’nai B’rith lodge. He is married to Carol Wolin-Riklin and has five children.

William K. Peirez, Chief Justice

William K. Peirez, who joined B’nai B’rith International 49 years ago, had served as acting chief justice since April 2008 and was elected to his first term in December 2009. Prior to that he was a judge under the two most recent presidents. The B’nai B’rith Court of Appeals oversees internal disputes.

Peirez also serves as president of the B’nai B’rith MetroNorth region, and has been a longtime member of the Board of Governors and the Executive Committee.

During his nearly five decades of service, Peirez has held a wide range of positions at B’nai B’rith, including chairing the Evaluation and Monitoring Committee and the B’nai B’rith Camps Committee. He’s been B’nai B’rith’s liaison to a committee of regional and community leaders, and has served as an international vice president.

Peirez, who resides in Great Neck, N.Y., is a retired attorney who specialized in real estate, landlord and tenant law, contracts, corporate law, partnership law, buying and selling of businesses, and wills.