Welcome to JCPA’s New Board Leadership

Walter E. Spiegel has proudly served as JCPA’s Board Chair since July 2026. Walter served for 25 years as the Chief Legal, Compliance, and Government Relations Officer for Standard Textile Company, the leading global manufacturer and supplier of textile products for the healthcare and hospitality markets. Prior to this role, Walter was a Partner in a Washington D.C. law firm and Senior International Trade Counsel for a Fortune 500 company.  He received his law degree from the University of Michigan Law School and his bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Emory University.

Prior to being elected Chair, Walter served as Vice Chair and Governance Chair for JCPA. Walter was also co-chair of JCPA’s Chairs Initiative, which provides educational and engagement opportunities for the Chairs of Jewish Community Relations Councils around the country. He is a past President of the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) of Cincinnati. Walter is a member of the boards of the Nancy & David Wolf Holocaust & Humanity Center and the Immigrant and Refugee Law Center. He has also served on the Boards of the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati, Rockwern Academy, Camp Livingston, and the National Council of Textile Organizations. Walter has held leadership roles in the Cincinnati legal community, including President of the Southwest Ohio Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel and Chair of the Board of Advisors for the University of Cincinnati College of Law’s Institute for the Global Practice of Law.

John Harris

John B. Harris is a litigation partner with the New York City law firm of Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz, P.C. He has more than 35 years’ experience representing clients in civil and white collar criminal matters, with a current focus is on the representation of lawyers and law firms. He regularly testifies as an expert witness on professional responsibility and legal ethics matters. He is a former Chair of the Professional Responsibility Committee of the New York City Bar Association and serves as a mediator for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.

John is a graduate of Yale University and the New York University School of Law.

Since the mid-1990s, John has held a range of positions at ADL, including chair of the New York lawyer’s division; chair of the New York regional board; chair of the committee responsible for ADL’s amicus curiae positions in state and federal courts; and chair of ADL’s National Civil Rights Committee. He was a principal author of ADL’s amicus brief in 2017 opposing the “Muslim Ban” on entry into the United States, for which he and his law firm received the Edward Brodsky Founders’ Award from ADL.

In 2023, he served as a member of the New York State Bar’s Task Force Combating Antisemitism and Anti-Asian Hate.

Suellen Kadis

Suellen Kadis has dedicated many years to leadership roles in Cleveland and at the national level. 

She currently serves on the newly formed International World ORT Board of Directors and as a Vice President of the Midwest Region. Nationally she serves on the board of 70 Faces Media. In Cleveland, she is a Life Director of the Jewish Family Service Association and chairs its Leadership Committee. An active leader in the Jewish Federation of Cleveland, she has chaired the Development Committee and Women’s Philanthropy and serves on multiple committees. 

Suellen has long been active in Democratic politics and is currently working on an event to raise funds for the Ohio House Democratic Caucus, helping support candidates to seeking to end the current Republican supermajority.  

She holds a degree in International Relations and Photojournalism from Syracuse University and a J.D. from Case Western Reserve University School of Law. She is the proud mother of Justin (Jackie), Alex (Emily) and Samantha (Jake), and the proud grandmother of Amelia, Cameron and Hugh. 

Rabbi Lewis H. Kamrass

Rabbi Lewis H. Kamrass is the Rabbi Emeritus of Isaac M. Wise Temple of Cincinnati, Ohio, where he has spent his entire rabbinate of forty years. He held leadership positions in the national Reform movement including having served as President of the Central Conference of American Rabbis and served for many years on the boards of the CCAR, the Hebrew Union College, and the Union for Reform Judaism.    He was also involved in the creation of the Reform movement’s two newest prayer books and served on the drafting team of the Reform Movement’s (CCAR’s 1999) Statement of Principles. 

Locally, he served on many Jewish, social service, and civic boards and in leadership positions and has been active in local social action endeavors including establishing synagogue and Jewish community involvement in soup kitchens and homeless shelters. He also taught for 25 years as an Instructor in the Theology Department of Xavier University and as adjunct faculty at Hebrew Union College. 

Rabbi Kamrass received his BA in Sociology and Psychology from the University of Georgia and his MHL, Rabbinic Ordination and Doctor of Divinity degrees from Hebrew Union College. 

Hank Kaplan

Hank Kaplan was born in Brooklyn to Holocaust survivor parents, and grew up in Habonim-Dror.  He graduated from Princeton University and NYU Law School, came to Oregon for a Federal judicial clerkship in 1981 and has been there ever since. He was primarily a litigator, spending most of his legal career representing labor unions until he retired in 2022.  He was managing partner of his law firm for 18 years, and a frequent speaker at Oregon labor law conferences.   

Hank served on the local Federation Board twice, for a total of about 12 years.  He was a member of the first Portland cohort of Wexner fellows, and served on countless local Jewish Boards and committees.  He was the founder of the local Melton School, chair of the local Jewish newspaper, Chair of the Portland JCRC, Chair of the Federation’s Jewish Education Task Force, and led leadership development programs for his synagogue. Because of his employment law background, he provided ongoing support to many local Jewish agencies and synagogues dealing with difficult personnel issues.  He also has extensive lobbying experience in the state capital, both on behalf of the Jewish Federation and a nonprofit called the Northwest Workers’ Justice Project (representing primarily low-wage contingent migrant workers), for which he served as president.  He has attended JCPA national plenums, and introduced a policy on wage theft that was adopted by JCPA.   

Brandon Rattiner

Brandon Rattiner is the Senior Director of the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC), the public affairs arm of the Colorado Jewish community. Rattiner comes to the JCRC from a career in law, where he focused on climate change and environmental issues. He has deep expertise in advocacy and community outreach. Prior to attending law school, he served as Senator Mark Udall’s Denver Metro Area Regional Director and worked at various civic and philanthropic organizations. He is a past international President of BBYO and an alumnus of countless local and national Jewish organizations. As a lifelong and stereotypical Coloradan, he can usually be found somewhere outside on any given weekend.