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.