David Harris (advocate)

In 2008, Harris was the first American Jewish leader to speak at the World Economic Forum in Davos at a plenary session entitled, "Faith and Modernization".

David Harris is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. In 2000–2002, he was a visiting scholar at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. In 2003, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Hebrew Union College. From 2009-2011, he served as a Senior Associate at Oxford University (St. Antony’s College).

In 1979, he began working for the American Jewish Committee (AJC). In 1981, he left the AJC to take a position at the National Coalition Supporting Soviet Jewry. In 1984, he returned to the AJC and became head of its Washington, D.C. office in 1987. Since 1990, Harris has served as the Executive Director of the AJC.

In 1974 and again in 1981, he was twice detained by Soviet authorities and, on the first occasion, was expelled from the country. In 1987, Harris was asked by the Jewish community to serve as the national coordinator for Freedom Sunday for Soviet Jewry—the 1987 demonstration in Washington that drew over 250,000 participants, the largest Jewish gathering in American history.

David Harris (born September 23, 1949) is the former CEO of the American Jewish Committee (AJC), one of the oldest Jewish advocacy organizations in the United States.

Harris was born in 1949. He grew up in New York City and attended the Franklin School. In 1971, he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. He received a master's degree and completed his doctoral studies at the London School of Economics. Harris also was a Senior Associate at Oxford University (St. Antony's College).