Dan Gold is the Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation Chair and Executive Director for Hillel at UCLA. Prior to this role, Dan served as the VP of Israel Education and Advocacy at the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles for over 13 years. Born and raised in Western Massachusetts in a family dedicated to Jewish communal life, Dan earned a BA with honors from Tufts University and a master’s degree in Middle Eastern Studies from Ben Gurion University in Beer Sheva, Israel.  While at the Federation, Dan planned and led missions to Israel for educators, community leaders and legislators in Los Angeles. He also led efforts in both government relations and grassroots community organizing around Israel education, public education and community relations. Dan’s proudest achievement there was launching and running the Campus Impact Network, a leadership training program for Jewish college student leaders.  Through the Campus Impact Network, Dan worked with Hillel to help Jewish student leaders become change makers on their campus - in fighting BDS or by their involvement in many other issues.

Dan is a subject matter expert on Israel, the Middle East, antisemitism, and community relations, and his dynamic and unique presentations on Modern Israel, Israel-Palestine, Mid-east geopolitics, antisemitism and BDS have benefitted a wide range of audiences. He believes that Israel advocacy is more about community organizing and personal exploration than it is about debates or history lessons. Thus, he takes pride in leading formal and informal sessions to help break down complicated realities while also providing a safe space for all people to explore a wide range of opinions.

Prior to his tenure at the Federation, Dan served as the Director of the Center for Jewish Service Learning at the Bureau of Jewish Education, also in Los Angeles. In this role, Dan launched a groundbreaking web platform that encourages teens to engage in acts of Jewish service-learning. He also served as Assistant Director at Camp Bauercrest, Amesbury MA, where his service as the camp ‘Rabbi’ was his entry point to a life as a Jewish educator.

Dan has also been deeply involved with Israeli start-ups, the LA start-up ecosystem and building digital platforms as a designer and consultant.  As a former college lacrosse player and avid runner, Dan’s moment of Zen comes any time he gets running along the beach in Tel Aviv.  He lives in Woodland Hills with his wife, Esti, and their three children, Shylie, Eitan and Itai.  Reflecting his New-England roots, Dan and his sons root like crazy for the Red Sox, Patriots, and yes, the Celtics.  Now, however, their hearts bleed with Bruin blue.