community education, social services and public safety” and is someone young people would do well to emulate. Padilla-Goodman said the honorees “make New Orleans a better place for everyone, and they live the values ADL holds dear: inclusivity, acceptance, standing up for others, and speaking out for what’s right.” Aaron Ahlquist and Peter Sperling were presented the Barney Mintz Leadership Award. It is presented to board members and volunteers who have “exhibited leadership and commitment to the goals and mission of the ADL,” and includes funds to send the honorees to the ADL’s Shana Glass National Leadership Conference in Washington in May. Ahlquist, an attorney with Herman, Herman and Katz, serves on the Touro Synagogue board and the ADL board, and was recently appointed to the ADL National Advocacy and Engagement committee. He is a founding parent and president of the Abeona House Child Discovery Center, and a founder of the Delta Discovery Group, focused on regional response to the BP oil spill. Sperling is a founding member of Frilot LLC, and was the 2016 recipient of the Arceneaux Professionalism Award by the New Orleans Bar Association. He has held positions and serves on the boards of Isidore Newman School, the Jewish Community Center, ADL, the Southern Eyebank, Heart Gift and the New Orleans Bar. Rabbi Matthew Reimer, recently installed at Temple Sinai, quoted Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in his invocation. Also giving remarks was New Orleans FBI Special Agent In Charge Jeff Sallet. He praised the ADL for its work on hate crimes, saying an ADL class he attended on the topic was one of the best classes he ever took. Over 600 attended the annual event, which was held at the Sheraton.
New leadership at Tulane ZBT
The new 2017 executive board at Tulane’s Zeta Beta Tau: Internal Vice President Harper Berman, External Vice President Jack Siegel, Brotherhood Development Director Eli Weitzman, President Joel Zeid, Recruitment Chair Connor Space, Treasurer Alex Rainer, and Secretary Jason Ackerman via computer. In October, Weitzman was featured as ZBT National Brother of the Week.
January 2017 • Southern Jewish Life 15