KEYNOTE SPEAKER
HONORABLE ROBERT S . LASNIK Senior United States District Court Judge
Judge Robert S . Lasnik has been a leader in the state and federal judiciary in his 32 years on the bench . He was appointed to the United States District Court by President Bill Clinton in 1998 and served as Chief Judge of the Western District of Washington from 2004-2011 . From 2010-2015 he served on the Judicial Conference of the United States as the district judge representative from the Ninth Circuit . The Judicial Conference is the governing body of the federal courts chaired by Chief Justice John G . Roberts , Jr . In 2011 Chief Justice Roberts appointed Judge Lasnik to the seven-person Executive Committee which sets policy for the federal judiciary .
Judge Lasnik graduated from Brandeis University with a degree in psychology and sociology and later obtained two master ’ s degrees from Northwestern University in journalism and counseling . He is a graduate of the University of Washington School of Law and was an instructor there in Interviewing and Counseling for Lawyers . He was named Outstanding Alumnus of the Law School in 2012 and the Washington Law Review awarded him its Inspiration Through Service Award in 2015 . He has won several awards from Washington Women Lawyers , the King County Bar , the American Board of Trial attorneys and the Washington Trial Lawyers . He also chaired the Washington State Rhodes Scholar Selection Committee from 2002-2007 .
SPECIAL REMARKS
JASON ISAACSON AJC Chief Policy and Political Affairs Officer
Jason Isaacson , Chief Policy and Political Affairs Officer , is a longtime analyst of U . S . political and strategic affairs and an advocate for Arab-Israeli peace . An observer to the 1991-92 Middle East peace talks in Madrid , Moscow , and Washington , he represented AJC at the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna ; since 1993 , he has coordinated periodic AJC ministerial meetings throughout the Middle East , North Africa , Europe , and Asia , including numerous visits that were the first by an American Jewish civic organization . He has lectured periodically at the Diplomatic Institute of the Egyptian Foreign Ministry and the Jordan Institute of Diplomacy . In 2002 , he was a Senior Visitor at St . Antony ’ s College , Oxford University . Isaacson directed an AJC initiative to strengthen transatlantic cooperation on Middle East policy – resulting in the opening of the Transatlantic Institute in Brussels in 2004 . In 2005 , in Tunis , he convened an NGO seminar on tolerance-promotion on the Internet , in conjunction with the UN World Summit on the Information Society . In 2015 , he coordinated in Brussels the Defining Moment for Europe conference on strategies to combat resurgent antisemitism . In 2007 , the French Minister of Culture and Communication awarded him the rank of Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters . In July 2009 , King Mohammed VI bestowed on Isaacson the honor of Chevalier of the Order of the Throne of the Kingdom of Morocco .