August 8, 2005

(San Francisco, CA) – Thomas A. Dine, president of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, will become Chief Executive Officer of the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties in October of this year.

Dine, a leader in Jewish, national and international affairs, brings substantial knowledge of community and political affairs, Israel and fundraising expertise to his new position. He served for 13 years (1980 to 1993) as executive director of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in Washington, D.C.

Richard Rosenberg, retired CEO of Bank of America, has chaired the committee that led the search for the Federation’s new CEO over the last year. Of Dine’s appointment he says, “It is a testament to the strength and vitality of our Bay Area Jewish community and the opportunities that we have that Tom has agreed to join us as CEO. His leadership will help us build upon our long history, and will guide us as we set a strategy and vision for meeting the needs of our community in the coming years and decades.”

Dine is leaving his post as president of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the Prague-based communications service that provides news, analysis and current affairs programming to 19 countries in 28 languages. Prior to this position, Dine served as assistant administrator for Central/Eastern Europe and the New Independent States in the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). He also served several senators on Capitol Hill, and was on staff at the American Embassy in New Delhi, India. He started his career in public service as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer in the Philippines.

According to Dine, he is excited about the opportunity to join the Federation for both professional and personal reasons. “I have known the San Francisco Jewish community since 1980 and have called our interaction a love affair,” he says. “I am looking forward to this next chapter in my life with great enthusiasm and high hopes.”

Dine is a past senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and has completed two fellowships at the Kennedy Institute of Politics at Harvard University. He earned a M.L.A. at Johns Hopkins University, a M.A. in South Asian history at the University of California, Los Angeles and a B.A. in history at Colgate University. Dine has been published widely in the American national press as well as in specialized foreign policy journals, and has edited two books. He and his wife Joan have two grown children and one grandson.

The Jewish Community Federation is the central organization for fundraising, planning, outreach and leadership development for Jewish communities in San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties. In FY 2003-04, the Federation’s annual campaign allocated $16.2 million to some 60 agencies providing social services, educational and cultural programs in the Bay Area, in the U.S., Israel and elsewhere in the world. In 2004, the Federation’s Endowment Fund, with assets exceeding $900 million, provided more than $225 million for a variety of grants to both Jewish and non-Jewish local, national and international communities and institutions. For more information, call 415.777.0411 or visit www.sfjcf.org.