Ilya Sheyman (born June 1, 1986) is a

community organizer Community organizing is a process where people who live in proximity to each other or share some common problem come together into an organization that acts in their shared self-interest. Unlike those who promote more-consensual community buil ...

, formerly Executive Director of

MoveOn MoveOn (formerly known as MoveOn.org) is a progressivism in the United States, progressive public policy advocacy group and political action committee. Formed in 1998 around one of the first massively viral email petitions, MoveOn has since grown ...

Political Action, a

candidate A candidate, or nominee, is a prospective recipient of an award or honor, or a person seeking or being considered for some kind of position. For example, one can be a candidate for membership in a group (sociology), group or election to an offic ...

for for the

United States House of Representatives elections, 2012 United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two f ...

, and is currently United States CEO of

The Good Food Institute The Good Food Institute (GFI) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that promotes plant- and cell-based alternatives to animal products, particularly meat, dairy, and eggs. It was created in 2016 by the nonprofit organization Mercy For Animal ...

Life and work

Ilya Sheyman was born in the former

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and immigrated to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

with his family at the age of four as

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

refugees A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...

. He graduated from

McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...

with a joint degree in Political Science and United States History. In 2012, Sheyman ran for the Democratic nomination for Congress in Illinois's 10th Congressional District, coming in second in a four-way race. As the Chicago Sun Times described, "Sheyman did well—he gained 38.6 percent of the vote to Schneider’s 46.9 percent—demonstrating that there is a substantial progressive base vote in the district." In his race, Sheyman was endorsed by former

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

and

Democratic National Committee The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is the principal executive leadership board of the United States's Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party. According to the party charter, it has "general responsibility for the affairs of the ...

Chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...

Howard Dean Howard Brush Dean III (born November 17, 1948) is an American physician, author, consultant, and retired politician who served as the 79th governor of Vermont from 1991 to 2003 and chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) from 2005 to 20 ...

, former Senator

Russ Feingold Russell Dana Feingold ( ; born March 2, 1953) is an American politician and lawyer who served as a United States Senate, United States Senator from Wisconsin from 1993 to 2011. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, h ...

, Congressional Progressive Caucus co-chairs Representatives

Raul Grijalva Raul, Raúl, Raül, and Raüll are forms of a common first name in Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Galician, Asturian, Basque, Aragonese, and Catalan. The name is cognate of the Anglo-Germanic given name Ralph or Rudolph and the French R ...

and

Keith Ellison Keith Maurice Ellison (born August 4, 1963) is an American politician and lawyer serving since 2019 as the 30th attorney general of Minnesota. A member of the Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), Ellison was the U.S. representative for fr ...

, and Representative Danny Davis. Other notable endorsers included Democracy for America, MoveOn.org, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, the Sierra Club, the Council for a Livable World and Citizen Action/Illinois; AFSCME Council 31, the Illinois Federation of Teachers, Sheet Metal Workers Local 73, the United Steelworkers and the International Longshoremen's Association-AFL-CIO. Previously, Ilya worked as an organizer for A+ Illinois, a statewide advocacy organization that worked to improve the quality and funding of public schools, for then-Senator

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

as constituent services intern in veterans' and military affairs, as online organizing manager for TrueMajority.org/USAction, as the field director for Democracy for America and as National Mobilization Director for Moveon.org. In 2013, Sheyman became Executive Director of MoveOn.org Political Action. Under his leadership, MoveOn.org launched a million dollar effort to draft Senator

Elizabeth Warren Elizabeth Ann Warren (née Herring; born June 22, 1949) is an American politician and former law professor who is the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States senator from the state of Massachusetts, serving since 2013. A mem ...

to run for president, endorsed Senator

Bernie Sanders Bernard Sanders (born September8, 1941) is an American politician and activist who is the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from the state of Vermont. He is the longest-serving independ ...

for the Democratic Nomination and launched an unsuccessful multimillion-dollar ''United Against Hate'' campaign to defeat then-candidate Donald Trump. Sheyman became president of

U.S. branch on February 22, 2022 and United States CEO in October of the same year. On April 17, 2025, GFI announced that Sheyman would be departing the organization effective June 2, 2025 and that Jessica Almy would serve as interim CEO while the organization conducts a nationwide search for its next CEO.

References

External links

Sheyman for Congress
''official campaign site''
MoveOn.org
''MoveOn bio''
A Look at Ilya Sheyman
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sheyman, Ilya Living people American activists McGill University alumni 1986 births