Marcus Sheff (; born 1963) is an Israeli-British non-profit

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

(CEO), former media executive and journalist.

Early life and education

Sheff was born in the Whitefield, Manchester, United Kingdom in 1963 in a Jewish family. His late father, Alan, a dentist, was president of the Whitefield Hebrew Congregation. His mother, Sylvia, was a recipient of the MBE. She led a campaign to free

Soviet Jews The history of the Jews in the Soviet Union is inextricably linked to much earlier expansionist policies of the Russian Empire conquering and ruling the eastern half of the European continent already before the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. "Fo ...

, most notable among them is

Natan Sharansky Natan Sharansky (; born 20 January 1948) is an Israeli politician, human rights activist, and author. He served as Chairman of the Executive for the Jewish Agency for Israel, Jewish Agency from June 2009 to August 2018, and currently serves as ...

. Sheff was educated at the Prestwich Jewish Day School, now known as Yesoiday Hatorah as well as

Bolton School Bolton School is a private day school in Bolton, Greater Manchester. It comprises a co-educational nursery (ages 0–4), co-educational infant school (ages 3–7), single sex junior schools (ages 7–11) and single sex senior schools including ...

. Later, he attended the

University of Leeds The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed Y ...

and graduated with a bachelor's degree in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

and international relations. He held several posts at the student union as was elected General Secretary of Leeds University Union in 1984 and on the NUS anti-racism committee in 1985. Sheff is married to Inbal.

Career

At the age of 23 Sheff moved to Israel. There, he became involved in the political world after joining ''The Nation'' as a reporter. Later, when ''The Nation'' became defunct, he joined ''

The Jerusalem Post ''The Jerusalem Post'' is an English language, English-language Israeli broadsheet newspaper based in Jerusalem, Israel, founded in 1932 during the Mandate for Palestine, British Mandate of Mandatory Palestine, Palestine by Gershon Agron as ''Th ...

'' and worked there for the next two years as an editor. In 1990 Sheff co-founded strategic communications company, The Word Shop and after selling it a decade later, worked in strategic communications for global firms. From 2007 to 2014 Sheff was the chief executive officer (CEO) of

The Israel Project The Israel Project (TIP) was a US-based Nonprofit organization, non-profit, non-government organization. According to TIP, it was not affiliated with any government. However, according to its website, it had a team with decades of experience i ...

. Before joining the Israel Project, he was the CEO of Intermedia. In 2020 Sheff was included in the ''

Algemeiner Journal The ''Algemeiner Journal'', known informally as ''The Algemeiner'', is a newspaper based in New York City that covers American and international Jewish and Israel-related news. It is widely read by Hasidic Jews. History Gershon Jacobson, a ...

's Jewish 100'' list. Sheff is the current CEO of the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se). Under his tenure, IMPACE-se has submitted extensive reports which evaluate the textbook curriculum of countries around the world, particularly the Middle Eastern countries, including

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

, the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

and the

Palestinian Authority The Palestinian Authority (PA), officially known as the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), is the Fatah-controlled government body that exercises partial civil control over the Palestinian enclaves in the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, ...

, urging them to reform their textbooks. In many instances, the suggestions were accepted, and the textbooks in question were reformed and became more moderate. Sheff is also a Major in reserves in the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branches: the Israeli Ground Forces, the Israeli Air Force, and ...

(IDF) Spokesperson Unit.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sheff, Marcus Living people 1963 births Israeli journalists 21st-century Israeli writers Alumni of the University of Leeds British emigrants to Israel British Jews 21st-century British writers People educated at Bolton School