Rob Jacobs Email & Phone Number

Silver Spring, MD, US

Washington DC-Baltimore Area

Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States

St. Paul, Minnesota

• Upon arriving, discovered numerous serious financial issues unknown to the board.
• Managed financial turnaround: negotiated a write-off of a debt of $2.7 million; implemented a wide range of fiscal controls and transparency measures; rebuilt financial oversight (rebuilt Finance and Audit committees).
• Increased actual annual campaign for the first time in five years. Focused on building strong donor relationships.
• Brought younger community members on the Executive Committee, Board, committees and task forces.
• Reengaged lapsed major donors, many of whom agreed to cover multiple years of pledges entered without their approval.
• Initiated new strategic planning initiative, including board and lay leadership retreats, working with experienced consultants.

Greater Seattle Area

• Founded and built Pacific Northwest office into one of the most visible Jewish organizations in the five-state region.
• Developed relationship with major donor leading to a $5 million donation. Identified, cultivated, and engaged numerous other major donors (high five-figure contributions).
• Started an annual fundraising table captain luncheon that grew from 180 to over 900 attending, increased event revenue from $100,000 to over $480,000 annually to support an issue (Israel) that is not terribly popular.
• Hired the administrative and program staff of seven and established the regional office and systems.
• Initiated and managed strategic planning initiatives. Designed the region’s strategic and leadership development plans. Built an effective governing board and supported the board and lay leadership with training.
• Brought together regional Jewish organizations supportive of Israel while also positively engaging the most aggressive “opposition.” Maintained strong positive relationships with organizations from across the political.

Greater Seattle Area

• Dramatically increased financial support of the regional office, and increased revenues from $180,000 in 2004 to $680,000 in 2007. Successfully solicited donations for a regional nonprofit of up to $100,000.
• Started community table captain-based fundraising luncheon that grew from 250 to 1,300 attendees.
• Initiated and managed strategic planning initiatives. Designed region’s strategic and development plan, built an effective Board of Advisers, and created community “buy-in” in support of the mission. Hired and managed.
• Established leadership training program for both board members and young professionals.
• Convened gatherings of Jewish and Pacific Northwest community on numerous occasions, including successful press conferences with pulpit rabbis and pastors in support of civil rights and civil liberties bills, and other.
• Established excellent media relationships with newspaper editorial boards, newspaper, radio and television assignment editors, reporters and columnists.

Seattle, Washington, United States

• Hired as the Interim Managing Director of the school’s Center for Technology Entrepreneurship (CTE).
• CTE was an effort to build graduate student teams consisting of graduate students from business, engineering, I.T., and the sciences.
• Taught students to recognize the commercial value of their new technologies, put together business plans, and make pitches to local venture capitalists to raise funds to start businesses based on those technologies.
• Ran the school’s annual business plan competition, which saw over 500 students present their plans before technology executives and venture capitalists.
• Left when a former ADL Regional Director invited me to apply for the open ADL position.

Seattle, Washington, United States

• Started Amazon.com’s patent portfolio.
• Built portfolio to maximize strategic value during period of rapid dot.com growth and competition.
• Worked closely with developers and outside patent counsel to build Amazon’s patent portfolio.
• Later, after Amazon initially won the strategically important “One-Click” patent infringement case, I led Amazon Anywhere, a P&L business division, Amazon’s first attempt to develop a sales platform on cellular phones.
• Left Amazon when the Dot.com crash forced Amazon to close down numerous initiatives, including Amazon Anywhere.

Miami Lakes, Florida, United States

• Sky Latin America was a startup Direct-to-Home (DTH) T.V. service, a partnership of NewsCorp, Televisa (Mexico), and Globo (Brazil).
• Identified appropriate content, service, manufacturing, and distribution/retailing providers.
• Negotiated with these providers to form local Sky DTH TV partnerships in each Northern Latin American country.
• Left Sky to found the patent portfolio for Amazon.com, the then-groundbreaking Dot.com company.

Quetzaltenango, Guatemala; Quito, Ecuador; Trujillo, Perù

• Worked with local attorneys in Quetzaltenango (Guatemala), Quito (Ecuador), and Trujillo (Perù), supporting the attorneys' human rights legal work.
• Left to return to the U.S. to attend Columbia Business School.

Washington, DC

• Hired by then-Budget Committee Chair Rep. Leon Panetta (D-CA)
• One of three attorneys representing the Democrats on the Budget Committee, interpreting and applying House and Budget Committee rules during lengthy negotiations.
• Left to help a Guatemalan human rights attorney protect his clients in Guatemala.

Washington, DC

• Looking for more responsibility than I had at my first Wall Street law firm (below), I moved to a smaller spin-off of a Wall Street firm.
• Appeared and argued in court on behalf of major commercial manufacturers/retailers on intellectual property issues (trademark and copyright infringement).
• Aso appeared before state regulatory agencies representing GTE Sprint as they built their national cellular network.
• Left private practice for the opportunity to work as Counsel to the U.S. House Budget Committee for Committee Chair, Rep. Leon Panetta.

Washington, DC

• Worked on major antitrust cases for Milbank, a “white-shoe” Wall Street law firm.
• Standard large firm associate practice.
• Drafted, briefed, and argued motions on discovery issues.
• Also represented pro bono litigation clients in court.
• took a leave from Milbank when Sen. Mikulski’s Chief of Staff, Wendy Sherman, asked me to head up Mikulski’s legislative office during her senate campaign. (FYI, Wendy later was President Obama’s chief negotiator on.

Washington, DC

• Took a ten-month leave from law firm practice to run Sen. Mikulski’s Washington D.C. legislative office during her first Senate campaign.
• Worked with Sen. Mikulski to develop her policy positions and legislative initiatives.
• Managed Sen. Mikulski’s Legislative Assistants and Legislative Correspondents.
• Worked closely with the Senator’s Press Secretary and other non-legislative staff.
• Monitored and reported to the Senator on committee and floor activity.
• Left to return to private practice after the Senator’s successful campaign ended on election day, 1986.

Washington, DC

• Selected by U.S. Sen. Bob Packwood’s Commerce Committee chief counsel to be the Senator’s 1982-83 Packwood Fellow.
• Served as Commerce Committee Counsel in charge of congressional oversight of the Federal Trade Commission, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and product liability legislation.
• Left at the end of my 18-month Fellowship.

Mba, Non-Profit Management, Entrepreneurship, New Media, Marketing

Activities and Societies: Dean’s List. Teaching Assistant and Approved Tutor in four subjects. Leader and member of the Non-Profit.

Postgraduate Study, Coursework In Antitrust Law

Jd, Law

Activities and Societies: U.S. Senator Packwood Congressional Law Fellowship; Moot Court Oral Advocacy and other ABA awards

A.B., Paleoanthropology