Robert Elman was elected president of the American Jewish Committee at the organization's annual meeting.
Elman, a member of the AJC for more than 40 years, succeeds Richard Sideman.
“I am privileged to lead the premier Jewish global advocacy organization as we face the serious challenges confronting world Jewry, Israel and the United States,” Elman said in a statement.
Elman, who divides his time among New York, Nashville and San Francisco, previously served AJC as chair of the Community Services Commission and on the Steering Committee, which designed AJC's newly approved strategic plan.
He is a member of the board of the Endowment Fund of the Jewish Federation of Middle Tennessee and serves on the advisory boards of AJC's Brussels-based Transatlantic Institute and Thanks to Scandinavia.
Elman retired as the chairman and CEO of DESA Industries in 1999.
Other new AJC officers elected include Stanley Bergman, chair of the board of governors, and Jane Silverman, chair of the Program and Policy Coordinating Committee.