Dr. Sharon S. Nazarian is the president of the Y&S Nazarian Family Foundation, with a regional office in Israel named the Ima Foundation and is the Founder of the Younes & Soraya Nazarian Center for Israel Studies at University of California Los Angeles (UCLA).
In 2017, The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) appointed Sharon as Senior Vice President in International Affairs. Sharon served in this role for five years heading ADL’s work fighting antisemitism and racial hatred globally, including in Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East, and ADL’s Israel office.
Sharon’s interests are reflected in the myriad of organizations she devotes her time, talent, and energies to—she is the vice chair of the West Coast Board of the American Society of the University of Haifa, sits on the Board of Governors of Haifa University, the Advisory Board of Berkeley Institute, and is a member of the Chairman’s Circle of the National Democratic Institute. She also sits on the board of the Anti-Defamation League, the Crown Center for Middle East Studies at Brandeis University and is a member of the Council of Foreign Relations (CFR).
Her undergraduate studies took place at the University of Southern California (USC), double majoring in Journalism and International Relations. She went on to receive her master’s and Doctor of Philosophy degrees also from USC in the field of political science, specializing in political economy and economic development in newly industrialized countries. She is an integral member of Nazarian Enterprises, a family investment office with holdings across a broad spectrum of industries, including real estate, hospitality, manufacturing, technology, and clean energy.