The JCRC is delighted to present Susan and Bill Kristol with the Breslau-Goldman Award; Billy Kreisberg with the Sara and Samuel Lessans Community Leadership Award; and Fran Kritz with the Distinguished Service Award.
Each honoree has given years of exemplary leadership and dedicated service to our growing and diverse Jewish community in D.C., Maryland and Virginia.
Date & Time
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Location
Washington, DC
Honorees
Susan and Bill Kristol
Breslau-Goldman Award Honorees, 2026 Gala
Susan and Bill Kristol have spent decades strengthening Jewish organizational life in the DMV and protecting American democratic values. The dynamic couple are deeply immersed in both Jewish and secular causes, holding leadership roles that demonstrate their steadfast commitment to celebrating our rich Jewish heritage, supporting Israel, and upholding democracy and the rule of law.
Susan Kristol has been a JCRC Board member since 2023 and currently serves as Virginia co-chair of the Intergroup Committee. She is a past president of both the Pozez JCC of Northern Virginia and Congregation Olam Tikvah and previously sat on the boards of The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington and Gesher Jewish Day School. Having retired from a university teaching career in classics, Susan enjoys studying Biblical Hebrew and researching and teaching topics that bridge the classical and Hebraic worlds.
Bill Kristol is a founding director of Defending Democracy Together, an organization dedicated to preserving America’s liberal democratic norms and institutions. He co-founded The Weekly Standard in 1995 and edited the influential magazine for more than two decades. Currently, Bill is an editor-at-large at The Bulwark, where he writes a daily newsletter and participates in frequent podcasts. He also hosts Conversations with Bill Kristol, a video series and podcast that features in-depth discussions with leading figures in American public life. He previously served as chief of staff for Vice President Dan Quayle in the George H. W. Bush administration and at the U.S. Department of Education in the Reagan administration.
Susan and Bill celebrated their 50th anniversary in 2025. They have three children and eight grandchildren.
William Kreisberg
Sara and Samuel Lessans Community Leadership Award Honoree, 2026 Gala
William “Billy” Kreisberg exemplifies meaningful engagement and principled Jewish leadership for numerous national and local organizations.
He recently retired from Schrayer & Associates, Inc., a political consulting firm based in Washington, D.C., where he served as Vice President for over 20 years. In that role, he oversaw many of the firm’s client relationships, focusing on advocacy activities, strategic planning, and event management.
Billy has been active in the local Jewish community for more than 35 years, serving as President of the Edlavitch DCJCC from 2001-2004 and continues to sit on its Board, where he serves as Co-Chair of the Center’s Centennial Campaign. He also chairs the Policy Committee and recently oversaw its strategic planning process. Billy served on the Board of The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, holding several leadership positions, including Vice President of Community and Global Impact, and was a Trustee with the United Jewish Endowment Fund.
Billy currently serves on the Board of DMFI PAC, which is dedicated to electing pro-Israel Democrats to Congress. He served on the Board of American Jewish Committee’s Washington Regional Office for more than a decade and is now a member of its Advisory Council. He previously served on the boards of the Jewish Coalition Against Domestic Abuse, the Jewish Community Relations Council and George Washington University Hillel.
Fran Kritz
Fran Kritz is a healthy policy reporter whose work frequently appears in the Washington Post and on NPR.org. For ten years Fran wrote a regular column on Jewish medical issues for the New York Jewish Week and she has been a contributor to The Forward and Times of Israel.
Fran serves on the boards of the JCRC, social service agency Yad Yehuda and the Hebrew Free Loan Association of Greater Washington and is a past president of Hebrew Free Loan and Bikur Cholim of Greater Washington. During 2020 Fran cofounded the Jewish Neighbor Association together with JCRC board member Daphne Price which provides, through community synagogues, food and other critical assistance to hospital employees facing difficulties during the pandemic. Fran and her husband Neil are members of the Kemp Mill Synagogue in Silver Spring and the proud parents of a son and daughter in law studying for the clergy in Jerusalem, a daughter on the Judaics staff of the Berman Hebrew Academy and a Jerusalemite baby grandson she looks forward to meeting after she is fully vaccinated.