Janis and Phil Schiff Sara and Samuel Lessans Community Leadership Award Honorees, 2023 Gala
Janis is a member of the JCRC board and executive committee, and co-chairs our DC Commission, where she is helping to lead our effort to expand JCRC’s engagement in the District of Columbia. She also serves as a Vice President of the Edlavitch DCJCC and chair of its DEI Task Force, and sat on the board of GatherDC, a Jewish nonprofit that serves as a one-stop shop for young professionals in their 20s and 30s to connect to Jewish life. Janis served on the board of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, and currently is co-chairs The Network, a high-level group of working professionals that collaborates on a range of program opportunities and philanthropic avenues within the Jewish community. In addition, Janis is a Trustee Emeritus of the Jewish Community Foundation (formerly known as the United Jewish Endowment Fund) and served on the board of Temple Sinai.
Active in D.C. political circles, Janis was among a handful of local Jewish community leaders that joined Mayor Muriel Bowser’s 2019 economic mission to Israel.
Janis is a graduate of Brandeis University and Suffolk University Law School and has a distinguished legal career, as a partner at Holland & Knight's Washington, D.C., office and as co-chair of the firm's National Retail Development and Leasing Team. She coordinates the firm's Rising Stars mentoring and leadership program, which she co-founded in 2003 to help women attorneys succeed.
Janis is also past board chair of Easter Seals serving DC/MD and VA, where she helped the organization enhance its services, particularly for veterans, special needs populations and those in need of adult day care. In recognition of her leadership and accomplishments at Easter Seals, she was the 2017 recipient of the prestigious Corporate Leadership Award by the Washington, D.C. chapter of Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW). In 2014, she received the Commercial Real Estate Power Women Award and in 2012, the Washington Business Journal honored her with a Women Who Mean Business Award. She also recently won an award from the American Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists.
Phil, too, has had an exemplary career, providing extraordinary leadership in the nonprofit and Jewish communities. He is a graduate of Yale University and Boston University School of Law. He sits on the boards of directors for Federation and for Capital Camps. At Federation, Phil served on the Innovations Grant Awards Committee and now serves on the Strategic Planning & Allocation Committee. He served as chair of the National Center for Children and Families for
fifteen years, which is dedicated to serving vulnerable individuals of all ages by providing access to programs that inspire their ability to thrive and give back.
Phil is also one of the region’s top nonprofit leaders, providing consulting services for organizations seeking to make a broader social impact. He previously served as CEO of the Tech Council of Maryland, the state’s largest trade association for bioscience and technology companies, which together employ more than 200,000 people. He started and chaired the organization’s Venture Mentoring Services program. He was Chief Operating Officer and general counsel for the American Association of Blood Banks, an international not-for-profit organization representing individuals and institutions involved in the fields of transfusion medicine and biotherapies. He was also the Deputy General Counsel for the Red Cross. He is currently President and CEO of Timbre Technologies, Inc. a new company with exciting disruptive technology in radiation detection; a key to improving patient experience with radiation therapies and disease detection. This November, Phil will participate for the 14th year in the SMART Ride, a two-day, 170-mile charity bike ride from Miami to Key West that raises money for those infected, affected or at risk of contracting HIV/AIDS in Florida. He is currently the Rear Commodore of Selby Bay Yacht Club and president of his condo association. The Schiff’s are now third and fourth generation members of Temple Sinai, which whose founders included, Philip Schiff, Washington Representative of the Jewish Welfare Board; Phil’s grandfather.
When Phil and Janis are not at work, they can often be found babysitting for Charlie Philip Schiff in Miami, Fl. In addition to grandson Charlie, the Schiffs have one son, Justin Schiff, and daughter-in-law, Sarah Eikenberry Schiff (Charlie’s parents and an attorney and banker, respectively, in Miami).