Meet Sandy Samuels
Meet Sandy Samuels, our CSUN Hillel club advisor and Hillel 818 board member!
Tell us a bit about your background: I was born in Los Angeles. I attended Princeton University where I earned an A.B. degree, summa cum laude, in Near Eastern Studies and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. After graduating from Princeton, I attended UCLA School of Law where I was elected to the Order of the Coif.
Tell us a bit about your career: I acquired an expertise in banking and regulatory law and spent more than thirty-five years in the financial services industry, including eighteen years as Executive Managing Director and Chief Legal Officer for Countrywide Financial Corporation. Following Countrywide’s acquisition by Bank of America Corporation in 2008, I served for two years as the general counsel of Bank of America’s Home Loans and Insurance division. I currently serve as an adjunct professor in Business Law at California State University, Northridge. I also teach Employment Discrimination Law at Loyola Law School. In November 2010, I was appointed as President and Chief Executive Officer of Bet Tzedek Legal Services, after having served on its Board of Directors for almost 16 years. I left his position at Bet Tzedek in August 2014 to pursue my passion for teaching.
In 2006, I was named as one of the top 25 lawyers in the San Fernando Valley, California; in 2005, I was named Outstanding Corporate Counsel of the Year by the Los Angeles County Bar Association, Corporate Law Department Section; and in 2004, I received the Luis Lainer Founder’s Award from Bet Tzedek Legal Services.
I currently serves on the Boards the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies, Hillel 818, Adat Ari El synagogue, the National Council of the American Israel Political Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and the AIPAC Valley Executive Committee, and on the Presidents’ Council of Bet Tzedek. I am also the Chairman of the Board of the Jewish Los Angeles Special Needs Trust, and I am the Chair of the AIPAC Los Angeles Pro-Israel Network. Previously, I served on the Boards of the American Jewish University, Bet Tzedek Legal Services, the Los Angeles Urban League and the Constitutional Rights Foundation. I also served as Chairman of Bet Tzedek’s Board of Directors, the Ziegler School’s Board of Advisors and the Legal Issues Committee of the Mortgage Bankers Association of America.
Tell us a bit about your life outside of work: My wife is Dr. Claudia Samuels. We met in high school at a Latin Club party. This coming June 30, we will have been married 50 years. Claudia has a Ph.D in Classics with an expertise in ancient coins and antiquities. She ran several antiquities galleries during the 1980’s and 1990’s, and she wrote a book called, “The Numismatic Legacy of the Jews,” which recounts the story of the Jewish People from 500 B.C.E. to 150 C.E. through a coin collection. Together, we have three children: Ethan, Seth, and Samantha and two grandkids: Aria and Micah.
Fun Fact: I spent a summer at the American University of Cairo studying Arabic in 1973, two months before the Yom Kippur War broke out.
How did you get involved with Hillel 818?: I have been teaching business law at CSUN since 2014. During my tenure here, I attended a number of presentations by the then-Hillel director at El Caballero Country Club, and I became a donor to Hillel 818. I was then invited to visit the old Hillel building and I became a donor to the building campaign for the current building. I was already friendly with a number of members of the Hillel 818 Board members, so when I was invited to join the Board, I gladly accepted.
Why is it important to support Jewish college students right now?: It is always important for colleges to provide a safe space for Jewish students to be able to identify Jewishly, to celebrate Jewishly, to eat Jewishly, to learn Jewishly, and to hang out with other Jewish kids.
What’s your favorite part about being Jewish in the San Fernando Valley?: My Jewish community. We celebrate life cycle events together, we mourn together, we work together to strengthen our Jewish institutions, we work together to strengthen the US/Israel relationship.
