Alex Jakubowski

Alex Jakubowski is dedicated to helping Jewish college students connect to community, even - and especially - when they're across the world. After studying abroad in Bologna when he was in college, Alex founded KAHAL: Your Jewish Home Abroad, a nonprofit organization that plugs students into a global Jewish network of 34 participating countries.

In honor of his work, Alex was recently awarded Spertus Institute's Innovation and Collaboration Award and the Covenant Foundation Pomegranate Prize for Jewish Education. He was also a member of the Upstart Accelerator for Entrepreneurs, is part of Nexus USA as a social innovator and helps raise over $300,000 annually support Jewish students abroad.

Locally, Alex is committed to mentoring young Jewish entrepreneurs as vice president of SketchPad, a new Jewish collaborative workplace. He is also an active alumnus of the Alpha Epsilon Pi Fraternity at Northwestern University and enjoys organizing rooftop Shabbats in Lakeview.

Age:

Primary gig:

Executive Director @ KAHAL: Your Jewish Home Abroad

On the side:

Senior Development Consultant and Midwest LFG

Relationship status:

Taken

Describe yourself in 10 words or less:

Accomplished leader designing new expressions of global Jewish peoplehood

Celebrity doppelganger/who would play you in a movie:

The kid from “Jerry Maguire” – what does he look like now? I swear I was the spitting image of that kid at 10 …

Chicago's Jewish community in 10 years:

I work with more than 70 Jewish communities around the world, and I wouldn't hesitate for a second to say that Chicago is the most dynamic and exciting. Few communities display this kind of innovation and creative growth, and even fewer do so while maintaining a strong core – JUF. These dual, complementing strengths will produce a vitality and vibrancy that we're only just beginning to realize, and about which I could not be more excited.