Marc Blattner

Marc Blattner is the President and CEO of the Jewish Federation in Portland, Oregon, where he has worked for over ten years. Blattner received his B.A. in 1992 with a double major in Religion: Judaic Studies and Near Eastern Studies. His journey to Emory was far from straightforward: he was planning on going to New York University for their five-year MBA program when he attended a Soviet Jewry rally in Washington, DC, in December 1987, and at that moment decided he wanted to work professionally for the Jewish community. As a result, he made a last-minute change to in his educational plans, setting his sights on Emory because it offered a better route to his chosen life path. “I never saw the school until the moment my parents dropped me off at my dorm,” Blattner recalls.

After graduation, he attended the Baltimore Institute for Jewish Communal Service and graduated in 1994 with an M.A. in Judaic Studies at Baltimore Hebrew University (since then merged into Towson University) and M.S.W. from the University of Maryland School of Social Work. Following graduate school, he started work at The Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore. Blattner describes his training at Emory as having prepared him well for a career in Jewish communal service.  “Emory is a world-class institution with phenomenal professors, and you’re in a vibrant, active Jewish community in Atlanta. I think Emory just offers the world to people.”

Published on 4/6/21