| Marcus Sheff | |
| Birth Place: | Whitefield, Manchester, United Kingdom |
| Nationality: | Israeli |
| Alma Mater: | University of Leeds |
Marcus Sheff (born 1963) is an Israeli-British non-profit chief executive officer (CEO), former media executive and journalist.
Sheff was born in the Whitefield, Manchester, United Kingdom in 1963 in a Jewish family.[1] His late father, Alan, a dentist, was president of the Whitefield Hebrew Congregation.[1] His mother, Sylvia, was a recipient of the MBE.[1] She led a campaign to free Soviet Jews, most notable among them is Natan Sharansky.[1]
Sheff was educated at the Prestwich Jewish Day School, now known as Yesoiday Hatorah as well as Bolton School.[1] Later, he attended the University of Leeds and graduated with a bachelor's degree in political science and international relations.[1] [2] He held several posts at the student union as was elected General Secretary of Leeds University Union in 1984 and on the NUS anti-racism committee in 1985.[1]
Sheff is married to Inbal.[1]
At the age of 23 Sheff moved to Israel.[1] There, he became involved in the political world after joining The Nation as a reporter.[1] Later, when The Nation became defunct, he joined The Jerusalem Post and worked there for the next two years as an editor.[1]
In 1990 Sheff co-founded strategic communications company, The Word Shop and after selling it a decade later, worked in strategic communications for global firms.[1]
From 2007 to 2014 Sheff was the chief executive officer (CEO) of The Israel Project.[1] [3] Before joining the Israel Project, he was the CEO of Intermedia.[4]
In 2020 Sheff was included in the Algemeiner Journal's Jewish 100 list.[5]
Sheff is the current CEO of the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se).[5] [6] Under his tenure, IMPACE-se has submitted extensive reports which evaluate the textbook curriculum of countries around the world, particularly the Middle Eastern countries, including Saudi Arabia,[7] the United Arab Emirates,[8] Qatar,[9] Yemen[10] and the Palestinian Authority,[11] urging them to reform their textbooks.[6] In many instances, the suggestions were accepted, and the textbooks in question were reformed and became more moderate.[12]
Sheff is also a Major in reserves in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Spokesperson Unit.[13]