Meet the Honorees
We are thrilled to honor three outstanding individuals from our Sephardic community in the United States. Each honoree brings unique talents and accomplishments to their work, reflecting deep pride in their heritage while uplifting and strengthening our collective presence as a community. Through their dedication and leadership, they exemplify the values that inspire us all and highlight the vibrant contributions of the Sephardic tradition to American life.
Joel Benoliel
Lifetime Community Service Award
Joel Benoliel was born in Seattle and earned both his BA and law degree from the University of Washington. After working as a partner at the Seattle firm MacDonald, Hoague, and Bayless, he later became vice president and general counsel at the privately held Jack A. Benaroya Co. Joel worked in real estate development with Trammell Crow Co. and Spieker Partners, then joined Costco Wholesale Corp., where he served as a Senior Vice President and a member of the company’s Executive Committee for 21 years. In 2000, Joel co-founded the Sephardic Traditions Foundation with his cousin, Hazzan Isaac Azose. Since then, the foundation has published many prayer books to maintain the liturgical traditions of Sephardic Jews from Turkey and Rhodes. Joel has been a trustee of Seattle Children’s Hospital, was vice chair of the advancement committee for the UW School of Law, and in January 2016 was appointed by Gov. Jay Inslee to serve on the University of Washington Board of Regents, where he served for six years, including a year as its Chair. He is the first Sephardic member of the Board of Regents. Joel also is a member of the UW Sephardic Studies Founders Circle. He received Portuguese citizenship in under the Sephardic citizenship legislation in Portugal. Joel is married to Maureen (Alhadeff), and they have one son.
Mitch Julis
Service to Humanity Award
Mitchell R. Julis is Co-Founder, Co-Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Officer of Canyon Partners, LLC, a leading global alternative asset management firm headquartered in Dallas, Texas. Canyon specializes in value-oriented investments for endowments, foundations, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and other institutional investors. Mr. Julis is a graduate of the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs (B.A., magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa), Harvard Law School (J.D., magna cum laude) and Harvard Business School (M.B.A., honors). He serves as a Trustee of the Brown University Corporation, on the Board of Governors at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University, on the Board of Trustees at Yeshiva University and as Trustee Emeritus at the Asia Society. He previously served on the Board of Trustees at Princeton University. He is currently a member of the Advisory Council for the Julis-Rabinowitz Center for Public Policy and Finance at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs and a member of Princeton’s School of Engineering and Applied Science Leadership Council. Furthermore, he sits on the Lincoln Center Theater Board of Directors. Also noteworthy is his active role in establishing the Harvard Law School Program on Jewish and Israeli Law.
Sarah Levin
Sephardic Young Leadership Award
Sarah is the Executive Director of JIMENA: Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa, a public advocacy and education organization. Since 2010, Sarah has played a lead role in organizational development and in the larger movement towards international Mizrahi and Sephardic rights and redress. At JIMENA, Sarah has conceptualized and developed a number of campaigns and projects for Mizrahi and Sephardic Jews to explore, preserve, protect and share their heritage, identities, and experiences. Prior to joining JIMENA, Sarah spent six years in Israel where she contributed to social service programs in a variety of capacities through her work at different non-profit organizations, mainly NATAL: Israel Trauma Center for Victims of Terror and War. Sarah is passionate about ecology, human rights, and is an avid organic gardener. A proud mixed Turkish-Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jew, Sarah lives in Northern California with her husband and two sons.