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Ruth Kullman

b. 1951

Ruth Kullman has dedicated her career to working for positive change in her community, from chairing her local Planned Parenthood to helping her synagogue recover from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Ruth Kullman came to New Orleans in 1969 to attend Tulane and stayed to earn an MSW. She focused her career on local Jewish institutions, first at Jewish Family Service of Greater New Orleans, where she developed a teen suicide prevention program, then at the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans, where she served as campaign director, before founding Kullman Consulting, a fundraising consulting firm for nonprofits. She served as board chair of both Planned Parenthood of Louisiana and the Committee of 21, which campaigned to elect women to public office. After Katrina, as president of the board, she helped Touro Synagogue repair its damaged building and hire a new rabbi. She also worked tirelessly to help Mitch Landrieu in his run for mayor. As of 2015 she serves on the boards of Touro Infirmary, the Louisiana Children’s Medical Center, and New Schools New Orleans while serving as finance director for Mayor Landrieu. In 2013 she was honored with the National Council of Jewish Women’s Hannah G. Solomon Award.

Scope and Content Note

Ruth Kullman discusses her career working for positive change in her community, from chairing her local Planned Parenthood to helping her synagogue recover from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. She came to New Orleans in 1969 to attend Tulane and stayed to earn an MSW. Ruth focused her career on local Jewish institutions, first at Jewish Family Service of Greater New Orleans, where she developed a teen suicide prevention program, then at the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans, where she served as campaign director, before founding Kullman Consulting, a fundraising consulting firm for nonprofits. Ruth talks about her board experience, serving as board chair of Planned Parenthood of Louisiana and the Committee of 21, which campaigned to elect women to public office. After Katrina, as president of the board, she helped Touro Synagogue repair its damaged building and hire a new rabbi. Ruth also worked tirelessly to help Mitch Landrieu in his run for mayor. As of 2015, she serves on the boards of Touro Infirmary, the Louisiana Children's Medical Center, and New Schools New Orleans while serving as finance director for Mayor Landrieu. In 2013 she was honored with the National Council of Jewish Women's Hannah G. Solomon Award.

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How to cite this page

Oral History of Ruth Kullman. Interviewed by Rosalind Hinton. 8 November 2006. Jewish Women's Archive. (Viewed on October 7, 2024) <https://jwa.org/oralhistories/kullman-ruth>.

Oral History of Ruth Kullman by the Jewish Women's Archive is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at https://jwa.org/contact/OralHistory.