Lynn Schusterman

Widow of Charles Schusterman (d. 2000), who started in oil and gas business 1961. Founded Samson Resources a decade later; grew into one of world's largest privately held energy companies. Daughter Stacy today runs Samson Investment; spent $4 billion in past 3 years on drilling and development. Operates more than 4,000 oil and gas wells; owns interests in another 11,000. Majority of revenues come from natural gas. Charles & Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation contributes to various Jewish causes; more than $100 million in assets. Lynn Schusterman is the Founder and Co-Chair of the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, a global organization that seeks to ignite the passion and unleash the power in young people to create positive change. The Foundation’s mission emphasizes efforts to strengthen the global Jewish community and Israel, improve public education in the United States, and enhance the quality of life in her hometown of Tulsa, OK. Since its founding in 1987 by Lynn and her late husband, Charles Schusterman (z”l), the Foundation has expanded to include the Schusterman Foundation-Israel as its philanthropic arm in Israel, as well as a suite of programs and initiatives designed to advance the Foundation’s mission. These programs include ROI Community, REALITY and the Schusterman Fellowship. Lynn has been active in Jewish communal and philanthropic affairs for over 40 years. She has been recognized as a driving force behind the values she holds close to her heart, as a proud supporter of Israel and the Jewish people, as a leading advocate for the prevention and treatment of child abuse and neglect, as a champion of educational opportunities for all young people, and as a pioneering funder of inclusion and equality. Her work is grounded in a firm belief that we must all do our part to help repair our communities and our world. Lynn currently holds a variety of leadership positions in organizations such as BBYO, Hillel International, Repair the World and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. She is also a founding member of the Birthright Israel Foundation and a leading philanthropist in the Birthright Israel program. She is the founding funder and member of the advisory board for the Israel Institute and helped to launch the Israel-based Haruv Institute and Jerusalem Season of Culture. Locally, Lynn serves on the advisory boards for the Foundation for Tulsa Schools and the Parent Child Center of Tulsa. She also helped to establish Haruv USA in Tulsa, as part of her broader efforts to bring world-class training and research to address the epidemic of child abuse and neglect; and she supports the Tulsa City-Country Library system, including the Central Library renovation, and Planned Parenthood of the Heartland. In 2000, along with her late husband Charles (z”l), Lynn was inducted into the Tulsa Hall of Fame; in 2003, into the Oklahoma Women’s Hall of Fame; and in 2006, into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame. The following year, she received an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. Lynn was honored in 2008 with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Public Service award, and, in 2011, she joined Warren Buffett, Bill Gates and others in signing the Giving Pledge. Lynn is a mother of three and grandmother to six wonderful girls.