Joe Pereles retired as Senior Vice President Development and General Counsel for Drury Hotels Company in December 2019, after spending 29 years with Drury. Prior to joining Drury in October 1990, Joe was a partner with the St. Louis law firm of Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale PC.

Joe co-founded the St. Louis J Street Chapter, is the chapter’s advocacy chair and was the 2021 recipient of the Rodef Shalom (Pursuer of Peace) award from the St. Louis Chapter.

He has been a Red Cross volunteer for over 36 years. Joe was a member of the National Board of Governors of the American Red Cross from 2005-2014 and served as Vice Chair of the Board for 4 years. He is chair of the American Red Cross National Philanthropic Board and is a member of the Compliance and Mediation Committee of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. 

Joe co-founded Student to Student, Inc. (STSI) in 2021. STSI is a spin-off of a program started by the St. Louis Jewish Community Relations Council in 1992 and was formed to expand STSI nationally for two specific purposes: (1) continue teaching non-Jewish high school students about Judaism through direct peer-to-peer interactions with Jewish students (Reform, Reconstruction, Conservative and Orthodox students presenting together) and (2) continue training the Jewish student presenters to become confident leaders able to recognize antisemitism and speak up.