J Street Board Member

Mark Zivin has recently retired as a partner in the Chicago CPA and consulting firm Morrison & Morrison, Ltd., where he provided accounting, tax and business advice to closely-held businesses and high-net-worth individuals for 40 years.

He spearheaded the development of Morrison & Morrison’s technology consulting practice beginning back at the start of the microcomputer revolution. He has served on various committees of the American Institute of CPAs and the Illinois CPA Society.

Mark received an A.B. in Religion from Trinity College, Hartford, CT, in 1973 and an M.B.A. in Finance and Accounting from the University of Chicago Booth School in 1975, where he was an Institute of Professional Accounting Fellow and a member of the Beta Gamma Sigma business school honorary society. He earned his CPA certificate in 1975.

He is especially proud of his involvement in the American Jewish community for more than 30 years, beginning in the 1990s, when he served on the board of his synagogue, the Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation in Evanston, IL. In 2002, Mark joined the board of the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation, the national governing body of the Reconstructionist movement, and served as its Treasurer from 2005-9. During that time, he also chaired the Capital Campaign for the first Reconstructionist summer camp, the award-winning Camp Havaya (formerly known as Camp JRF).

Mark serves on the Board of Directors of the Alliance for Middle East Peace, a coalition of over 100 organizations – and tens of thousands of Israelis and Palestinians, Arabs and Jews – building people-to-people cooperation, coexistence, equality, shared society, and mutual understanding among their communities in the Middle East in order to build an environment for long-term  regional peace.

Mark has also been involved as a leader in J Street since its inception, serving on its Advisory Board and Finance Committee since 2008. He was integral in developing the J Street Chicago chapter and served as the Chapter Chair from 2008-2016. Mark was Midwest Regional Chair of the Finance Committee from 2014-16, and was the recipient of the Tzedek v’Shalom award from the J Street Chicago chapter in 2018.

Mark has traveled with J Street to Israel on a Congressional delegation in 2013 and a special mission during the Gaza War in 2014. He works diligently at maintaining relationships with Members of Congress and often leads delegations to Capitol Hill during advocacy days.

Mark has also been an active volunteer in his local community – particularly with youth.  In the 1990s, he served on the board of Youth & Opportunity United (Y.O.U.), an Evanston organization that works with youth and families, and on the board of Evanston’s AYSO chapter.  He coached and refereed AYSO soccer for 15 years and went on to referee Illinois high school soccer also for 15 years.

Mark lives in Evanston, IL and has been married to the love of his life, Margie Morrison Zivin, for 38 years, and they have twin sons, Jake and Sam, as well as two delicious grandsons, Lyle and Roger.