Born and raised in Jerusalem, Yael Goodman began leading tours following her service as a commander in the IDF. She eventually became a trainer for one of Israel’s leading tour guide courses and a Ministry of Tourism licensing examiner for new guides. In 2019, Yael founded RUN JLM running tours in Jerusalem, which combines her love for Jerusalem, guiding and running. Yael currently guides walking tours in Jerusalem and is continuing to develop her business. Yael will be leading Shabbat tours at the start and the end of the board visit and will be accompanying the board on Sunday and Tuesday.
Idan lives in Jerusalem and works an educator and tour guide, with a focus on educational tourism, leadership, and interfaith, social, and political missions. She believes that encounters with people and their personal narratives are the best way to understand and experience a place.As an educator, tour guide, and political activist focused on social justice, Idan leads in-depth, informative tours while highlighting multiple narratives and perspectives of Israel. In addition to guiding groups, in the past decade, she has been involved in social change activism. Her work and passion have mostly focused on housing rights for homeless families, as well as underprivileged communities fighting not only for a place to live but also for equal opportunities and the righting of historical ethnic injustices resulting from discrimination. Idan played a central role in establishing a group of activists and homeless people in Jerusalem. Together, they launched protest campaigns against forced evacuations from homes and created an independent platform from which the homeless could voice their struggle. Idan has worked on policy change in the Knesset, representing the Forum for Public Housing, the Democratic Mizrachi Rainbow and The Coalition Against Racism. In her work, she was involved in reinforcing and improving the public housing bill, promoting a new bill that will secure fair compensation for families who have been evacuated from their homes as the result of high end real estate projects, campaigning for distributive justice in public land and assets, and fighting for governmental involvement in the fight against racism. In addition, Idan has worked in production of various art projects and exhibitions and manages a band that performs Jewish Moroccan music based on their new arrangements of traditional Moroccan songs, as well as original compositions. In their work, the members of the band have become prominent representatives of Jewish Moroccan music’s young generation.
Yaakov Katz is editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem Post, the oldest and largest English daily newspaper in Israel. He is the author of Shadow Strike: Inside Israel’s Secret Mission to Eliminate Syrian Nuclear Power and the co-author of Weapon Wizards: How Israel Became a High-Tech Military Superpower (with Amir Bohbot), a book that has been published in English, Hebrew, Czech, Polish, and Mandarin. Yaakov Katz is also the co-author of Israel vs. Iran: The Shadow War (with Yoaz Hendel). He served for close to a decade as the Jerusalem Post’s military reporter and defense analyst and was the Israel correspondent for Jane’s Defence Weekly. He was also a lecturer at Harvard University, where he taught an advanced course in journalism. Prior to his role as editor-in-chief, Katz served for two years as a senior policy adviser to Naftali Bennett during his tenure as Israel’s Minister of Economy and Minister of Diaspora Affairs. In 2013, Katz was one of 12 international fellows to spend a year at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. Originally from Chicago, he has a law degree from Bar-Ilan University. He lives in Jerusalem with his wife Chaya and their four children.
Yael Hess is the director of the Mandel Leadership Institute. A colonel in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reserves and a graduate of the Israel National Defense College, Yael served in key positions in the IDF Education Corps for many years. She commanded the Shaare Avraham training base, which trains the educational staff of all IDF units; she headed the Education Corps’ Culture Branch; and she commanded the IDF’s education system, which includes high-school completion courses, matriculation studies, preparation for enlistment, and the IDF’s Gadna bases, where future conscripts participate in week-long preparatory programs. In her last position in the IDF, Yael headed the Education Division of the IDF Chief Education Officer’s headquarters. In this combined educational and managerial position, she was responsible for defining the IDF’s educational approach; implementing the IDF’s spirit and values; and overseeing the work of the educational staffs of all IDF units, and the work of IDF hasbara (information) units throughout the country. She was also responsible for cultural activities for soldiers and for Holocaust education and commemoration throughout the IDF. From 2000 to 2003, Yael served as a community emissary of the Jewish Agency to North America and taught Hebrew in the department of Middle Eastern studies of the University of Arizona and at the Tucson Hebrew Academy. She holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology and anthropology from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a master’s degree in national security studies from the University of Haifa. Yael is a graduate of the Mandel IDF Educational Leadership Program.
Dr. Adi Nir-Sagi is the director of the Mandel Center for Leadership in the Negev. A senior psychologist, Adi holds a doctorate in education from the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, a master’s degree in educational psychology from the Hebrew University and an additional master’s in public administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, where she was a Wexner fellow. Adi’s areas of expertise include leading system-wide psychological processes, leading changes in systems, development of professional identity and culture, and individual and group leadership training. Adi directed the Mandel School for Educational Leadership from 2008-2012. She was previously the chief psychologist of the Ministry of Education.
Miki Nevo, a social entrepreneur, is the director of the Mandel Center for Leadership in the North. Prior to his current position, he was the director of the Mandel Program for Youth Leadership of the Mandel Leadership Institute for five years. Miki has some twenty-five years’ experience in founding and managing social and educational organizations. He was principal of the Misgav secondary school and directed the Israel Venture Network’s educational activities in Israel’s northern social periphery when the network was founded. He also founded and directed the Ma’ase Center, which promotes socioeconomic mobility by providing volunteering frameworks for young adults from Israel’s social periphery, served as senior assistant director of research and development of the Rashi Foundation, and founded and directed Living Together – The Center for a New Social Partnership in Israel. In recognition of his work with Ma’ase, Miki was awarded the Sderot Conference for Society’s Prize for Excellence in Social Affairs, the Speaker of the Knesset’s Quality of Life Prize, and an honorary doctorate from Tel Aviv University. He holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science and a master’s degree in neurobiology, both from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Miki is a graduate of Cohort 4 of the Mandel School for Educational Leadership.
Maya Bozo-Schwartz is the director of the Mandel Graduate Unit and has extensive experience in leading pedagogical change processes in schools and in systemic change processes in education. Before being appointed to her current position, she was the director of the Mandel Leadership Institute’s Mandel Program for Academic Leadership. Prior to that, Maya was a member of the management team and head of research and development at Avney Rosha – the Israel Institute for School Leadership. She also worked at the Branco Weiss Institute, where she founded and co-directed its research and development unit. Maya holds a bachelor’s degree from the department of education and from the multidisciplinary program at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and has a master’s degree in philosophy of education from the same institution. She is currently working on her doctoral dissertation in the department of education at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, where her research explores verbal feedback in the school classroom. Maya is a graduate of Cohort 13 of the Mandel School for Educational Leadership.
Efrat Aran is the director of the Mandel School for Educational Leadership. Before joining Mandel, she was the deputy executive director and vice president of content and development of Aluma, a non-profit organization, which encourages young adults to play productive, influential roles in Israeli society, while maintaining their own, unique identities, values, and ways of life. In this capacity, she developed and led programs and processes designed to reduce educational-social gaps and to increase the social mobility of young people in Israeli society. These initiatives were conducted in partnership with the central and local government and with other organizations and foundations. Prior to that, she was the head of the social mobility program of the Rashi Foundation, where she worked on educational projects and promoted policy issues. Efrat is a graduate of Cohort 21 of the Mandel School for Educational Leadership. Before embarking on her educational journey at Mandel, Efrat held senior managerial positions at Intel, both in Israel and abroad, where she worked for 17 years and gained experience in strategic thinking and policy making. Efrat holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering and management from Tel Aviv University, and a master’s degree in business administration from the Kellogg-Recanati Executive MBA Program at Tel Aviv University.
Dr. Tamar Abramov is a senior advisor to the President of the Mandel Foundation. In this capacity, she works with all humanities-related Mandel-named programs and initiatives. An expert in comparative literature, Tamar holds a master’s degree and doctorate from Harvard University and is fluent in Hebrew, English, German and French. Tamar has extensive experience in teaching, humanities outreach programs, curriculum development and management. She has taught at universities around the world, including the University of Chicago, Harvard, and Koc University in Istanbul, and has served on numerous university councils and boards.
Professor Tamar Ariav is the academic director of the Mandel Foundation–Israel. Before joining Mandel, she was president of Beit Berl College from 2008 to 2020. She was a faculty member at Beit Berl from 1985 until 2020 and served in a variety of positions there over the years. From 2002 to 2008, Tamar was a member of the Council of Higher Education in Israel, where she worked on several committees and chaired the Teacher Education Frameworks Committee in 2006. In 2021, she received the Council’s Prize for Higher Education in the “Head of Institution” category, in recognition of her outstanding service as president of Beit Berl College. Tamar graduated from Tel Aviv University with a bachelor’s degree in economics and statistics and a master’s degree in curriculum studies. She earned her doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania in the field of curriculum and instruction. Her areas of expertise include curriculum planning and assessment, and her research has focused primarily on the fields of teacher policy and education. Tamar has published books, book chapters, and papers and has given presentations in conferences in Israel and abroad. She has taught in schools in Israel, Germany and the United States, worked in Jewish education in the United States, and was a visiting scholar at the University of California, Irvine.
Dafna Gaber is the Mandel Foundation–Israel’s director of innovation and digital learning. Before joining the Mandel Foundation, Dafna was an entrepreneur and consultant in the fields of social product development and services and headed innovative projects that combine technology and social leadership. Dafna served at the Chief Executive Officer of the Appleseeds Academy, a non-profit organization that is a leading force in Israel in bridging the digital divide. She was the recipient of the Prime Minister’s Award for Innovation in 2014 and was named one of the 100 most influential people of the year by the Israeli business newspaper The Marker in 2011-2012. A lawyer by training, Dafna holds two bachelor’s degrees, one in law and the other in English literature and linguistics, both from Bar-Ilan University.
Gila Ben-Har serves as an advisor to the Mandel Foundation–Israel. From 2000-2004, Gila was head of the education, culture and sport administration of the Municipality of Tel Aviv-Jaffa, where she directed the planning and implementation of educational policy. For the 15 years that followed, she was the executive director of the Center for Educational Technology (CET), an independent, nonprofit organization that is a leading player in the development and introduction of printed and digital content for teaching, learning and assessment. Under Gila’s leadership, CET became Israel’s largest educational NGO and had a significant influence on the educational system in Israel and abroad. A graduate of the first cohort of the Mandel School for Educational Leadership, Gila holds a bachelor’s degree in education and a master’s degree in pedagogical didactic education, both from Bar-Ilan University, where she specialized in curriculum, educational administration, and technology in education. From 2012–2019, Gila served as a member of the audit committee of the Mandel Foundation–Israel in a voluntary capacity, and in 2019 she founded the Foundation’s innovation and digital learning unit. The Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Innovation Center (MindCET) was established in Yeruham under Gila’s leadership as the director of the Center for Educational Technology.
Noa Padan is the manager of the Mandel Foundation–Israel’s internal databases, which
contain data about all Mandel program applicants, fellows, and graduates and track all
aspects of the application process. She is also the curator of the Mandel Foundation–Israel’s art collection and is the point of contact between the Mandel Foundation and the Mandel-
named sites in Israel. Noa has a wealth of administrative experience, including work for the Jerusalem Municipality and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Prior to joining the Mandel Foundation, she also served as the deputy principal of the Israel Arts and Science Academy and taught courses at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s School of Education. Noa has a
bachelor’s degree in musicology and a master’s degree (with distinction) in education, both from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She also holds a diploma in contemporary art
curatorship from the Technion.
Ben Dansker is the Mandel Foundation–Israel’s head of planning. In this capacity, he
is responsible for the Foundation’s steering committee, organizational archive,
newsletter, reports to the President and CEO of the Foundation, and policies and
procedures. Previously, he was the Foundation’s acting CFO from 1995-2001. Over
the years he has undertaken special projects including research on measuring
outcomes in the not-for-profit sector and as coordinator of the planning team that
designed the Mandel Social Leadership MBA Program at Ben-Gurion University of
the Negev. Prior to joining Mandel, Ben worked at Nativ Consultants and worked in
business planning at Luz Industries for six years. In 1991, he became a founding
partner of Atid EDI, a consulting firm specializing in economic and business research, business consulting and consulting to the government and not-for-profit sector, where he was responsible for preparing strategic plans for several educational entities in Israel. Prior to moving to Israel in 1985, Ben worked in transportation planning and in strategic planning for information systems. Ben received a master’s degree in city and regional planning from Harvard University and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Emory University.
Yael Lautman-Offir is an organizational consultant who specializes in human resource strategies and in organizational development. She has been working at the Mandel Foundation–Israel as an HR advisor for the last five years and partners with the Foundation’s management in work processes and organizational development. Previously, Yael was the deputy director of a community center in Haifa and a regional director for the Melitz Centers for Jewish and Zionist Education. She was also the director of organizational development for the Isrotel hotel chain and served as the director of organizational development for Frontline, a consulting company that uses CRM methodology and is part of the Sensecom group. In her work, Yael focuses on leading systemic organizational changes, evaluating organizations, and developing organizational leadership reserves and management skills. Her past and current clients include Chemicals for Israel (both in Israel and Europe), OPC Energy, Isrotel, the Tel Aviv Municipality, Bank Leumi, Cellcom, Clalit Health Services, and Hadera Paper (today Infinya Ltd.) Yael has lectured at the Faculty of
Management at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev on managing customer service and the quality of customer service. She holds a master’s degree in consulting and organizational
development and a bachelor’s degree in behavioral sciences, both from the College of Management Academic Studies.
