Avi Warshavsky is the founder and CEO of MindCET EdTech Innovation Center, a global leader in EdTech that offers a wide range of activities for startups and educators such as accelerators, R&D, investment, and testing, and assists educational institutions in adopting innovative pedagogies based on cutting edge technology. He is also a member of the management team of the Center for Educational Technology, Israel’s leader in technological-based educational solutions. Warshavsky is a pioneer and founder of global initiatives such as GESAwards (the world’s largest EdTech competition and community). He is also a member of many multi-national ventures and serves on the boards of successful EdTech startup companies. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Jewish philosophy and history from the Open University and Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a master’s degree in general philosophy from Tel Aviv University.
Tal Ohana, mayor of Yeruham, was born and raised in the city she serves and is the fourth generation of immigrants from Morocco. From 2004–2009, she held managerial positions at the Rashi Foundation, the Israel Scholarship Education Foundation (ISEF), and the Yeruham Community Center. She then served as the director of Yeruham’s young people’s association. In 2011, she established a movement for Zionist activities in Morocco, which enabled hundreds of young people from the Jewish communities of Casablanca, Marrakech, Tangier, Agadir, and Rabat to participate in programs in Israel and abroad. The movement also encouraged immigration and absorption of immigrant families, engaged in fundraising, and provided support for welfare, health, and relations between Jews and Muslims in Morocco, with the aid of the Keren Leyedidut. From 2010 until her election as the first woman mayor of Yeruham in 2018, Tal Ohana was the deputy and acting mayor of the city, held the education and strategic development portfolio, and was a member of the city’s planning and building committee. She holds a bachelor’s degree in organizational sociology from the Max Stern JYezreel Valley College and holds a master’s degree from the Lauder School of Government, Diplomacy and Strategy at IDC Herzliya. She has contributed greatly to Yeruham’s economic and social development by enlisting partners from Israel and around the world, and has made a significant impact on employment, education, welfare and health.
Michel Ben Simon has been the acting CEO of Phoenicia Glass Works Ltd. since September
2022. Prior to his appointment, he served as the company’s vice president of technology and regulation for a decade, following six years as the company’s operations manager. Before joining the management team of Phoenicia, Michel served as chief engineer at the Israel
Post, plant engineer at Soda Stream, and maintenance at Dead Sea Periclase.
Michel holds a master’s degree in business administration and a bachelor’s degree in
mechanical engineering (with distinction), both from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
Advocate Ranit Rand Saroka has been the acting CEO of Bikurofe, a chain of medical
treatment clinics of IEL (the business branch of the Mandel family in Israel), since September2022. Prior to that, she served as the general counsel and chief financial officer of IEL. Previously, Ranit was the head of mergers and acquisitions and the manager of the UK subsidiary at Gamatronic Ltd. She was also a senior manager of the marketing and acquisitions team of KPMG. Ranit holds a master’s degree in business administration with a specialization in financial management, a bachelor’s degree in law (with distinction), and an additional bachelor’s degree in accounting, all from Tel Aviv University. She is a certified public accountant.
Ruvik Danilovich has been the mayor of Beer Sheva, the city where he was born and raised, since 2008. Prior to that, he served as deputy mayor for two terms, overseeing education, youth, absorption, and urban renewal in the city. Mayor Danilovich initiated and advanced projects promoting education, values of excellence, and involvement in community. His initiatives have included “social matriculation” certification for youth involved in community service, a campaign to reduce the dropout rate, and the establishment of the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Children’s Museum – Lunada, Beer Sheva’s first children’s museum. To support local creativity, Mayor Danilovich founded institutions to nurture talented artists, as well as the region’s first acting school. He also established a municipal department for youth and demobilized soldiers aged 18-35, with an affiliated guidance and counseling center. Mayor Danilovich is chairman of the board of educational and cultural institutions in Beer Sheva, and serves on the board of a number of national organizations, including organizations that aid soldiers and nurture young entrepreneurs. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Israel studies and an honorary doctorate in philosophy, both from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
Dr. Heftsi Zohar is the deputy mayor of Beer Sheva. A graduate of Cohort 9 of the Mandel School for Educational Leadership, she holds a doctorate in molecular biochemistry from the life sciences department of Ben Gurion University. Dr. Zohar founded and led the Maof Center for Gifted and Outstanding Students and served as the national supervisor of the Ministry of Education’s department for gifted and outstanding students. She has served as deputy mayor of Beer Sheva since 2008 and holds the education portfolio of the Beer Sheva municipality.
Avishag Avtovi is the CEO of the Beer Sheva municipality. She has been working in the public sector in Israel for 30 years. Prior to her current position, she was the chairman of the board of directors of Channel 10 News Israel, which produced prime-time news and programs for Israel television’s Channel 10. She serves on several national committees devoted to reform and innovation in the public sector.
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.
Ofir Libstein is the head of the Sha’ar HaNegev Regional Council, which includes 11
communities, most of which are kibbutzim. He has held this position since 2018. An
entrepreneur who works in hi-tech, Ofir is one of the founders of the annual "Darom Adom"
festival, which has branded Israel’s south as a flourishing tourist destination. He is a member
of the executive of the World Zionist Organization and is a former chairman of the Habonim
Dror youth movement and of the Kibbutz Industries Association. Ofir is a graduate of Cohort
2 of the Mandel Program for Regional Leadership in Beer Sheva.
Dr. Rotem Bresler-Gonen is a Beer Sheva native and currently lives in the Negev. She is a researcher and lecturer in public policy and administration at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. She completed her doctoral studies in 2005 at the London School of Economic and Political Science, researching political appointments in local government. Her research focuses on issues of administration and politics in local government, the connection between local and central government, and the challenges of local democracy. Bresler-Gonen directs a program to train heads of local authorities at the Hebrew University’s Federmann School of Public Policy and Government in collaboration with the Ministry of Interior. For over a decade, she has served as an adviser to the Ministry of Interior and other ministries, as well as a consultant to local authorities on a variety of issues.
Hagit Damri holds a PhD in sociology and anthropology from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, where she lectures in the gender studies program. Her research deals with the relationship between cultural-political negotiations and the body. Hagit served as the executive director of Hagar: Jewish-Arab Education for Equality, and led the development and establishment of a bi-lingual Jewish-Arab educational system in Beer Sheva. She initiated and oversaw the production of Israel’s first anthology of children’s stories in Hebrew and Arabic, which was published in two volumes:
Sweet Tea with Mint and Other Stories, and
I Am from There and Other Stories. She is involved in artistic projects as a conceptual consultant and as a writer of texts for exhibitions.
Israel Sorek, a faculty member of the Mandel Center for Leadership in the Negev, is the founder and director of Be’Machshava Techila (Think Ahead) – an institute for applied philosophy. Sorek taught philosophy and educational philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he also trained teachers of philosophy. He founded and edited the journal A-Formally, a platform for social, educational and leadership issues, and was coordinator of the Human Dignity forum at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute. Sorek was a faculty member and dean of fellows at the Mandel School for Educational Leadership and co-directed the Mandel Leadership Institute’s IDF Educational Leadership Development Program in its first two years. Israel Sorek’s work includes, among others, the training of group instructors, incorporating theater and philosophy in their training. His published work (in Hebrew) includes “Values,” which appeared in Crossroads, 1997, and “Philosophy as a Practical Science,” published in Educational Deliberations, 2005. He is a graduate of Cohort 2 of the Mandel School for Educational Leadership.
Dr. Muhammad Al-Nabari, a visiting faculty member at the Mandel Center for Leadership in the Negev, is a social entrepreneur and public figure with extensive experience in leading social change in local government and civil society. From 2004 to 2018, he served as head of Hura Local Council. Throughout his tenure, he was committed to improving the quality of life in Bedouin Arab society in the Negev in innovative and groundbreaking ways, promoting women’s employment, scientific and technological education, building infrastructure, and more. For his achievements as mayor of Hura, he was named a Knight of Quality Government by the Movement for Quality Government in Israel. Muhammad also founded and served as chairman of Wadi Attir, a desert agriculture initiative that also includes environmental, technological, community, and economic elements. This initiative implements the principles of the Global Sustainability Laboratory and leverages the knowledge, values, and aspirations of traditional Bedouin society by harnessing advanced modern technologies and scientific knowledge. As a visiting faculty member at the Mandel Center, Muhammad is an important source of expertise and inspiration on meaningful and sustainable acts of leadership, ways of leading grassroots change, public administration, and leadership challenges in Bedouin Arab society in the Negev. Alongside his work at Mandel, Muhammad is also the founding chairman of Yanabia, a nonprofit promoting social business entrepreneurship that works with government ministries, local authorities, civil society organizations, and businesses to advance Bedouin Arab society in the Negev and transform it into an engine of growth for the region. He is also chairman of the board of Desert Stars, a non-profit organization dedicated to developing trailblazing young Bedouin leadership and is a member of the board of Achva Academic College and of the board of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
Yosra Abu Kaf is an artist and video artist whose work focuses on gender issues in Bedouin society. Her video work Silence was exhibited at a museum in Amsterdam. Previously, she was coordinator of culture and art for the Al-Kasum regional council, in which capacity she was responsible for cultural services and activities and developed cultural programs for the Bedouin community. Yosra was also the coordinator of transportation and education for unrecognized Bedouin villages at the Al-Kasum regional council, and managed its photo archive. She has coordinated and taught photography classes for women and children under the auspices of the Forum for Coexistence in the Negev. Yosra holds a bachelor’s degree in art and culture from Sapir College. She lives in Umm Batin, located in the Al-Kasum regional council. Yosra is a graduate of Cohort 4 of the Mandel Program for Cultural Leadership in the Negev.
Sofie Berzon MacKie is assistant curator and curator of photography at the Be’eri Gallery for Contemporary Art. Her artwork has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in Israel and around the world, and can be found in private collections in Israel and abroad. Her work and texts have also been published in magazines, catalogues, newspapers, and blogs in multiple countries. In 2020 Sofie was shortlisted to Arte Laguna Art Prize #14 and exhibited in Venice. She also exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts summer exhibition in London in 2020 and 2021. Her work received honorary mention in the International Photography Awards in 2010, 2018, and 2020. Sofie studied photography at the Technion School of Photography in Haifa and at Camera Obscura School of Art in Tel Aviv. She also studied curatorship at the Kalisher International Program for Curatorial Studies at the Kibbutzim College of Education, Technology and the Arts. Sofie is a member of Israel Curators Union. She lives and works in Kibbutz Be’eri in the Gaza border communities. Sofie is a graduate of Cohort 4 of the Mandel Program for Cultural Leadership in the Negev.
Adam de Lange is a musician, Spanish classical guitarist, writer, and artist. He founded and directs Desert Circus, a circus school in Mitzpe Ramon that teaches circus skills to young people in their 20s while emphasizing sustainability and social-communal involvement. Adam studied circus arts in Israel and in Spain. He has taught acrobalance and circus arts in a variety of settings including the Adama Dance School, programs for at-risk Jewish and Bedouin youth run by municipal welfare departments, the Yeshiva High School for Environmental Torah Education, and pre-military academies. Previously, Adam was the sustainability coordinator of the Green Network in Mitzpe Ramon and an environment and community coordinator for the Ir Ganim community council in Jerusalem. He has also worked with young people in various educational capacities, including providing nature therapy for at-risk youth, teaching woodworking at a special education school in Abu Ghosh, and serving as a counselor with the JNF Green Horizons youth movement. Adam holds a bachelor’s degree in Islamic and Middle Eastern studies from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he graduated from the Atidim program for municipal service cadets. He also holds a master’s degree in public policy, with a specialization in urban planning, from the honors program at the Hebrew University’s Federmann School of Public Policy. He lives in Mitzpe Ramon. Adam is a graduate of Cohort 3 of the Mandel Program for Cultural Leadership in the Negev.
Dr. Amir Peleg Uziyahu is a history researcher, lecturer, and an Israel-based historian for the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany. For over a decade, he has been involved in addressing issues of compensation for Holocaust survivors in Israel and throughout the world. He is a ranger working as part of the Israel Parks and Nature Authority’s “Rotem” unit to prevent illegal hunting in the Negev, and represents Ein Habesor as an elected member of the Eshkol Regional Council. Amir is the chair of the environment committee of the Eshkol Regional Council, where he is also a member of the education committee, the tenders committee, and the audit committee. He was the founding editor of “Yisraelim,” a journal of historical research by students at Ben-Gurion University. Amir holds a doctorate in Jewish history from Ben-Gurion University, and bachelor’s and master’s degrees in history, politics, and government from the same institution. He lives in Ein Habesor, a moshav in the Eshkol Regional Council, and is a graduate of the Mandel Program for Regional Leadership in the Gaza Border Communities.
Hila Halevy is the youth services leader for the department of social services of the Eshkol Regional Council. In this capacity, she manages community youth projects and provides individual and group therapy for young people in Eshkol. Hila is co- founder of the Shlomit Development Foundation, and worked with the Jewish National Fund to develop relations between Jewish communities in the United States and the Eshkol region’s pioneering communities to promote regional development. She is also a member of the Sherlin Foundation for Women’s Empowerment and a member of the board of directors of the Eshkol Center for Young Adults. Hila holds a master’s degree in social work, with a specialization in child and youth care, from Sapir Academic College. She lives in Shlomit, in the Eshkol Regional Council, and is a graduate of the Mandel Program for Regional Leadership in the Gaza Border Communities.
Yaniv Hegyi works for the Kibbutz movement as an advisor to cooperative kibbutzim and serves in a voluntary capacity as chair of the Jewish Agency's Partnership2Gether program connecting the Eshkol Regional Council and the Jewish communities of Mexico and northeastern New York. He has managed complex and multidisciplinary systems in the social arena, as secretary general of Kibbutz Be’eri; in business, as business developer at Be’eri Printers; and in technology, as a hi-tech project manager in Israel, the United States, and Costa RicaYaniv is a qualified industrial and management engineer, and holds a master’s degree (cum laude) in business administration, management of technology, innovation and entrepreneurship from Tel Aviv University. He also holds a diploma in mediation. Yaniv is a member of Kibbutz Be’eri in the Eshkol Regional Council, and is a graduate of the Mandel Program for Regional Leadership in the Gaza Border Communities.
Naama Shaked Levy owns Breaking through the Glass Ceiling, a social enterprise for women’s advancement, and is the developer of "Pioneering Women Cards." Naama is also a lecturer and group facilitator. She works to advance gender equality in creative ways, mentors business communities and individuals in the field of entrepreneurship and employment, and serves as southern region coordinator at the Israeli Center for Human Dignity. In the past, she was the coordinator of the women’s forum at Ben- Gurion University of the Negev, to promote gender equality at the university. In recent years, she has volunteered as a career counselor for the Pa’amonim nonprofit for domestic financial responsibility and for the women’s forum of the Eshkol Regional Council. Naama holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in sociology and anthropology, from the University of Haifa and Ben-Gurion University. She lives on Kibbutz Gvulot in the Eshkol Regional Council and is a graduate of the Mandel Program for Regional Leadership in the Gaza Border Communities.
