Moshe Lion has been mayor of Jerusalem since December 2018. In 1991, he co-founded Yitzhaki & Co. together with Avigdor Yitzhaki and two other partners, an organization from which he retired in 2017. From 1996–1999, he was the managing director of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, as well as economic adviser to the prime minister. From 2003–2006, he served as chairman of the Israel Railways, after having previously worked with the Ports and Railways Authority. In 2008, he was appointed chairman of the Jerusalem Development Authority, and oversaw the development of the First Station train complex. Six years later, he was elected chairman of the board of directors of the Mayanei Hayeshua Medical Center in Bnei Brak. In 2013, Moshe Lion ran for Mayor of Jerusalem for the first time. After coming in second, he became a member of the Jerusalem City Council. In August 2015, he joined the municipal coalition and faction of Mayor Nir Barkat, and began to serve as a member of the city administration, holding the community management portfolio. In October 2018, he ran for mayor again, this time winning after a run-off election a month later. Mayor Lion holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and accounting from Bar-Ilan University, and is a certified public accountant.
Shai Doron began his professional career as the director of the Neve Yaakov
Community Center in Jerusalem. In 1989, he was selected as the chief of staff for
then Mayor Teddy Kollek and held the position for four years. In this capacity, he
worked closely with the mayor, was responsible for coordinating and managing
significant projects and was involved in municipal decision-making processes and
urban planning. In 1993, Mr. Doron was appointed director general of Jerusalem’s
Tisch Family Biblical Zoo in Jerusalem, which opened that year at its current location.
He was responsible for the expansion of the zoo and its transformation into a
meeting point for all Jerusalem residents and visitors. He raised millions for the
physical development of the zoo and for special projects in education, social welfare,
research, nature preservation and environmental conservation. Beginning in 2011,
Doron led the construction of the first aquarium in Israel adjacent to the zoo, a
project worth 100 million NIS. During his tenure, the zoo became the leading tourist
attraction in Israel with more than 750,000 visitors a year. In July 2018, the
Jerusalem Foundation’s Board of Directors appointed Shai Doron as the president of
the Foundation, due to his extensive experience the city and his success in resource
development.
Annette Hochstein was a member of the founding group of Mandel endeavors in Israel.
She served as president of the Mandel Foundation–Israel from 2002 to 2010, following
12 years as its director. Annette was co-founder and director of Nativ, Policy and
Planning Consultants (1980–1990). Key projects to which she has contributed include
the West Bank Data Project, the Israel Experience Project and the Commission for
Jewish Education in North America. Annette serves on the board of the National Library
of Israel and is a co-founder of Restless Books, an international publishing house. A
graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem with majors in philology and art history,
she holds a master’s degree in urban affairs and policy analysis from the New School for
Social Research and was a Humphrey Fellow at MIT. Annette was born in Antwerp,
Belgium and immigrated to Israel in 1965. She lives in Jerusalem with her husband,
Professor Shaul Hochstein, near their children and grandchildren.
Shaul Hochstein is Greenfield Professor of Neurobiology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Born in New York, he immigrated to Israel in 1965, where he received his master’s degree in
physics and his doctorate in physiology. Following a post-doc at Rockefeller University, Shaul
returned to an academic position at the Hebrew University in 1975, where he has remained ever
since. His research contributions span the spectrum of vision research, from the biophysics of light
absorption by the eye and the physiology of information processing by the brain, to the cognitive
psychology of perceptual skill learning and conscious perception. Israeli research into many of
these fields was pioneered at Shaul’s lab, and two dozen of his students and their students now
form the core of sensory system research at Israeli academic institutions. Shaul is also active in the
public domain. As part of the effort to help children with cerebral palsy, he has served on the
board of Step Forward, the Israel Association for the Advancement of Conductive Education, since
its founding. He initiated the creation of the Beit Midrash Havruta program of extra-curricular
Jewish study at Hebrew University, which for the last 27 years has served over 100 students
annually. Shaul is married to Annette Reinhold Hochstein. They live in Jerusalem close to their two
daughters and seven grandchildren.
