As Far as Possible - Following Groundbreaking Alumni

Tel Aviv University’s Alumni Organization closed the academic year with an inspiring campus event, attended by over 4000 TAU alumni. Here are all the highlights

TAU President Prof. Ariel Porat, SpaceIL Co-Founder Yariv Bash and Head of TAU Alumni Organization Sigalit Ben Hayoun
TAU President Prof. Ariel Porat, SpaceIL Co-Founder Yariv Bash and Head of TAU Alumni Organization Sigalit Ben Hayoun

Tel Aviv University’s Alumni Organization closed the academic year with an inspiring campus event, attended by over 4000 TAU alumni. The theme - As Far As Possible- Following Groundbreaking Alumni.


Opening the event with a creative and energizing presentation was Esti Zakhem, Chairperson of the Israeli Actors' Association and alumna of the TAU Theater Arts Department. Her empowering words redefined community, boundaries and paths forward, which take us all as far as possible.

 

 

TAU President Prof. Ariel Porat gave his first address to the alumni. He spoke about the importance of the faculty-students-alumni triangle, and added: "I myself am alum of the University, as are my wife and two of my three children. My youngest son has not yet graduated, but if he studies hard, he will graduate in about a year and a half. My grandson, however, will take more than twenty years to join us… because he is now only two and a half".


Prof. Porat highlighted alumni who currently serve as government ministers, Members of Knesset and as judges in all the courts. "In the Supreme Court, for example, seven of fifteen justices are TAU Alumni. One additional justice will assure our majority there", he quipped. In his address, Prof. Porat also mentioned the social entrepreneurs who are doing a great deal to promote equality and justice for the betterment of Israel, often away from the limelight. “As our alumni, you have the ability to make an impact on society, nationwide and worldwide," said Porat.

 

Read Prof. Porat's full address>

 

 

The event was hosted by journalist and television personality Hila Korach, alumna of the Hartog School of Political Science, Government and Public Affairs, the School of Psychology and the Faculty of Medicine. Korach introduced TAU Alumni Organization's global fundraising campaign, raising 300 scholarships for 300 TAU students from the alumni community. Currently, 107 scholarships have been donated, and alumni from all around the world are encouraged to help fund scholarships and change lives.

 

Fund a scholarship. Change Lives>

 



The head of the Alumni Organization, Sigalit Ben Hayoun, paid tribute to outgoing TAU President, Prof. Joseph Klafter, who founded the Alumni Organization four years ago. Through his leadership and vision, the Organization became the most influential alumni organization in Israel, with membership currently reaching 80,000. Ben Hayoun presented him with a farewell gift - a sculpture of the Organization's logo, designed by Israeli artist Nirit Levav.

 


 

The Organization saluted the 200,000 TAU alumni who strive to make the lives of people all around the world better, more comfortable and meaningful. Three of TAU's groundbreaking alumni were introduced:

 

 

To highlight the theme, As Far as Possible - Following Groundbreaking Alumni, Co-Founder of SpaceIL and alum of the Faculty of Engineering Yariv Bash, regaled the crowd with the genesis of the Bereshit mission to the moon.

“I don’t think there are many places,” said Bash, “where you can approach a university president and say:  'Dude, do you have 50 shekels, I need to hitch a ride to the moon...' and actually get a positive answer. But that's exactly what happened - from that moment we got the most support from Tel Aviv University. In fact - receipt No. 001 in the SpaceIL books was given to TAU for its donation.” 

“This story embodies a groundbreaking entrepreneurial spirit concentrated over one square mile", added Bash. “Thanks to you, we had a tailwind, recruited more partners and the rest is history".

 

 

Paying tribute to SpaceIL's groundbreaking venture, singer Maya Avraham and dancer Etay Koren collaborated on a special performance of the song 'Bereshit'.

 

 

To conclude the first part of the evening, the secret element of Tel Aviv University alumni was revealed:

 

 

In the second part of the evening, Yehuda Poliker gave an extraordinary concert, with musical guests Miri Mssika and Berry Sakharof. The entire show was documented in video and is available on TAU Alumni Organization's YouTube channel:

 

Many notable alumni were seen in the bleachers, built especially for this event:

  • Omer Keilaf, CEO and Co-Founder at Innoviz Technologies
  • Liad Agmon, CEO and Co-Founder at Dynamic Yield
  • Zohar Gilon, Managing Partner at Tamar Ventures
  • Dr. Shimrit Perkol-Finkel, Co-Founder, CEO & Chief Scientist at ECOncrete
  • Sami & Tova Sagol
  • Gabriela David and Ariel David
  • Doron Schneidmann, CEO and Co-Owner at DIFI
  • Dr. Ron Wexler, CEO at Isracard Group
  • Elie Sagiv, CEO at L'Oréal Israel
  • Jonathan Haran, CEO at The Sustainable Group
  • Asher Levi, Former CEO at Orbotech
  • Prof. Itamar Grotto, Health Ministry Deputy Director General
  • Ilan Yeshua, Former CEO at Walla! Communications Channels Ltd.
  • Eran Gorev, Operating Partner at Fransisco Partners
  • Tzipi Ozer-Armon, CEO at Lumenis
  • Nili Zur, CEO at Wissotzky Group
  • Ron Avidan, CEO and Director at Azorim
  • Former MK Ophir Paz Pines
  • Omer Agiv, Co-Founder and CEO at WeissBeerger
  • Amir Ayal, Owner and Chairman of the Infinity Investment Group
  • Doron Averbuch, CEO at Credit Suisse Israel
  • Yoav Weinberg, CEO at E&M Computing
  • Menachem Oren, Founder, Owner and CEO at Oranim Projects
  • Nava Barak, President of ELEM – Youth in Distress
  • Doron Sapir, Former CEO at Migdal Group
  • Karen Schwok, Founder and CEO Lucid Family Office
  • Haim Elmoznino, Chairman of the Board at Alon Natural Gas Exploration Ltd. 
  • Dr. Giora Yaron, Investor and Angel
  • Gilad Arditi, Co-founder of the flights site Alice
  • Shlomo Merkel, Vice President at Broadcom Corp and Chairman at Ramot
  • Revital Handler, Founder of AllJobs and GameChangerZ
  • Guy Rosen, Vice Chairman at Tnuva
  • Ido Yablonka, President at PureSec
  • Adv. Tamir Gilat, Chairman at the Israel Cancer Research Fund
  • Amnon Dick, Businessman and President at the Israeli Friends of TAU Association
  • Davidi Vortman, Co-Founder & CEO at Lumos Global 
  • Michal Anski, Gastronomist, Food Journalist and television Personality, Founder of "Shuk Hanamal"
  • Dvir Benedek, Actor
  • Osnat Vishinsky, Actor
  • Limor Goldstein, Actor
  • The Chaser Itai Hermann, Gameologist and television Personality

Media coverage of the event included Globes, TMI's Lounge by Maariv, Walla! Business and Walla! News' business gossip column, as well as the MyNet local websites by Yediot Ahronot.

 

 

The event sponsors were: Mey Eden, Calcalist, Nur Media and Migdal.

Event branding: Osnat Freud, Kabuba.design

Director of the artistic show: Ruby Cohen

Photography: Yael Zur, Aviv Hofi and Shay Fireshtein

Videography: Ido Cohen Aloro

 

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