Events for Executive Alumni

The Tel Aviv University Alumni Organization, Headed by Sigalit Ben Hayoun, in collaboration with the Yolanda and David Katz Faculty of the Arts, held an event for the new year for the TAU’s leading alumni community, on Entrepreneurship, Technology, Art and everything in between.

The event was opened by Amos Elad, VP of Public Affairs, Resource Development & Alumni Affairs at TAU, who said:
"I would like to thank all of you for joining and coming to this event and for being part of the Tel Aviv University alumni community, which allows our thousands of current students, the next generation of TAU alumni, to continue to develop and research and be whoever they want to become."

Prof. Eran Neuman, dean of TAU’s Yolanda and David Katz Faculty of the Arts, led the guests on a tour in the The Genia Schreiber Art Gallery through the exhibition "Primary Sources", which included various displays from the faculty's fields of research and creation. In his speech, later in the evening, he noted that "even in an era of advanced technology, we see that we cannot do without the art that develops a mankind’s creative thinking.
Our faculty promotes thinking outside the box, and creativity based on historical knowledge and in-depth research. We are proud and happy to establish the Center of Israeli Arts, which includes the archival collections of leading artists who worked here."

 
The event included a panel, with the participation of:

• Gigi Levy Weiss, General Partner, NFX, Alumnus of TAU’s Coller School of Management 
• Sigalit Landau, Israeli Artist, specializing in Sculpture, video Art and installations
• Roni Gilat-Bahrav, moderator of the panel, International Senior Director & MD Christie's (Israel) Ltd. 20th Century Art specialist, Alumna of TAU’s Faculty of the Arts and Faculty of Social Sciences

Gigi Levy Weiss noted that:
"In my opinion, every artist is a type of entrepreneur, because they take something that burns inside them and carries it out despite all the difficulties, and on the other hand, every entrepreneur is a type of artist, because they take what they want to create, and executes it in their own unique way, which is often Very different from the advice they receive from the environment.

The connection between technology and artistic creation is an area that fascinates me. Sigalit Landau has been using various technologies for many years, but we are currently experiencing an acceleration in the use of machine learning in the creative process, in various production technologies, in digital art and in the representation of ownership of art through NFTs. All of these are in the swing of development.'

"There is a problem with the consumption of art by the younger generation - art is supposed to evoke emotion, provoke intellectual curiosity and take us out of our comfort zone, while TikTok videos have been engineered by thousands of engineers to release as much dopamine as possible in the brain and lead you to watch the next video and the next. It will be interesting to see how the younger generation who grew up like this manage to consume more complicated works of art.

Just 3 days ago, a painting called "Théâtre D'opéra Spatial" won at the Colorado State Fair 2022, which turned out to have been created by the artist Jason Allen who used a machine learning program called Midjourney. In the future, as programs will know how to produce visual images, the thing that will constitute the uniqueness of an artist is the choice of software, its 'training' and the sentence that the artist will enter into the software to create the most unique image.
I don't think the introduction of AI will replace the creative world, but it will certainly enrich it.”

While playing live with the software Dall-E, Gigi Levy-Weiss and the artist Sigalit Landau tried to create works of art based on sentences they invented at that moment, and Sigalit pointed out how much respect this technology gives the spoken words, in a way that could become the great hour of poetry.

To the question of what the future of the art world is in the next decade, Gigi Levy-Weiss answered:
"In the past, before the industrial revolution, art was only the property of the rich. After the internet revolution, there was an expectation that art would be for everyone, but on the contrary, art became a more elitist and closed club that only caters to those with big money. I think this cannot be the future of art, and believe that the way our children will consume art - digital, online, in the Metaverse, produced by or with the help of machine learning - will be completely different from what we know today, which may lead to true democratization."

Siglit Landau wanted to mention that behind every sketch in the wonderful exhibition now on display at the gallery there was/is an Israeli or an immigrant artist who apparently experienced a situation that is not simple and does not support creative work, and it is important to remember that. Culture is struggling and an artist needs a lot of persistence to realize and continue to create under conditions that in many cases seem impossible.

"I invented a new word that plays with the words Entrepreneurship and Contemplation in Hebrew - it comes from what I plot with the desire to initiate, although sometimes entrepreneurs have the ability to be more creative than artists.

Artists, or at least I - sometimes don't know how to come and ask for things. I'm used to giving everything right from the start to later maybe get something back from society, especially since sometimes the museums don't even have a budget for racks to hang my works on. But art is not necessarily a political act, but simply a desire to do something because it will be really cool and it burns in me to find out if it could be realized successfully, and we need to find a way to finance it.'

Among the alumni who attended the event:

• Dafna Meitar-Nechmad, Chairwoman of the Tel Aviv University (TAU) Board of Governors
• Dov Kotler, Chief Executive Officer at Bank Hapoalim 
• Yossi Ben Shalom, Co-Founder, Co-Owner and DBSI Investments Ltd.
• Aviad Meitar, Businessman, Social entrepreneur, and a philanthropist. Co-founder and Chairman at ‘Music for Dialogue’, and his spouse Dr. Ravit Cohen-Meitar, Executive Director of the Eli Hurvitz Institute of Strategic Management
• Tamar Landesberg, VP Business Development at Sano
• Adi Ofek, CEO of the Mercedes-Benz Tech Hub in Tel Aviv
• Adv. Ran Fuhrer, currently serves as VP of business development at the Neopharm Group. Serves as a Board Member at Bezeq, Israel's largest and leading Telecommunications group, Representing the controlling Shareholder, who arrived with his spouse Dr. Odelia Fuhrer, Medical Doctor Specializing in pediatric surgery and a TAU alumna as well
• Anat Starik-Dahan, Deputy CEO of the Setai, Herbert Samuel & Orchid Hotels Group
• Karen Schwok, Owner, Founder and CEO of Lucid Investments, Alumna of the Coller School of Management
• Dan Karmon, CRO, Temdrop
• Keren Mimran, Founder, VP Business Development & Marketing at Edete Precision Technologies for Agriculture
• Sigal Naim, Founder of "Haverim" (Friends), a psychological institute dedicated to helping mainly children and adolescents who are interested in improving their social skills in a professional and supporting environment.
• Amir Schor, Entrepreneur, Manager and Business Development
• Guy Rosen, Vice Chairman at Tnuva
• Ori Israely, Managing General Partner at Magenta Venture Partners
• Oded Agam, Managing Partner & Co-Founder at NextLeap Ventures
• Ziv Ben-Barouch, Founder and CEO of Pereg Ventures
• Tal Menipaz, Founder&CEO of Foriland Investments
• Lina Rabin, Israeli Prime Minister’s Office
• Lisa Shiloach-Uzrad, CEO at Shaked and Dolev Ltd.
• Shmulik Leshem, CEO of TBC Group    
• Erez Bahat, Co-CEO at EquaWeb  
• Ilan Avital-Zorman, Chairman at Nu Tek Medical
• Nurit Rosiansky Laufer, Co-Owner and CEO at Synergy Integration Ltd.
• Yoel Feldman, Co-Founder of AVIA home
• Eran Ron, Founder and Chairman of Rinsberg Holding Ltd.
• Yariv Mozer, Film Director and Producer, owner of ‘Mozer Films Ltd.’
• Eyal Assa, Chief Business Officer at Prisma Photonics 

And many others

View the photo album from the event on Facebook>

The Tel Aviv University Alumni Organization continues the tradition of saluting its alumni - senior executives in the Israeli economy who took office in 2020 - all Tel Aviv University alumni.

This is the second consecutive year that TAU President, Prof. Ariel Porat, hosts, congratulates and honors leading key figures in the Israeli economy who have been appointed during the past year, all Tel Aviv University alumni. Even though this year’s meeting was held in Zoom, it still was a real power multiplier.

The TAU Alumni Organization currently celebrates five years since its establishment, led by Sigalit Ben Hayoun, who said: “The year 2020 faced us with new challenges, unlike anything we faced before, but still was fruitful and supplied us with a series of alumni taking key positions in many different fields – from Health, Education and Culture to Infrastructure, Banking and High-Tech."

Tel Aviv University President, Prof. Ariel Porat, opened and surveyed part of the institution's strategy: “We are making efforts to increase our international presence, to display our Multidisciplinarity and to utilize it creating interdisciplinary connections, and not the traditional types, as well as to strengthen the bond between TAU and various companies, especially in the fields of High-Tech and Bio-Tech, creating new collaborations.”

The zoom meeting was attended by two different men named Ariel Porat – one is TAU president and the other is Ariel Porat who was appointed CEO of Siemens Israel. Both admitted it was a different situation. Another executive present was Ron Rotter, who was appointed CEO of the Castro-Hoodies Group this year. Inspired by the custom of alumni organizations around the world, Rotter created a high-quality, branded winter tracksuit with TAU logo as a gift for all attendees.

The executive alumni who participated in the event were:

• Ron Levkovich, Chairman the First International Bank of Israel
• Adv. Tomer Raved, CEO of B Communications
• Ariel Porat, CEO at Siemens Israel
• Yoni Ophir, Executive Vice President at Kushner Companies
• Gabriel Miodownik, President and CEO at Netafim
• Yair Avidan, Supervisor of Banks at the Bank of Israel
• Asher Levy, President and Executive Chairman at NSO Group
• Ron Rotter, CEO of the Castro-Hoodies Group
• Mira Mines, CEO at Women's International Zionist Organization (WIZO)
• Yaniv Bahar, CEO of Alliance High School
• Nir Dagan, Chief Executive Officer at IES Holdings Ltd
• Prof. Dr. Yaniv Sherer, CEO of the Barzilai Medical Center
• Ron Tomer, Phd. Co-CEO of Unipharm and President of the Manufacturers Association of Israel
• Shai-Lee Spigelman, Director General at the Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of Israel
• Gil Sharon, Chairman of Bezeq
• Lior Eshkol, CEO of Wolt Israel
• Amit Edri, Director General at the Ministry of Education, Government of Israel

Who praised the mayor? Who complimented the Supervisor of Banks? Who thanked the former minister?

Ron Rotter, one of the younger attendees at the meeting, admitted that his visits to TAU after graduation were to visit his wife Adi, while she studied Architecture in the wee hours of the night.

The older guard was represented by a number of executives: Yair Avidan, the Supervisor of Banks, who holds three degrees from TAU, and Asher Levy, who serves as President and Executive Chairman at NSO Group, Landa Digital Printing and Gencell, who spoke about the need for mentoring and helping entrepreneurs, CEOs and companies In growth processes.

The field of Education was represented by two - Yaniv Bahar, CEO of Alliance High School who began his career in the Ben Shemen Youth Village, praised the mayor of Tel Aviv for the autonomy and room for maneuver he gives him during the current challenging era. The other is Amit Edri, Director General at the Ministry of Education, who spoke about the necessity of managerial and pedagogical flexibility and the possibility of teaching in all the variety of tools and not just in the classroom, that will advance the country one generation forward.

Ron Levkovich, Chairman the First International Bank of Israel, said: "The strength of the banking system in Israel and its readiness for crisis enables customer service throughout this period and, more importantly, enables the granting of credit to businesses and households and thus helps the economy."

Levkovich also complimented the Supervisor of Banks on the important and sensitive moves he led during the COVID crisis.

Ron suggested removing the TAU campus fences so that the university would become a part of the community and the city: "The fence symbolizes much more than it is," he stated.

The female public sector was represented by the Director General at the Ministry of Science and Technology, Shai-Lee Spigelman, who took office in June and is facing a lack of budget caused by the COVID pandemic, and the incoming CEO of Walt Israel, Lior Eshkol, whose delivery missions are all successful despite the unstable era.

Nir Dagan, Chief Executive Officer at IES Holdings and former CEO of Arkia, joined the Zoom meeting from the desolate airport of Eilat, moments before boarding the plane. President and CEO at Netafim, Gabriel Miodownik, shared that he took office just two weeks before the corona began and ruled: “It’s all about Timing”.

Bezeq's chairman, Gil Sharon, predicted that "2021 will be a significant year for the company - we are investing in the launch of two ultra-fast networks that will contribute significantly to the Israeli economy - launching 5G that will allow wider bandwidth, and a Million households will be connected to the new Optic Fiber”.

 Tomer Raved said that he is involved in the NYU Alumni Organization and is looking forward to getting involved in the TAU Alumni Organization as well, hoping to nurture the alumni community and the next generation.

President of the Manufacturers Association of Israel, Ron Tomer, took office in February, the day they began talking about a delay in supply chains from China, and is working against an "impossible government that is hard to work with."

The event was closed by Prof. Dr. Yaniv Sherer, CEO of the Barzilai Medical Center, which treats a population of 600,000 people, including settlements in the Gaza Strip, and updated that his employees are going to be vaccinated for COVID within a few days.

The office of Tel Aviv University President Prof. Ariel Porat looked for a moment like a power multiplier of very senior executives in the economy – for the first time, Prof. Porat, alumnus of the Buchmann Faculty of Law, hosted the annual forum for alumni appointed to senior positions during the passing year, all TAU alumni, naturally.

Head of the TAU Alumni Organization, Sigalit Ben Hayoun, who led the executives forum together with the president and Amos Elad, TAU Vice President for Public Affairs, Resource Development & Alumni Affairs, said: “2019 was a very fruitful year, as a trope of alumni were appointed to senior positions in all walks of life – from Banking through Public Systems, Associations and Non-Profit Organizations, to High-Tech, Culture and the Arts. "

TAU president noted that this is a meeting of appreciation, addressed the importance of the senior roles that TAU alumni occupy, and said that the variety of roles represented in this meeting reflects one of TAU’s goals - multidisciplinary. "We are going to see more and more multidisciplinary centers which previously didn’t seem possible or compatible". He also referred to the diversity of the 2,500-member academic staff and noted that although only three of them are currently from the Arab community, he strives to rectify and change the situation.

Some forum members are currently facing huge challenges at the forefront of public and media discourse.

Head of the Israeli Bar Association, Adv. Avi Himi, said: “The Bar is facing great challenges, we must stabilize the system, restore the lawyers' trust in it and change the profession’s DNA, and do everything humbly. And there are also legal issues where we have to be careful, the rule of law is a question of democracy and therefore we have to be restrained. The situation is very complex and problematic". He turned to the president of the university and said:" We do not hear enough from the academy. There are issues that the academy needs to express its opinion on.”

The incoming CEO of Israel Railways, Michael Maixner, addressed the company’s challenges: "I said goodbye to the indulgences that were part of my previous role and entered a challenging position that has several main fronts - labor relations, the sharp rise in demand and implementation of new technologies."

Maixner and incoming Telrad CEO Moti Elmaliach, who served together in the IDF’s communications corps, were happy to be photographed together.

Moti Elmaliach admitted that he is a big believer in community budgets: "When I get into a new position I immediately double the community budgets. I believe it's really important, as one who himself comes from the periphery."

The new CEO of Masad Bank, Gabriel Teitel, said: "We are basically a social bank that mainly serves teachers and students of teaching colleges”. He refused to disclose the Bank’s number of customers, but said that naturally, most of them are women. “I often step out to the field to understand the Israeli teacher’s status. In the Arab sector, they are viewed as half Gods - it is impossible to even compare that to the status of the teacher in Tel Aviv. "

Chairperson of WIZO Israel, Ora Korazim, also referred to the Arab community and revealed that WIZO Israel has been setting up women's councils in various communities in recent years. She also revealed that last week, the first women's council in the Druze sector was opened. WIZO Israel’s economic model currently relies on its social venture of second-hand clothes, according to which all fundraising from sales goes back to the company.

Liad Agmon, The High-Tech Entrepreneur who founded Dynamic Yield and sold it to McDonalds, and currently serves as its CEO, shared that his studies started at TAU’s Faculty of Exact Sciences and the Steve Tisch School of Film and Television, where he first met Director Avi Nesher, who convinced him to make the film "Turn Left at the End of the World" together, and the rest is history. He also revealed that the university was one of Dynamic Yield's very first customers but paid very little, only $ 1,000.

Dr. Hagay Amir, Director of Loewenstein Hospital, a father of seven, patted his friend Dr. Ziv Rosenbaum, the new CEO of Emek Medical Center. He too shone a spotlight on the uniqueness of the hospital, which reflects a unique integration between Jews and Arabs, not only between the patients lying bed by bed, but also between the doctors and the nurses.

The alumni who participated in the 2019 Executive’s Forum:

• Adv. Avi Himi - Chairman of the Bar Association, alumnus of the Buchmann Faculty of Law
• Adv. Romy Knebel‎ - Head of the Central District of the Bar Association, alumna of the Buchmann Faculty of Law
• Ran Heilpern - CEO of the Hod Hasharon Municipality, alumnus of the Coller School of Management and the Faculties of Law and Humanities
• Col. Ifat Tomer-Yerushalmi -  Women's Affairs Adviser to the IDF Chief of Staff, alumna of the Buchmann Faculty of Law
• Moti Elmaliach - CEO of Telrad, alumnus of the Faculty of Humanities and the Coller School of Management
• Omer Unger – MasterCard Country Manager, alumnus of the Coller School of Management
• Michael Maixner - CEO of Israel Railways, alumnus of the Coller School of Management
• Liad Agmon - Founder of Dynamic Yield (acquired by McDonalds), alumnus of the Faculty of Exact Sciences and the Steve Tisch School of Film and Television at the Faculty of Arts
• Udi Carmeli  - Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipal Engineer , alumnus of the Azrieli School of Architecture at the Faculty of Arts
• Shir Goldberg - Artistic Director of the Be'er Sheva Theater - alumna of the Faculty of Arts
• Haim Mesilati - Chairman of the Real Estate Appraisers Association in Israel, alumnus of the Faculties of Humanities and Social Sciences
• Ora Korazim - Chairperson of WIZO Israel, alumna of the Faculty of Social Sciences
• Gabriel Teitel - CEO of Masad Bank, alumnus of the Faculty of Social Sciences
• Dr. Deganit Paikowsky, VP Diversity Initiatives and New Space Economy, The Interdantional Astronautical Federation, alumna of the Faculty of Social Sciences
• Dr. Ziv Rosenbaum - CEO of Emek Medical Center, alumnus of the Faculty of Medicine
• Dr. Hagay Amir - Director of Loewenstein Hospital, alumnus of the Faculty of Medicine and Coller School of Management
• Noga Albalach - General Director of Hakibbutz Hameuchad -Sifriat Poalim Publishing Group, alumna of the Faculties of Exact Sciences, Social Sciences and Humanities

Tel Aviv University Alumni Organization’s 2nd annual Executive Alumni Forum was hosted by TAU President, Prof. Joseph Klafter, at his office. The exclusive forum was attended by leading alumni, who were appointed to executive positions in all sectors of Israeli society during 2017.

TAU President, Prof. Joseph Klafter, opened the event by congratulating the attendees on their success and said: "The more you, as TAU Alumni, become successful and occupy key positions in the Israeli (and global) society, economics and research, The more successful and prestigious TAU becomes, allowing it to keep fueling important processes in the country”.

Head of the TAU Alumni Organization, Sigal Adar, noted that the Alumni Organization, which already has about 60,000 alumni active in its vibrant alumni community, is constantly working to strengthen the bond between the TAU’s successful alumni and it’s young alumni, in order to help those who are starting their first career steps.

Sigalit Ben Hayoun, Executive Director of the TAU Alumni Organization, invited those present to take part in the alumni organization's activities, to be a source of inspiration and a model for success for the next generation of alumni, to give advice and tips on the organization's various platforms and to assist TAU Alumni’s placement in the companies in which they manage.

Attended the forum:

• CPA Miri Savion, Deputy Director of the Tax Authority
• Liad Barzilai, CEO at Atrium European Real Estate, A Gazit Globe Group Company
• Amir Hayek, President of the Israel Hotel Association
• Shmulik Arbel, Deputy CEO and Head of Banking Division at Bank Leumi
• Gil Sharon, CEO of Golan Telecom
• Haim Ziv, General Manager and Israel site manager at Telefonica
• Elik Etzion, Global Chief Information Security Officer at Bank Hapoalim

The Tel Aviv University Alumni Organization closed 2016 with the announcement of the establishment of a new tradition: An intimate forum of leading Alumni, who were appointed during the past year to executive positions in all sectors of Israeli society.

The event was opened by TAU President Prof. Joseph Klafter, who congratulated the attendees on their success and said: "I believe that the connection is mutual - The more you, as TAU Alumni, become successful and occupy key positions in the Israeli (and global) society, economics and research, the more successful and prestigious TAU becomes, allowing it to keep fueling important processes in the country”.

Head of the TAU Alumni Organization, Sigal Adar, noted that the since the organization’s establishment, a year and a half ago, it has been growing fast, as the number of alumni who have expressed a desire to connect with the organization tripled already. She also said that the organization’s top priority is to recruit TAU and it’s leading alumni in key positions to help the young generation of alumni.

Sigalit Ben Hayoun, Executive Director of the TAU Alumni Organization, invited those present to take part in the alumni organization's activities, to be a source of inspiration and a model for success for the next generation of alumni, to give advice and tips on the organization's various platforms and to assist TAU Alumni’s placement in the companies in which they manage.

Attended:

• Ori Ben Shai, Vice President and Managing Director of Kimberly Clark Israel
• Eyal Miller, Managing Director, Samsung Next TLV
• Itai Ben Zeev, CEO of the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange
• Doron Ben Ami, Chief Strategy Officer at Therapix Biosciences
• Zohar Kadmon-Sela, Chairperson of News 10
• Yaron Magber, Senior Director Engineering, Design Center Manager at ARM Israel
• Merav Laifer, CEO of see.V
• Elite Zexer, Director and screenwriter of the film “Sand Storm”, winner of the 2016 Ophir Award  for Best Feature Film and Best Director
• Prof. Itamar Grotto, Associate Director General at Israel Ministry of Health
• Dr. Ron Wexler, CEO of Isracard
• Ran Senderovitz, Vice President and General Manager of the Intel Israel Development Centers

Photography: Yael Zur