TAU President's special meeting with alumni appointed to senior positions during 2019

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.

Photography: Yael Zur

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