Israel needs seeds for new leadership to take over after war with Hamas - opinion

Ever since the beginning of the war with Hamas, I have been writing a daily blog summarizing what is happening here and providing updated information to a worldwide audience. One of the things I, along with a huge swath of our citizenry, have been thinking about is: what happens after the war ends? 

While there seems to be a large majority of Israelis who believe we need new political leadership, and I am part of that group as well, we don’t hear new names. We don’t hear specifics about those very capable and qualified leaders of industry, academia, and the nonprofit sector who, until now, have chosen not to get involved in the leadership of the state.

That may have been an acceptable position before October 7 but no longer. When this war is over, we will need the best and the brightest to step up and give a couple of years of their lives to the construct that will be the new Israel; dynamic, vibrant, and as full of promise for the future as we were in the past.

Recently, I began to identify people who could be part of this cadre of new leaders and bring their backgrounds to the attention of my readers so that everyone would realize that our talent pool is nothing short of amazing. 

Potential new leaders

Here are six brief examples of potential new leaders in alphabetical order so no one will think I am preferencing one over the other. (Note: none of the people profiled has been made aware that I am doing this but all the data is in the public domain.) 

Eli Carmon, CFO & COO of Microsoft Israel R&D leads the finance, real estate, security, procurement, legal, employee experience, and IT functions for all of Microsoft Israel’s R&D sites. Prior to his current role, he served as director of the Business Controller Group of Microsoft Middle East and Africa. Before that, he was the CFO of Microsoft Israel (sales and marketing), senior manager at KPMG Israel, and a manager of the TASE’s Research Unit. Carmon holds a BA in Accounting and Economics from Bar Ilan University and an MA in Economics from New Zealand’s Otago University.

YANIV GARTY was most recently vice president and general manager of Intel Israel and the Product Lines GM of the Next Generation and Solutions (NGS) group there. In that role, Garty was responsible for shaping and driving the NGS strategy for technological and product solutions, from vision to realization. As the general manager of Intel Israel, he oversaw all of the company’s Israel activities and operations (with 12,000 employees here they are the largest private employer in the country).

Garty has also served in multiple engineering, business, and managerial positions in communication companies including Serconet, Optibase, and Orckit. He holds a BS in Electrical Engineering and an MBA, both from Tel Aviv University. 

Nehemia (Chemi) Peres is a managing partner and co-founder of Pitango, Israel’s largest venture capital fund. Prior to Pitango, Peres held managerial positions at Decision Systems Israel (DSI) and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI). Peres also served for 10 years as an Israeli Air Force pilot. He currently serves on the boards of numerous Pitango portfolio companies and as chairperson of the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation. In 2020, he co-founded and steered the Covid-19 relief Israeli Solidarity Fund. The son of former president of Israel, Shimon Peres, he is well familiar with how the political system works here. He holds a BSc in Industrial Engineering and an MBA, both from Tel Aviv University. 

Oded Rose has been CEO of the Israel-America Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) since 2016. Previously, he served as CEO of Flow Industries for eight years, and as VP of Marketing and Sales of Atlantium Ltd. He has also served on the boards of directors of over 20 Israeli companies.

Rose is also the CEO of the Eastern Mediterranean International School Foundation, whose main activity was establishing Israel’s EMIS international boarding school, bringing together high school students worldwide for a two-year International Baccalaureate (IB) program (11th-12th grades). Twenty percent of the students are Israeli, 20% are non-Israeli Arab and Muslim students, and 60% are from over 40 countries. He holds an MS in Medical Research from Tel Aviv University’s School of Medicine, an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, as well as an MA in International Studies from the same university.

Dr. Tomer Simon is the chief scientist of the Microsoft Israel R&D Center. Previously, he was the national technology officer at Microsoft Israel, and before that, the futurist and senior director of Academic Research and Innovation in Amdocs. Simon brings more than 20 years of experience in the technology and IT worlds, including technology research, software development, and management, having established numerous large development centers. Today, Simon works with a large range of executives in the defense and private sectors, building organizational and national-level strategies. He is also a member of four governmental steering committees on internet infrastructure, academy-industry relations, digital talent, and the future of education in the age of AI.

KAREN TAL is the CEO of Amal, a secular educational network whose mission is to serve Israelis of all religions. Forty percent of Amal’s 81 high schools and colleges are located in Arab or Druze communities. In all, over 30,000 students and 2,500 teachers are part of Amal schools. Tal, 59, immigrated to Israel from Morocco as a young child and grew up in Jerusalem. Her background and experience put her in a unique position to deal with the monumental challenge of helping Israeli children of all ethnic backgrounds heal from the national trauma of war.

Tal also transformed the Bialik-Rogozin School in south Tel Aviv into one of Israel’s most successful educational models. In 2011, she won Israel’s National Education Prize, and HBO made a film about the school called Strangers No More, which won an Oscar for best short documentary. She was also awarded the $100,000 Charles Bronfman Prize which she used to create a nonprofit called Tovanot B’Hinuch (Educational Insights) and spent the next decade implementing her educational model in at least 40 other schools in Israel. 

To be sure, there are dozens, if not hundreds, more equally outstanding, equally qualified people with in-depth experience that will be of great use to Israel as it emerges from this abhorrent war.

As for getting people of this caliber to commit a couple of years of their professional lives for the good and welfare of Israel, it would be good to recall the words of Pirkei Avot, the Ethics of the Fathers, where it says in Chapter 2, Verse 21: “You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to desist from it.” 

Hopefully, our cadre of exemplary professionals will heed the call and provide us with the leadership that will be so necessary for the successful rejuvenation of Israel’s economic, political, and social fabric.

The writer, who has lived in Israel for 40 years, is CEO of Atid EDI Ltd., an international business development consultancy. He is also the founder and chair of the American State Offices Association, former national president of the Association of Americans and Canadians in Israel, and a past chairperson of the board of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies.