Bonei Zion Prize Committee - Nefesh B'Nefesh

The Bonei Zion Committee is comprised of distinguished and influential individuals who are accomplished leaders in their respective fields.

Major General (res.) Yaacov Amidror served with the Israel Defense Forces for 36 years (1966-2002). During his long military career, he was commander of the IDF Military Colleges, Military Secretary to the Minister of Defense, Director of the Intelligence Analysis Division (responsible for annual National Intelligence Assessments) in the IDF Military Intelligence, Head of a large scale technology project, Intelligence Chief of the Northern Command and Head of the “Devil’s Advocate” branch of the Military Intelligence.

After retiring from the IDF, Amidror served as National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister of Israel and Head of Israel’s National Security Council. During his role as National Security Advisor of Israel, he participated in high-level talks with U.S. officials about the Iranian nuclear program and led efforts to restore relations with Turkey after the Gaza flotilla raid incident. In March 2014, Amidror joined the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies as the Anne and Greg Rosshandler Senior Fellow and in addition is a researcher at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.

General Amidror has published Reflections on Army and Security (Hebrew); and Intelligence, Theory and Practice (Hebrew), along with journal articles on strategy and intelligence matters.

Yael Arad is an Israeli Judoka and the first Israeli to win an Olympic medal. She is widely recognized as one of Israel’s most successful athletes and is credited with bringing judo into the athletic mainstream.

In 2005, she was voted the 103rd-greatest Israeli of all time, in a poll by the Israeli news website Ynet. Yael was born in Tel Aviv and began taking judo classes at the age of eight. Within half a year she ranked second in Israel in her weight class.”

Born in Bucharest, Romania, Colette Avital made aliyah to Israel with her family in 1950. While still a student, she began working in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a secretary in order to cover the cost of her tuition. Over the years, she rose through the ranks at the ministry; she served with the Israeli delegation to Paris between 1982 and 1985, as ambassador to Portugal from 1988 until 1992, and as Consul General in New York City between 1992 and 1996.

Upon returning to Israel, she was appointed Deputy Director in Charge of Western Europe, the third most important position in the ministry. In 1999 Avital decided to run for the Knesset on behalf of the Labor Party, which formed the One Israel alliance together with Gesher and Meimad. Although she claimed 24th spot on the party list, Labor won only 23 seats in the May elections (One Israel won 26, of which two went to Gesher and one to Meimad) and Avital missed out.

However, she entered the Knesset in November 1999 when Labor MK Matan Vilnai resigned. She served briefly as Chair of the Ethics Committee and headed the Investigative Commission for the Identification and Return of the Property of Holocaust Victims, which submitted its conclusions to the government in 2005. She chaired the Immigration, Absorption, and Diaspora Committee and in addition serves as the International Secretary of the Israeli Labor Party.

General Amidror has published Reflections on Army and Security (Hebrew); and Intelligence, Theory and Practice (Hebrew), along with journal articles on strategy and intelligence matters.

Born in Bucharest, Romania, Rebecca Caspi is the senior vice president for Israel and Overseas of The Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) and director general of JFNA’s Israel office, a position she has held since joining the organization in 2007.

In this capacity, Caspi leads a team that represents North American Jewry and the Federation movement in the Jewish state. The department oversees hundreds of projects, missions and other Federation activities in Israel, interfaces with all levels of the Israeli government, liaises with JFNA’s partners, including The Jewish Agency for Israel and The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, and represents the North American Jewish community to Israel’s top business, philanthropic, military, academic, judicial, rabbinic and communal leaders. Caspi is a gifted public speaker and a much sought-after coach and mentor who frequently appears in Israeli media.

Caspi serves as the senior professional dedicated to Federations’ global agenda providing strategic leadership and engaging with a wide range of funders and organizations; delivering fiduciary oversight and grant management; system-wide crisis response in Israel and overseas; and combatting anti-Semitism and the BDS movement. She also directs the production of JFNA’s annual General Assembly (GA) conference when it takes place in
Israel – the next overseas gathering is scheduled for Spring 2023 to coincide with Israel’s 75th anniversary.

Prior to joining JFNA, Caspi worked for over 16 years at the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee where she earned the distinction of being the first woman ever appointed to JDC’s global executive management team. Rebecca has an extensive background in operational management, human resources and financial resource development. She serves on the boards of a number of Israeli organizations. Caspi holds a BA in Archaeology and Ancient History from the University of Pennsylvania, an MA in Middle Eastern Studies from New York University, and an MBA from the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem. She is married with three children and lives in Motza Illit, just outside of Jerusalem

As the Senior Vice President for Public Policy and Director of the Washington Office of The Jewish Federations of North America since 2005, William Daroff is the chief lobbyist and principal spokesperson on public policy and international affairs for the 146 Jewish Federations and more than 300 independent communities represented by JFNA, ensuring that the voice of Jewish Federations is a prominent force in the Nation’s Capital.

On February 1, 2020, he will become the Chief Executive Officer of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. In that capacity, he will be the senior professional guiding the Conference’s agenda on behalf of the 51 national member organizations, which represent the wide mosaic of American Jewish life.

Named by the Forward newspaper as being among the fifty most influential Jews in America, Daroff guides the Jewish community’s advocacy efforts on the Federation movement’s key policy issues. He is a key player in foreign policy circles – advising policymakers and elected officials on Jewish communal concerns, namely those related to the US-Israel relationship, the Middle East conflict, and efforts to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. He is also a leader in the worldwide fight to combat the assault on Israel’s legitimacy, creating and overseeing the Federation movement’s Israel Action Network, and serving on both the steering committee of the Prime Minister of Israel’s global task force and the Conference of Presidents’ working group.

In addition to his focus on foreign relations, Daroff is also a leader on domestic policy issues, principally on health and human services, such as Medicare and Medicaid, long-term care, and policies affecting older Americans, including Holocaust Survivors, as well as homeland security programs and strengthening the capacity of charities to care for those in need.

Daroff is also a social networking pioneer and evangelist. In April 2016, the JTA news service named him the most influential person on “Jewish Twitter” (Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu followed in the second slot). Follow him at www.Twitter.com/Daroff.

Daroff received his Bachelor’s Degree (summa cum laude) in Political Science & History, Master’s Degree in Political Science, and Juris Doctorate from Case Western Reserve University in his hometown of Cleveland, OH. He is an adjunct Professor at George Washington University.

He lives in suburban Washington, DC, with his wife, Heidi Krizer Daroff, and their two children. The couple met in Krakow, Poland, while studying at Jagiellonian University, from which they both received certificates in the history of Eastern European Jewry and the Holocaust.

Rabbi Paul Freedman served as USY’s first International President from 1952 till 1954. He made Aliyah together with his wife Nina in 1991, following their three sons who had all moved to Israel and served in the IDF as Lone Soldiers.

After joining the United Synagogue’s Youth Department in 1960, he entered Rabbinical School in 1966 and holds a B.A. in Jewish Studies from NYU.

In 1967 Rabbi Freedman was appointed Acting Director of the Youth Department and upon graduation from the JTS, was appointed the International Director of the USCJ Youth Department (USY) until his Aliyah. Amongst the programs he initiated was the Nativ program, which he launched 32 years ago.

In Israel he served as Head of the English Speaking Countries Desk for the Jewish Agency for Israel’s Youth and HeChalutz Dept, and subsequently as Head of the North American Desk for the combined Department of Education.

He currently serves as the Director Israel Strategic Partnerships, of the United Synagogues Israel Commission with over six hundred North American Synagogues on his Commission’s Data Bank. He was recently elected to the Board of the Masorti Movement as chair of its Committee on Aliyah and Absorption. Under his direction, the Israel Commission launched its Ma’a lot program in partnership with Nefesh

Barbara Goldstein was born and raised in New Jersey .She made Aliyah in 1998 and is the is Deputy Executive Director of Hadassah’s office in Israel, and past National Vice President of Hadassah.

A former National President of Junior Hadassah, in Hadassah Barbara chaired Youth Aliyah, two National Conventions, and the departments of Hadassah Travel and Tourism, Jewish Education, Programming, Aliyah, and Soviet Jewry. She is a past President of the Southern New Jersey Region.

In 1973-74, Barbara lived in Jerusalem for one year with her family during the Yom Kippur war. She served as a volunteer in the Public Relations Department of the Medical Center working directly with the wounded soldiers, reporters, congressmen, and other dignitaries, and acting as their escort through Kiryat Hadassah.

Barbara was a member of the Cabinet of the American Zionist Movement and served as a Commissioner on the Joint Authority for Jewish and Zionist Education. She also has proudly served as a delegate at 8 World Zionist Congresses in Jerusalem. Today in Israel, Barbara represents Hadassah on the boards of Hadassah Neurim, Meir Shfeyah, Ramat Hadassah Szold, the World Zionist Organization, Keren Kayemet and the Prime Minister’s special commission on the Legacy of Theodor Herzl. A Yeshiva University High School graduate, Barbara attended the teacher’s institute of the Jewish Theological Seminary, and a graduate of Gratz College. She also served as Principal of Hebrew High School in Camden, NJ. As a dynamic speaker, she has devoted her life to promoting Zionist/Jewish education and love of Israel through her extensive tours in the U.S., speaking for Federations, Temples, schools and Colleges.

Barbara was honored during the 63^rd anniversary of Israel’s Independence Day to light one of the 12 Torches at the National Ceremony on Mount Herzl. She represented Hadassah for its Zionist work on the eve of the Hadassah Centennial.

Barbara is the widow of Denverite Hazzan Mordechai Goldstein. He was also a graduate of the Jewish Theological Seminary, and a Dr. of Sacred Music. Hazzan Goldstein served Neve Shalom in Metuchen for 25 years. Barbara is the mother of 3 children, and a proud Savta of 5 grandchildren.

Laura Gilinski is VP of Philanthropic Partnerships at Start-Up Nation Central.

In this capacity, she is responsible for all Start-Up Nation Central’s development-related issues, including partner cultivation, retention, and support. Prior to Start-Up Nation Central, Laura served as Deputy Director for Development and International Relations at the Israel Museum (IMJ), where she was responsible for development operations, including cultivation and growth of 16 international friends’ organizations; and direct fundraising from foundations, and individuals. Prior to IMJ, Laura served as Chief Development and Public Relations Officer at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, where she worked closely with the Institute’s network of partners, individual donors, foundations, and philanthropic organizations, helping Hartman to double its revenue base during the years of her employment.

Laura worked for over a decade in the Israeli high-tech sector as Director of Corporate Marketing Communications at the Ex Libris Group and as Director of Product Marketing at Wizcom Technologies. Laura brings over twenty years of experience in communications, public relations, branding, and fund-raising in the corporate and non-profit sectors.

Vera Golovensky made Aliyah in June 1987. Since her arrival in Israel, she has worked as Assistant General Manager at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, Director of Marketing at the Jerusalem Report, and as an Independent Advisor & Consultant for public and private sector clients. Among the clients and foundations she has advised are The Tel Aviv Foundation, The Office of the Prime Minister, The Minister for Jerusalem Affairs, The Minister Of Energy and The Eretz Acheret magazine.

More recently, Vera has been an Advisor on Diaspora Affairs to Minister for Immigrant Absorption Natan Sharansky. She has also worked as Director for International Affairs at The Adelson Institue for Strategic Affairs at the Shalem Center. Vera is currently working as Senior Advisor to the Chairman of the Executive at The Jewish Agency for Israel, and is on the boards of BIRTHRIGHT ISRAEL, MASA, the National Library of Israel, Public Council, and the Yad Vashem Board of Directors.

Efraim Halevy is a lawyer and an Israeli intelligence expert. He was the ninth director of Mossad and the 4th head of the Israeli National Security Council. In 2013, Halevy became chairman of the Shorashim program, a program that helps immigrants to Israel from the former Soviet Union verify their Jewish ancestry, and he has written a history of the Middle East entitled Man in the Shadows. Above all, he is remembered for his part in bringing about the Israel–Jordan peace treaty.

He made Aliyah from London in 1948.

Professor Yonatan Halevy has served as the Director General of Shaare Tzedek Medical Center since 1988 and has been responsible for charting the hospital’s development as it has grown to become one of Israel’s largest and most respected medical and research institutions. Professor Halevy is highly regarded as a leading figure in the Israeli healthcare community and most recently chaired the Ministry of Health’s Public Committee on Expansion of the Medical Services Basket. He has also served as the Chair of the Israel Transplant Center among many other prominent public positions.

A specialist in Internal Medicine, Gastroenterology and Healthcare Management he received his medical degree from Tel Aviv University and has served as a medical fellow at Yale University Medical School. Professor Halevy lives in Jerusalem and is the father of five children.

Yaakov Katz is Editor-in-Chief of The Jerusalem Post.

He is a faculty member and lecturer at Harvard University’s Extension School where he teaches an advanced course in journalism.

He previously served for close to a decade as the paper’s military reporter and defense analyst and is the co-author of two books: “Weapon Wizards – How Israel Became a High-Tech Military Superpower” which will be published by St. Martin’s Press in January, 2017 and “Israel vs. Iran – The Shadow War” which came out in 2012.

Prior to taking up the role of Editor-in-Chief, Katz served for two years as a senior policy advisor to Israel’s Minister of Economy, Minister of Education and Minister of Diaspora Affairs.

In 2012-2013, Katz was one of 12 international fellows to spend a year at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University.

Originally from Chicago, Katz also has a law degree from Bar Ilan University. He lives in Jerusalem with his wife and four children.

Born to Holocaust survivors, Ruth Oren was raised and educated in N.Y. and Boston where she did her B.Sc. in Boston University before making Aliyah to Israel in 1973 where she married a “sabra” 2 weeks before the Yom Kippur War. After graduating with an M.A. in Occupational Therapy from the School of Medicine in Tel Aviv University, Ruth worked as an Occupational Therapist for children and a Physical Therapist for infants at risk at Project Renewal-a very under privileged area in Hod Hasharon. She later joined her husband in Real Estate Development specializing in luxurious residential buildings on the Tel Aviv seafront and in London.

Ruth has been a Lion for over 10 years. Ruth has been Chair of the Lions for 4 years and is presently the President of Lions of Judah Israel since June 2015. Under her leadership the Israeli Lions help support 13 projects for the empowerment of girls and women throughout the country. Her passion and enlightenment has inspired many Israeli women to embark on the journey of “Tikkun Olam”. She has three daughters and 6 grandchildren and has proudly transmitted her legacy to her oldest daughter, who is also a Lion. Ruth embodies the spirit and vision of Lion of Judah Israel through her commitment to women’s philanthropy.

As a sixth generation American Jew, Russell Robinson embodies the history of the American Jewish experience, and actively ensures that it will continue to thrive well into the future.

In 1790, Robinson’s family immigrated to Virginia from Alsace, Lorraine, joining a Jewish community that was comprised of both Ashkenazim and Sephardim, a community that had already spread across the Atlantic coast of North and South America. The family eventually settled in Petersburg, VA, where they owned general stores, and where, even today, one can still visit the family cemetery. Over time, the Robinson’s migrated north to Montreal, where they owned haberdasheries, and where they were active in their local temples.

Robinson’s father, Richard, born in Montreal, was in El Paso, on a visit to his godparents, when he encountered a reason not to return home: Robinson’s mother, Ruth Rosenberg, daughter of Sam and Olga, who had come to the United States from Lithuania, at the turn of the century. Growing up in a community of 3,000 Jews, Robinson had a traditional Jewish upbringing from his parents and grandparents. He loved sports, but it wasn’t until after college, that he discovered his passion and commitment to Jewish communal service.

Robinson accepted the position of Youth Director at the local Jewish Community Center, where he spearheaded community efforts to teach Holocaust education in the public school system. Robinson’s passion and ingenuity was immediately apparent, and he soon became the Director of the JCC and the United Jewish Appeal (UJA) campaigns for El Paso. El Paso was too small for Robinson, and soon he was traveling across the Midwest for UJA, reaching out to the more remote Jewish communities.

The Chicago / Midwest job became a springboard, and Robinson quickly moved up through the UJA system. As Assistant Regional Director in Dallas, he began working on national programs, including singles’ trips to Israel. It was on one of these singles’ missions that Robinson met his wife, Marci Morgan. From there, it was on to Project Renewal, Director of Western Operations, Vice President of the UJA Network and during the early 90s, the Robinson family moved east for him to take on the position of Director of the National UJA campaign. Also in the early 90s, the UJA was beginning to re-evaluate its role in the Jewish community, and to undergo the restructuring that eventually led to the United Jewish Communities (UJC), and the Federation system in place today.

Just when Robinson was beginning to re-evaluate his own UJA role in the Jewish community, he received a surprising phone call from cosmetics heir, Ronald S. Lauder, well-known philanthropist and the new President of Jewish National Fund. Robinson felt that Ronald Lauder was somebody who cared very deeply about the future direction of the Jewish community. When Lauder asked Robinson to become Chief Executive Officer of JNF, Robinson realized that this was the chance to redirect his passion for the Jewish people into new arenas.

Plagued with scant central leadership, lack of technology, duplicated efforts, and antiquated business practices, Jewish National Fund had been insidiously losing its prestige and mission, on its way to dinosaur oblivion, before Robinson took the helm in 1997. Over the past six years, he has worked ceaselessly to not only inject a new energy and life into the JNF, but also to ensure that its mission is more relevant and meaningful than ever.

The end result is that today, under Robinson’s leadership, JNF has improved efficiency, decreased costs, and increased fundraising. Today, JNF has a business management structure with top professionals and committed lay leaders who work together and are responsible for fundraising and overseeing the operations and budget. Recognition of donors has been refined to instill pride in every donor to the organization from the 18-dollar tree buyer to the million-dollar donor.

Robinson’s vision for JNF has been translated into very real and important changes, and JNF is fast reclaiming its role as the premier non-profit organization for Israel. Today, JNF operates on a business model, one based on sound business practices, and on transparent integrity. After only six years under Robinson’s guidance and leadership, JNF stands proud as the 103 year-old success story, and as an inspiration and model for other non-profit organizations.

Today he resides in New Jersey with his wife Marci and two children, Sam and Alyssa.

Wendy Singer has served as Executive Director of Start-Up Nation Central since its founding in 2013.She worked with the US-based funders to build the infrastructure and professional team
in Israel, and to launch its initial activities – connecting Israel’s innovation ecosystem with government and business leaders around the world. Today she heads SNC’s Jerusalem operation, and manages its engagements with foreign government leaders.Before joining SNC, Singer concluded a 23-year career at AIPAC. She was Director of AIPAC’s Israel Office for sixteen years. In that role, she and her team curated educational seminars in Israel for several dozen senior US lawmakers and political leaders annually. Singer maintained relationships with Israeli ministers and senior government leaders, members of the opposition, and a wide range of MKs, in addition to US diplomats, and Palestinian officials. She reported to AIPAC-Washington on policy, security and political developments in Israel.Prior to emigrating to Israel, Singer served as a registered lobbyist on Capitol Hill, where she was the lead contact for 20 Senators and 70 House Members. She also served as a staff aide for three Members of Congress, focusing on foreign policy issues.

Chaim I. Waxman is Professor and Chair of the Behavioral Sciences at Hadassah Academic College, in Jerusalem, and Professor Emeritus of Sociology and Jewish Studies at Rutgers University. He specializes in the sociology of religion and the sociology of ethnicity with special focus on American Jews, Jews in Israel, Jewish immigration to Israel, and global Jewish identity and identification.

He has written more than 100 scholarly articles and is the author and/or editor of more than a dozen books, including, Jewish Baby Boomers: A Communal Perspective (2001), American Aliya: Portrait of an Innovative Migration Movement (1989), and America’s Jews in Transition(1983). His most recent book is Social Change and Halakhic Evolution in American Orthodoxy(2017). He made Aliyah in 2002.

Rabbi Berel Wein, the Founder and Director of The Destiny Foundation since 1996 has, for over 25 years, been identified with the popularization of Jewish history through his more than 1,000 lectures, available on CD and now downloadable in MP3 format, as the author of ten books, his world-wide seminars, educational tours and, most recently dramatic and documentary films.

Rabbi Wein is a graduate of the Hebrew Theological College and Roosevelt College in Chicago. He received his Juris Doctor Degree from De Paul University Law School and a Doctor of Hebrew Letters from Hebrew Theological College.

Rabbi Wein was a practicing lawyer for a number of years and in 1964 assumed the pulpit of the Beth Israel Congregation in Miami Beach, Florida, where he remained until 1972. In 1973 he became the Rabbi of Congregation Bais Torah in Suffern, New York and remained in that position for 24 years. He was appointed Executive Vice President of the Union of Orthodox Organizations of America and was Rabbinic Administrator of the Kashrus Division for five years after that.

In 1977 he founded Yeshiva Shaarei Torah in Suffern, New York and remained its Rosh Hayeshiva until 1997. Rabbi Wein’s book of halachic essays, Chikrei Halacha was published by Mosad Harav Kook in 1976 and Eyunim B’m’sechtoth Hatalmud was published in 1989.

Rabbi Wein has authored eight Jewish history books – Triumph of Survival, The Story of the Jews in the Modern Era; Herald of Destiny, the Medieval Era; Echoes of Glory, the Classical Era, Faith and Fate/ The Story of the Jews in the Twentieth Century and The Oral Law of Sinai-The Illustrated History of the Mishnah and Vision and Valor- An Illustrated History of the Talmud– all of which have received popular and critical acclaim. In 2011, Rabbi Wein released Patterns in Jewish History, a thematic exploration of the history of the Jewish people. In 2013, Rabbi Wein together with Chief Rabbi of South Africa, Warren Goldstein authored The Legacy/ Teachings for Life from the Great Lithuanian Rabbis. .Additionally Rabbi Wein has written a book on his experiences in the Rabbinate entitled Tending the Vineyard and a book on the values, practices and traditions titled Living Jewish,
Rabbi Wein also authors and edits a monthly newsletter – The Wein Press – a source of information and inspiration on topics of Jewish interest. In addition to lecturing at various educational institutions in Israel, Rabbi Wein has appeared on television and radio in Israel.

Currently, the Destiny Foundation is in the process of translating Rabbi Wein’s riveting accounts of Jewish history into a series of films on Jewish personalities. The first, entitled Rashi-A Light AfterThe Dark Ages, was released in 2000 and the next, on the life of the Rambam was completed in 2004, each receiving positive reviews and impacting the curriculum in Jewish schools the world over.

The Destiny Foundation is now producing a 13- part documentary, Faith and Fate/ The Story of the Jews in the 20th Century – of which the first two episodes “The Dawn of the Century” and “Implosion of the Old Order,” “The Miracle of Israel,” “and “A New Beginning” have been premiered in both the US and Israel. The sixth episode, “The Miracle of Israel” was chosen by the Jewish Agency, in commemoration of the 60th Anniversary of the founding of the state. This film received a 5 Star review from the Jerusalem Post. The next film in the series produced in 2010, entitled A New Beginning is the dramatic story of the War of Independence and the untold saga of 850,000 refugees from Arab lands. The Faith and Fate series will contain two films on the Holocaust, the first of which, entitled Ominous Skies, was premiered in New York’s Lincoln Center Library in 2012.

Rabbi Wein, a member of the Illinois Bar Association, is the recipient of the Educator of the Year Award from The Covenant Foundation in 1993. Rabbi Wein received the Torah Prize Award from Machon Harav Frank in Jerusalem for his achievements in teaching Torah and spreading Judaism throughout the world. Rabbi Wein makes his home in Jerusalem.

Sivan Ya’ari is the Founder and CEO of Innovation: Africa, a NY based nonprofit that bringing Israeli solar, agricultural and water technologies to African villages. She was born in Israel, raised in France, educated in the United States with degrees in Finance from Pace University and a Masters in International Energy Management and Policy from Columbia University, at the mere age of 20 years, Sivan identified an opportunity for a more sustainable energy solution, and developed the groundwork for what would become Innovation: Africa. Having worked in Africa for over 18 years and running Innovation: Africa for the past 8 years, Sivan has vast knowledge, understanding and love for the African continent. Through her work, over 1,000,000 lives in Africa have been impacted, thanks to Israeli innovation and multiple awards have been received including the Innovation Award from the United Nations. Sivan has been recognized as one of the “40 Under 40 Most Promising Israelis” by Globes magazine and one of the “50 Most Influential Women in Israel by Forbes Israel. Aside from Innovation: Africa, Sivan also is a prominent business woman in Israel, owning multiple businesses and employs 140 women across the country. Sivan lives in Tel Aviv with her husband and 3 children. Please welcome Sivan Ya’ari.

Binyamin Zomer has served as Noble Energy’s Director of Corporate Affairs in Israel since January 2010. In that capacity, Bini is responsible for Noble’s government relations, media relations and corporate social responsibility projects. His responsibilities also include a number of commercial endeavors. In 2014, Bini added the role of Joint Venture Manager to his responsibilities. As JV Manager, Bini is responsible managing the business relationship between the various partnerships that Noble operates off-shore Israel.
Prior to joining Noble, Bini served as Deputy Director for Policy and Government Affairs at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) where he focused on energy and homeland security issues. Before joining AIPAC, Bini was Director of Federal Government Relations at Accenture LLP and before that served as Counsel to Don Nickles, US Senator from Oklahoma, after practicing law in Chicago. Bini has a Law degree from the Washington University School of Law in St. Louis and a B.A. in Government from the University of Texas.Bini and his wife, Heather, made Aliyah in 2010 and reside in Modi’in with their four daughters.