FACULTY & STAFF

Directors

Miki Nevo

Director, Mandel Center for Leadership in the North

Miki Nevo, a social entrepreneur, is the director of the Mandel Center for Leadership in the North. Prior to his current position, he was the director of the Mandel Program for Youth Leadership of the Mandel Leadership Institute for five years. Miki has some twenty-five years' experience in founding and managing social and educational organizations. He was principal of the Misgav secondary school, and founded and directed the Israel Venture Network’s educational activities in Israel’s northern social periphery. He founded and directed the Ma’ase Center, which promotes socioeconomic mobility by providing volunteering frameworks for young adults from Israel’s social periphery, served as senior assistant director of research and development of the Rashi Foundation, and founded and directed Living Together – The Center for a New Social Partnership in Israel. In recognition of his work with Ma’ase, Miki was awarded the Sderot Conference for Society’s Prize for Excellence in Social Affairs, the Speaker of the Knesset’s Quality of Life Prize, and an honorary doctorate from Tel Aviv University. He holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science and a master’s degree in neurobiology, both from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Miki is a graduate of Cohort 4 of the Mandel School for Educational Leadership.

Safa Garb

Program Director, Mandel Program for Social Leadership in the North, and Faculty Member

Safa Garb is a faculty member of the Mandel Center for Leadership in the North, where she is the director of the Mandel Program for Social Leadership in the North. She has more than 20 years of experience working as an organizational consultant, facilitating groups of experts and influencers, and spearheading initiatives and processes for advancing equal employment opportunity within organizations and on a national level. In the past, Safa headed the employment division at JDC Israel, where she developed social services for assisting individuals who seek to break out of the cycle of poverty through integration in the labor force. Safa holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and international relations from the University of Haifa, and a master's degree in public policy from Tel Aviv University.

Simha Levy

Faculty Member and Program Director, Mandel Program for Leadership for Public Service in the North

Simha Levy is a faculty member of the Mandel Center for Leadership in the North, where he is the director of the Mandel Program for Leadership for Public Service in the North. He has been involved in education for many years, has developed and implemented a model for pluralistic Jewish education, and has been involved in professional development for senior educators. In the past, Simha served as the director of the education and society department of the Golan Regional Council, the educational director of the Keshet Yehuda pre-military academy, the director of the yeshiva high school in Sde Ya'akov, and the director of the principals’ training program and professional development programs for experienced school principals at Avney Rosha – The Israeli Institute for School Leadership. He has also served as developer and manager of professional development programs and enrichment activities in the field of Israeli-Jewish culture for the pedagogical secretariat of the Ministry of Education. Simha holds a bachelor's degree in education and a master's degree in aggadic literature and Jewish thought from the Schechter Institute, and received rabbinical ordination from the Israeli Rabbinate program of the Shalom Hartman Institute and HaMidrasha at Oranim. He is a graduate of Cohort 9 of the Mandel School for Educational Leadership.

Katef Morad Salama

Faculty Member and Director of the Mandel Program for Community Leadership for School Principals in the North

Katef Morad Salama is a faculty member of the Mandel Center for Leadership in the North, where she is the director of the Mandel Program for Community Leadership for School Principals in the North and is responsible for the Center’s strategic and pedagogical development. Katef is an educational professional, facilitator, lecturer, and social activist, whose work focuses on teacher education, communications, gender, and facilitation of dialogue groups. In the past, she was the head of media studies in Arab society for the Ministry of Education, where she developed a learning community of teachers and created educational materials for secondary schools. After that, she was the pedagogical director and deputy director of the Center for Humanist Education at Beit Lohamei Haghetaot. Katef then served as the academic co-director of the “Teach First Israel” teacher-training program, where she developed content for the secondary-school teacher education program. Katef works with academic staff and social organizations focusing on shared and diverse society, is a consultant and mentor in the field of multicultural dialogue, and teaches courses on facilitation. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in political science and communications from the University of Haifa and is a graduate of Cohort 16 of the Mandel School for Educational Leadership. Katef is currently a preliminary research student in the department for culture and film Cinema studies at the University of Haifa, and is conducting research on the representation of “the other” in drama in the Arab world. In addition, she has served as a board member of the Israel Broadcasting Corporation since 2023.

VISITING FACULTY, TUTORS & CONSULTANTS

Professor Amir Goldstein

Visiting Faculty Member

Professor Amir Goldstein is a visiting faculty member at the Mandel Center for Leadership in the North, where he lectures in the Center’s programs and is involved in developing its pedagogical approach. A historian and educator, he grew up in Kiryat Shmona, worked at his alma mater the Danciger high school, and was its principal until 2012. For the last decade, he has lectured at Tel-Hai College and served as dean of students and as chair of the department of multidisciplinary studies. Amir’s main fields of research are the history of Zionism and the Land of Israel in modern times and collective Israeli memory, and he has specialized in studying the Zionist Right from Ze’ev Jabotinsky to Menachem Begin. In recent years, he has studied the history of Kiryat Shmona and led community processes to develop a local historical narrative. Amir’s published works in Hebrew include: Heroism and Exclusion: Olei Hagardom and the Zionist Memory (Yad Ben Zvi and the Jabotinsky Institute, 2011); Zionism and Anti-Semitism in the Thought and Action of Ze’ev Jabotinsky (Ben-Gurion University and the Jabotinsky Institute, 2015); and Tel Hai 1920–2020: Between History and Memory, co-edited with Professor Yael Zerubavel (Yad Ben Zvi and Tel Aviv University, 2020).

Adv. Ali Haider

Visiting Faculty Member

Adv. Ali Haider is a visiting faculty member at the Mandel Center for Leadership in the North, where he is responsible for leading the Humanities Forum and for the subjects of development and teaching. For a decade, Ali was co-director of Sikkuy – The Association for the Advancement of Civic Equality. Prior to that, he worked as a lawyer in several human rights and civil rights organizations. Ali is a founding member and active member of various civil society organizations, including Adalah –The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel; the Arab Pedagogical Council; I’lam – The Arab Center for Media Freedom Development and Research; the Center for Social Justice and Democracy at the Jerusalem Van Leer Institute, and more. A graduate of Cohort 22 of the Mandel School for Educational Leadership, Ali subsequently took up a senior position at the Society for the Advancement of Education in Jerusalem, where he directed new projects and initiatives including Sindiana, the first Arab youth village in Israel. Ali holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in law from Bar-Ilan University, and a master’s degree in political science from the University of Haifa. He lives in I’billin.

Dr. Yoav Kenny

Visiting Faculty Member

Dr. Yoav Kenny is a visiting faculty member at the Mandel Center for Leadership in the North, where he lectures in the humanities in all of the Center’s programs and provides academic support for the Mandel Program for Social Leadership in the North. A researcher, lecturer, editor, and translator, Yoav specializes in political theory, critical theory, ethics, contemporary European theory, and philosophical examination of relations between humans and non-human animals. Yoav was a founder and editor-in-chief of Mafteakh – A Lexical Journal of Political Philosophy, published by the Minerva Humanities Center at Tel Aviv University. Yoav holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and the humanities from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a master’s degree and doctorate in philosophy from Tel Aviv University. His doctoral thesis examined the relation between political philosophy and the philosophy of the animal in the philosophical works of Aristotle, Martin Heidegger, and Jacques Derrida. He completed post-doctoral studies at the Hebrew University philosophy department as a Dan David Prize recipient; at the department of rhetoric at University of California, Berkeley, as a Fulbright Scholar; and at the Edmund J. Safra Center for Ethics at Tel Aviv University. Yoav is also a certified spiritual care practitioner (SCP-C) and works with people and families suffering crisis and loss due to illness. He lives in Tivon.

Revital Yahalom Hahamov

Tutor

Revital Yahalom Hahamov has been leading change processes and educational and pedagogical innovation in the formal education system in Israel for some 15 years. She has served as the pedagogical development director for the Democratic Institute–Society and Education, where she oversaw the department for establishing innovative schools. Prior to that, she founded and ran the Institute's Halutz (Educational Pioneer) program in the North, which develops educational leadership and pedagogical innovation in the social and geographic periphery, in partnership with the Ministry of Education. Revital has overseen both local and system-wide change processes, and has developed and led training programs to develop leadership among principals and teachers. Revital has taught educational and social entrepreneurship at the Kibbutzim College of Education’s educational innovation incubator and at the Regev Program for Excellence in teaching at the Oranim Academic College of Education. Revital holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Hebrew and general literature from Tel Aviv University, where she also completed a school principal training program. She is a graduate of Cohort 20 of the Mandel School for Educational Leadership.

Staff

Keren Lee Avigal

Receptionist

Keren Lee Avigal is the receptionist of the Mandel Center for Leadership in the North. In the past, she was a team leader at the call center of Partner Communications, where she led training workshops for experienced and new employees. Her previous experience also includes work as the office manager at Ramim Environmental Technologies. Keren Lee is an active advocate for the rights of children with life-threatening allergies and provides support to their parents. She has participated in Knesset hearings to advance legislation that will make the public school system more accessible to such children. In her spare time, Keren Lee is interested in art, music, theater, and dance.

Einat Ben Ezra

Professional Coordinator

Einat Ben Ezra is a professional coordinator at the Mandel Center for Leadership in the North. An information specialist by training, Einat has specialized in environmental regulation, and coordinated the Green Government project, which was launched to improve the environmental aspects of the ongoing work of Israel's government. Subsequently, she created a unique platform to provide updates on regulatory norms for organizations seeking to meet environmental and safety standards. Einat also manages the website of the Technion Alumni Organization. Previously, she served as an instructor at Kishurit, a village for people with special needs. She also volunteers for many years with animal welfare organizations. Einat holds a bachelor’s degree in Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Haifa, and a diploma in information studies from the Technion.

Sharon Hershko Sholev

Coordinator, Registration Process

Sharon Hershko Sholev is the coordinator of the registration process of the Mandel Center for Leadership in the North. Prior to her work for the Mandel Foundation, Sharon worked for seven years in management and resource oversight for Hila, a Ministry of Education program for youth at risk and young people who have dropped out of Israel's formal education system. Her responsibilities there included development, implementation, and support of work policies; employee training; budgetary planning and allocation; implementation of computerized systems; and support for youth welfare units. Sharon holds a bachelor’s degree in social science from the Open University, and a teaching diploma in special education from Gordon College of Education. She is currently studying for a master’s degree in education system management from the Open University.

Dana Kleinman

Administrative Manager

Dana Kleinman holds a bachelor’s degree in social science from the Open University. She is a highly experienced senior administrator, having previously served, among other roles, as the administrative director of the Moriah specialist medical clinic in Haifa and as the personal assistant to the clinic’s director-general. In her various positions, Dana has been responsible for hiring, for employee placement and for administrative management of teams. She also has a great deal of experience in organizing different kinds of events, producing a professional medical newsletter and organizing and coordinating courses and social gatherings. Dana served as an officer in the IDF Adjutant Corps, and also as the chief of staff for a divisional commander.

Inbal Levy

Coordinator, Mandel Program for Regional Leadership in the North

Inbal Levy is the coordinator of the Mandel Program for Regional Leadership in the North. Prior to joining the staff of the Mandel Center for Leadership in the North, she held the position of academic coordinator in the biology department, English as a foreign language unit and the departments of early childhood education and early special education at Oranim College. In this forward-facing role, she catered to students’ needs from registration to graduation. Her responsibilities included developing programs, support for students with learning disabilities, organization of internal and external examinations, recruitment and integration of lecturers, and the planning and coordination of conferences, meetings, tours, workshops, and other events. Before working at Oranim, Inbal managed a complementary medicine clinic, where she oversaw a team of doctors, therapists, and service coordinators. Inbal holds a bachelor's degree in social sciences and humanities from the Open University.

Liraz Maanit

Graduate Community Facilitator

Liraz Maanit is the facilitator of the graduate community of the Mandel Center for Leadership in the North. Prior to her work for the Mandel Foundation, Liraz served as a research and teaching assistant at the University of Haifa for various courses, including introduction to research methods, introduction to public administration, and a course on Israel’s political system. She also ran projects for the Israeli Chemistry Society, a non-profit that works to promote chemistry studies at schools and universities. Her work there included organizing and managing conferences for scientists from universities around the world. Most recently, Liraz was an administrative coordinator at the Technion. She holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and comparative literature, and a bachelor’s degree in public administration, both from the University of Haifa. Her master’s thesis focused on local authorities in crisis.

Efrat Nisimov Sharshevski

Staff Member

Efrat Nisimov Sharshevski is a staff member of the Mandel Center for Leadership in the North, where her responsibilities include content development, teaching “leadership in a diverse society” in the Mandel Program for Social Leadership in the North, staff training, and lecturing on writing skills. A screenwriter and a poet, Efrat is a graduate of the Sam Spiegel Film and Television School. The script she wrote as her final project won the Johanna Prenner Award for Television Drama and her first book of poems is due to be published by Helicon Press. Before joining the Mandel Center, Efrat spent three years leading development processes as a content manager at the Ma’ase Center. Prior to that, she was a program manager at the Agnon House in Jerusalem, where she worked to develop it into a lively and vibrant literary center. After returning from a long stint as an emissary in Uzbekistan, Efrat facilitated study groups in beit midrash programs of Memizrach Shemesh, where she was part of the content development team. In addition to her work at Mandel, Efrat is a member of the research and development department of the Rashi Foundation, where she is in charge of knowledge management and content development for new initiatives.

Nadav Rubinstein

Professional Assistant to the Director

Nadav holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from the University of Haifa and is currently completing a master’s degree in the philosophy of science and rationality. He has taught mathematics and English in junior high and high schools, and has extensive experience organizing events.

Carmit Sheffi

Coordinator, Mandel Program for Leadership for Public Service in the North

Carmit Sheffi is the program coordinator of the Mandel Program for Leadership for Public Service in the North. Over the last decade, she has worked as a program director at various social organizations, including the Rashi Foundation and the Ramon Foundation. Carmit has managed programs that promote social mobility by providing tools and knowledge. These include a program that teaches computer programming to girls, a program that teaches computer skills to elementary school-age children in Israel’s periphery, and a preschool program for learning about space. Since 2020, she has been one of the leaders of the struggle to protect the Emek HaShalom area in the Megiddo regional council from urban development. Carmit holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and East Asian studies (including Chinese language studies), and a master’s degree in education systems management. During her undergraduate studies, she volunteered for three years with Kav LaOved, a non-profit organization that works to uphold full and equal labor rights for foreign workers in Israel.

Samia Zobidat

Housekeeper

Samia Zobidat is the housekeeper of the Mandel Leadership Center in the North, where she is responsible for custodial work. Samia has previous experience in housekeeping and worked in order fulfillment in a jewelry factory.