In June 2018, the Board of Governors of The Jewish Agency for Israel unanimously elected Isaac Herzog to succeed Natan Sharansky as the Chairman of the Executive of this historic and influential organization.

Isaac Herzog was born in Israel in 1960, and is an attorney by profession. Before entering his new position at The Jewish Agency, Mr. Herzog had been a member of Knesset (Israel’s parliament) since 2003. He had been the Chairman of Israel’s Labor Party since 2013, as well as the Knesset Opposition Leader.

In 2015, Mr. Herzog was a front-runner to win the election for Israel’s Prime Minister. He led the alliance between the Labor Party and the Hatnua Party to create Israel’s largest center-left political party, and was the leading candidate to unseat Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the national elections.

In the past 15 years, Mr. Herzog has held several ministerial posts: Minister of Housing and Construction; Minister of Tourism; Minister of Diaspora Affairs, Society and the Fight Against Anti-Semitism; and Minister of Welfare and Social Services. He also served as Government Secretary and as the Israel Government Coordinator for the provision of humanitarian aid to Gaza in 2008-2009.

Before entering politics, Mr. Herzog was a senior partner at the law firm of Herzog, Fox & Ne’eman. He lives in Tel Aviv with his wife, Michal. They have three sons.

Michael D. Siegal is the new Chairman of the Board of The Jewish Agency for Israel.

Michael is the Executive Chairman of Olympic Steel, Inc. (Nasdaq: Zeus), a billion-plus dollar metals service center in the United States and Mexico. He also is on the board of Cleveland-Cliffs, Inc. (NYSE: CLF).
Among many philanthropic positions, Michael has served previously as Board Chair of the Development Corporation for Israel (Israel Bonds), the Cleveland Jewish Federation and the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA). He, along with his wife Anita, helped establish the Michael and Anita Siegal One Happy Camper Scholarship Fund with the Foundation of Jewish Camping. Michael has been on The Jewish Agency Board of Governors since 2012.

Michael and Anita have three children and five grandchildren.

In December 2018, Amira Ahronoviz was appointed as the first ever woman CEO and Director General of The Jewish Agency.

Amira holds an MA in Business Management and is a graduate of the Mandel Educational Leadership Institute in Jerusalem. She has been working for more than 22 years at The Jewish Agency for Israel in various roles in the field and later on in management positions – namely as Regional Director of The Jewish Agency’s Loan Funds, Director of Partnership Regions, Director of Budget and Finance for 8 years, VP for Strategy and Planning and as the Deputy Director General & COO – leading organization-wide strategic and programmatic development and operations, and supervising all the program units and the worldwide operations of the organization.

Five years ago, Amira took a two-year break from The Jewish Agency in order to participate in the ‘Mandel’ Educational Leadership Institute’s Fellowship program where her major research area was “Social Impact Investing,” which she believes holds immense potential to address the most pressing social challenges via innovative financial vehicles. As an outcome of this fellowship, Amira and The Jewish Agency team are currently developing Crowd.IL – a digital platform that would employ such instruments for addressing social gaps in Israeli society, as well as advance the strategic goal of connecting world Jewry to Israel, with an emphasis on the younger generation.

Amira is a mother of 3 children, lives in Mazkeret Batya and is a member of the “Keshet” Community – an urban community of religious and secular Jews which run a joint education system as part of shared community life with pluralistic vision. She is active in the community for the last 12 years, since its formation, in various volunteer capacities, and is formerly a member of the executive board of the association.

Dr. David Breakstone is the Deputy Chairman of the Executive of the Jewish Agency. Prior to this position, he served as the vice chairman of the World Zionist Organization. With a Ph.D. from Hebrew University in Contemporary Jewry and Israel Education, David has also served as Associate Dean of the Schechter Institute for Jewish Studies, Director of Ramah Programs in Israel, Director of the Pedagogic Center for Jewish Education at Hebrew University, and Founding Director of the Herzl Museum. He has also served as chair of the Masorti (Conservative) Movement in Israel. David has been a member of The Jewish Agency's Board of Governors since 2001 and chairs its Small Jewish Communities Committee.