Tzili Charney is a curator, costume designer, producer, and philanthropist. As a philanthropist, she is devoting all her efforts to improving the fields of education, conflict resolution, and peace. 

She upholds her late husband’s position as Chairman of his real estate business at L.H. Charney Associates in New York, and continued his diplomatic legacy by founding the Charney Resolution Center in Israel in his honor. The resolution center welcomes students from all over the world and is dedicated to educating future generations on both peace negotiation and diplomacy. Her mission with the Center is to motivate and empower young people to pursue peaceful resolutions to conflicts wherever they are in the world.

 Tzili serves as Vice Chairman of the University of Haifa’s Board of Governors. In 2019 she established the Charney Forum for New Diplomacy with the University of Haifa. Her vision for this is to deliver the message of New Diplomacy to institutions, governments, and organizations worldwide. Tzili’s motto: “The only permanent element in all of our lives is change.” 

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Ambassador Ido Aharoni serves as a global distinguished professor at New York University’s Program of International Relations in the Faculty of Arts and Science. He is a guest lecturer at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton and at the University of Haifa in Israel. Since 2016 he serves on the International Advisory Council of APCO-Worldwide, one of the largest strategic communications firms in the world. He is the founder of Emerson Rigby, a full-service positioning consultancy. In 2017 he joined Newsmax.com as an opinion contributor. In 2018 he was appointed as Global Ambassador for Maccabi World Union, one of the largest sporting networks in the world.

Ambassador Aharoni is a 25-year veteran of Israel’s Foreign service, a public diplomacy specialist, founder of the Brand Israel program and a well-known nation branding practitioner.

Ambassador Aharoni has been Israel's longest selrving consul-general in New York to date. He held that position for six years (2010-2016) and oversaw the operations of Israel’s largest diplomatic mission worldwide. He was a member of Israel’s Foreign Service from 1991 until 2016 and held two other overseas positions in Los Angeles and in New York.

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Steve Forbes is Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of Forbes Media, the technology driven global media and branding company. Forbes.com has become one of the world’s most influential websites, with nearly 60 million unique visitors a month. The company’s flagship publication, Forbes, is the nation’s leading business magazine, with a readership of 6.2 million in the U.S.. The company’s 38 local editions around the world, including Forbes Asia, together have a circulation of almost 1.2 million.

Mr. Forbes writes editorials for Forbes under the heading of “Fact and Comment.” A widely respected economic prognosticator, he is the only writer to have won the highly prestigious Crystal Owl Award four times. The prize was formerly given by U.S. Steel Corporation to the financial journalist whose economic forecasts for the coming year proved most accurate.

 In both 1996 and 2000, Mr. Forbes campaigned vigorously for the Republican nomination for the Presidency. Key to his platform were a flat tax, medical savings accounts, a new Social Security system for working Americans, parental choice of schools for their children, term limits and a strong national defense. Mr. Forbes continues to energetically promote this agenda.

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As Senior Counsel at Kasowitz Benson Torres, LLP in New York, Senator Joe Lieberman applies the investigative skills he honed as United States Senator and Attorney General of the State of Connecticut to represent clients in independent and internal investigations and advise them on a wide range of public policy, strategic and regulatory issues. As a seasoned leader who is skilled in the art of facilitating mutually beneficial and strategic agreements, Senator Lieberman also assists corporate clients on tax, health care, security and intellectual property matters. In addition, he counsels clients on international expansion initiatives and business plans. 

Prior to joining Kasowitz, Senator Lieberman, the Democratic Vice-Presidential nominee in 2000, served 24 years in the United States Senate, retiring in January 2013 following the end of his fourth term. During his tenure, Senator Lieberman helped shape legislation in virtually every major area of public policy including national and homeland security, foreign policy, fiscal policy, environmental protection, human rights, health care, trade, energy, cyber security and taxes. He served in many leadership roles including as chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, which is the Senate’s major oversight and investigative committee.

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Following a diverse career of over 20 years in senior foreign policy and national security positions in the United States government, Ambassador Shapiro was named Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Tel Aviv University’s Institute of National Security Studies in March 2017. He has participated in several of the Institute’s research programs, including those on Israel- U.S. Relations, Israeli-Palestinian Relations, the Arab World, and Israeli Society and Public Opinion.

He was appointed by President Obama to be United States Ambassador to Israel, a position he held from July 2011 until the end of the Obama Administration. He won praise from leaders of both countries for his deft management of the U.S.-Israel relationship during Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, the Iran nuclear agreement, regional instability, and periods of significant bilateral tension and disagreement.

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Professor Rivka Carmi served as President of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev  from May 2006 to December 2018. Professor Carmi was the first and still the only woman to serve as president of an Israeli university. Between the years 2010 and 2012 she also served as the Chairwoman of the Israeli Association of University Heads.

Professor Carmi was born in Israel and is a graduate of Hebrew University Hadassah Medical School. She completed a residency in pediatrics and a fellowship in neonatology at the Soroka University Medical Center and an additional fellowship in medical genetics at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard University Medical School.

Professor Carmi served as Director of the Genetics Institute at the Soroka University Medical Center and held several important academic administrative positions in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Promoted to full professor in 1995, she was the incumbent of the Kreitman Foundation Chair in Pediatric Genetics. In 2000, she was elected Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at BGU – also the first woman to hold this position in Israel – and served for five years. Between 2002 and 2005, she was also the Chairperson of the Israeli Association of Medical Deans.

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Prof. Ron Robin is an expert in American History, with a PhD in American History from the University of California at Berkley (1986). Prof. Robin was a faculty member at the University of Haifa for over twenty years, during which he held several official positions, including Dean of Students. In 2006, Prof. Robin joined prestigious NYU where, amongst other things, he served as the Senior Vice provost and was responsible for establishing two NYU international campuses-in Abu Dhabi and Shanghai.

Prof. Robin is the author of six books and dozens of articles. He has written about the political, cultural and media aspects of the Cold War between the US and the former USSR (Princeton University Press), and about Politics and Culture in the American academia. His articles have been published in prestigious journals such as American Quarterly, Diplomatic History, American Studies International, and Journal of American Studies.
 
Under his leadership, the University of Haifa will focus on global interdisciplinary research in collaboration with leading international research institutions.  The interdisciplinary approach allows the University to develop varied areas of knowledge under the auspices of joint, innovative and unexpected "umbrellas" which will lead to breakthroughs.

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Born in Rumania, Colette Avital immigrated to Israel at the age of 10. After her army service she joined the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, while still completing her BA in Political Science and English Literature at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Colette Avital subsequently held a variety of key Foreign Ministry posts, including Deputy Director of Information (1979-1981) Director of the Training Division and head of Ehud Avriel school of Diplomacy (1984-1986) and Deputy Director General for Information, Media Communication and Culture (1986-1988) She led the Ministry's efforts to upgrade the status of women in Diplomatic Service.

Ambassador Avital's distinguished record of foreign postings includes Montreal (as Chancellor) Brussels (Press and Cultural Attache) Paris (as Minister-Counselor) Boston (Consul) and Lisbon (as Ambassador).

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John Kelly was named president of Florida Atlantic University by unanimous vote of the FAU Board of Trustees on January 17, 2014, becoming the seventh president in the University’s 50-year history. Upon his arrival at FAU, President Kelly declared his intention to make FAU the fastest-improving university in America, and within two years it became clear that goal was within reach. In 2016, the Florida Board of Governors ranked FAU the top-performing public university in the state based on the board’s performance-based funding metrics across 11 participating universities. That ranking was up from second-to-last in 2014. The University’s meteoric rise in the rankings, based on a set of 10 key metrics, makes FAU eligible to receive a large share of performance-based funding from the Florida Legislature.

President Kelly oversees an institution that serves more than 30,000 undergraduate and graduate students on six campuses along more than 100 miles of Florida’s east coast. One of the largest employers in South Florida, FAU has more than 3,000 employees, including 1,000 dedicated faculty members, and an operating budget in excess of $750 million. The University has an annual economic impact of $6.3 billion and is conducting millions of dollars’ worth of funded research in such critically important fields as drug discovery, biotechnology, ocean engineering and marine science.

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Richard M. Joel became Yeshiva University’s fourth president on September 21, 2003, and was named Bravmann Family University Professor in April 2010.  He became president emeritus in June 2017 when Rabbi Dr. Ari Berman began his service as president of the University.

Over his 14-year tenure, President Joel built on the illustrious tradition of this storied institution by placing a renewed emphasis on the student experience, academic excellence, Torah scholarship and communal involvement.

Under his helm, Yeshiva University built the Jacob and Dreizel Glueck Center for Jewish Study, established the Center for Jewish Future, established the Katz School of Graduate and Professional Studies, and developed programs in order to obtain an EMBA, Masters in Accounting, Masters in Quantitative Economics, Masters and PhD in Applied Mathematics, Masters in Marketing, and Masters in SLP.  These initiatives kept YU in the forefront of leading universities, along with expanding the use of technology by launching online education programs on the high school, college and graduate levels.  He was fortunate enough to assemble a remarkable group of academic and administrative leadership that brought luster to all of Yeshiva.

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Brigadier General (Ret.) Oron had a lengthy and distinguished military career. She served in various key positions, breaking through the many gender barrier. After her retirement Oron served as deputy national security advisor at Israel’s National Security Council (NSC).

She is a board member of “Aharai” for the last 10 years, as well as on the boards of Ben Gurion University and leading peace and security organizations, including “The Geneva Accord”, “Commanders for Israel’s security” and “forum Devora”. She often participates in track 2 negotiations and variety of projects regarding possible solutions to the conflict and is invited to speak on this issue all over the world.

Barry Nickelsberg is the Chief Development Officer for Estate & Gift Planning at The Carter Center. Barry has worked in development for colleges and universities throughout the world for the past four decades.  He has written three books on fundraising for not-for-profits, hosted a three-part series on Fundraising in America for PBS and twice chaired the World Congress on Philanthropy.  Working alongside government officials, Barry designed and organized a “nonprofit experiment” for the People’s Republic of China which opened that country to foreign adoption.

Barry is a graduate of Ithaca College, received a Certificate from the Harvard Business School and completed his graduate work in Administration at Yale University.

Barry organized and managed the first private sector campaign for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees ($400 million raised) ITESM (the MIT of Latin America-$254 million raised) and for the World Health Organization ($60 million raised).  He is credited with helping not-for-profit organizations raise in excess of $1 billion.

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Yael Lavie is an American-Israeli Emmy Award-winning Journalist, broadcaster and independent filmmaker. She has worked around the world with a particular focus on coverage of the Middle East and Europe. A former senior producer and editor for ABC NEWS AND SKY NEWS, Lavie reported on the aftermath of 9/11 from New York City, Iraq, and Kuwait between 1995-2010.

Between 2013-2017 Lavie was the anchor and managing editor of “The Morning Edition” and later “The daily dose” on I24 News. Between 2018-2020 Lavie was part of the original launching team and Lead Anchor of Blocktv.com, a Fintech and emerging markets online news site.

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Eitan Ben-Eliahu was born and raised in Jerusalem, Israel. During his 38 years of service in the Israeli Air Force (IAF), he served as an active fighter pilot. In 1996, he was appointed Air Force Chief Commander, a position he held for four years. Mr. Ben Eliahu was a general partner of East West Ventures Ltd. In 2002, he co-founded Sentry Technology Group (STG), based both in the US and in Israel. In 2006, his shares were successfully sold.

During his business career, Mr. Ben Eliahu was chairman of Cronus Cyber Technologies Ltd., director at Diamond Fund – a financial hedge fund based in Geneva, Switzerland and in Singapore, and was active Chairman of Aeronautics Ltd. – a developer and manufacturer of the Unmanned Airborne Vehicle.

In 2017, under his leadership the company went public at Tel Aviv Stock Exchange for a value of 1 Billion NIS. Eitan is also a speaker and hosts an educational program for Policy and National Defense at The Open University of Tel Aviv.

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Vice President for Resource Development and External Relations since October 2017. Dr. Tchernov is a Marine Biologist and the founder of the Marine Biology Department at the Leon H. Charney School of Marine Sciences (2010). Dr. Tchernov heads the coastal research facility as part of the Helmsley Charitable Trust Mediterranean Research Center. He also heads the Morris Kahn Marine Research station. His main interests are in Climate Change Biology, Coral Biology, Marine Ecology and Conservation Biology.

Dr. Tchernov was born in Jerusalem in 1967.  He graduated from the Hebrew University in 1994 with a degree in Biology and completed his PhD in Oceanography at the Hebrew University in 2003. He did his postdoctoral research at the IMCS at Rutgers University in New Jersey. Between the years of 2004 and 2009 he served as the Administrative Director of the Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences in Eilat and between the years of 2009 and 2011 he served as the Deputy Director of the Leon H. Charney School of Marine Sciences.

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Michael John Williams is Clinical Professor of International Relations and Director of the International Relations Program at New York University. His most recent book is Science, Law and Liberalism in the American Way of War: The Quest for Humanity in Conflict (Cambridge: University Press, 2015). His work has been published in journals such as International Affairs, International Politics, International Peacekeeping, Global Governance and Cooperation & Conflict. Prof. Williams is a Fellow of the Inter-University Seminar on the Armed Forces and the Royal Society for the Arts (UK) He has been a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York and a Senior Associate Scholar at the Center for European Policy Analysis in Washington D.C. He held a Bosch Fellow in the German Ministry of Defense, a Visiting Fellowship at the University of Oxford, and a DAAD Fellowship at the Bundeswehr Center forSocial Science. He was an investigator in the Sustainable Peacebuilding Network, a collaborative research project involving 20 scholars from six countries, funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

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Dr Hila Oren is the CEO of The Tel Aviv Foundation. The Foundation serves as a driver of progress, elevating the City’s quality of life through education, the arts, sports, social services, the environment and innovative urban projects. It has established more than 600 projects and raised over $550 million worldwide, thereby touching the lives of more than 450,000 residents and one million visitors and commuters to the city.

Previously Oren founded and served as CEO of Tel Aviv Global. Tel Aviv Global is an initiative started by the Mayor's Office of Tel Aviv-Yafo dedicated to elevating the city’s brand and global positioning. In 2010, the Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality undertook a municipal-national initiative designed to position Tel Aviv as a global city – a leading international business center that specializes in innovation. 

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Nathaniel Laor is Professor with the Departments of Psychiatry and Philosophy, Tel-Aviv University. He is Director of the Cohen-Harris Resilience Center, and Clinical and Academic Director of the Association for Children at Risk, Israel. Prof. Laor is also Clinical Professor at the Yale Child Study Center. He had directed the Sackler School affiliated Tel Aviv-Brull Mental Health Center (1989-2014) and Chair of the Department of Medical Education at Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University (2014-2018).

Prof. Laor served as Professional Director of the national “Leon H. Charny Urban Resilience Pilot Program” (2010-14), under the leadership of Israel’s Minister of Defense and the National Emergency Management Authority. Since 2018 he co-directs the Tzili Charney Program to improve professionalism and prevent burnout in surgeons in the Surgical Division at Sourasky Tel-Aviv Medical Center, Tel Aviv, Israel.

Prof. Laor has published over 150 professional papers and books on medical ethics, diagnostic methodology, meta-psychiatry, forensic medicine, as well as the psychopathology of trauma and resilience in the face of disaster, war and terrorism.

Larry is a co-owner of Pret A Manger. He was Chairman for nine of the fifteen years he served on Pret’s board. He is also a co-owner of UrbanLodge Hotels, which founded The Hoxton in London, and Managing Director of Billett Group, active in private equity and M&A. Previously, he was head of Salomon Brothers’ and Société Générale’s transportation and infrastructure investment banking businesses, Senior VP Finance of Pan Am and Chairman of LAX TWO. He has served as a board member and finance committee chairman of Hampstead Theatre and as an Innovation Challenge Prizes expert panel member for the NHS. He is a cum laude graduate of Yale.

Dr. David M. Milch is a 1980 graduate of Harvard medical school after undergraduate studies at Stanford. Upon finishing his clinical and research responsibilities in 1984, Dr. Milch moved to New York City to pursue his business career, soon branching into venture investments in technology and the life sciences, initiating or participating in numerous successful opportunities. Over the past 15 years Dr. Milch has broadened his entrepreneurial focus to include early-stage biomedical companies based in Israel and, most recently, media ventures. Dr. Milch is Chairman of two media companies, www.MiLa-Media.com  (feature films) and www.BeTerrific.com (streaming), and founder of www.givingtv.org ("broadcasting philanthropy"). He is Founder and Vice Chairman of a public medical technology company in Israel.

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Willa Perlman is an accomplished executive, business owner and entrepreneur. Presently, as Co-CEO of LPA Search Partners, Willa works with CEO’s, Boards and investors in a highly consultative manner bringing the context of her operating experience to bear on talent recruitment, assessment and organizational strategy. Her executive search practice focus includes the EdTech, Digital Media, SaaS, Information Services and broader content development and delivery verticals. Prior to establishing her search practice in 2001, Willa built and led businesses engaged primarily with intellectual property development and licensing, new business development and strategy. She held the positions of President of Hasbro Properties Group, at Hasbro, Inc; President of Golden Books Publishing Group and President & publisher of Simon & Schuster Children’s Books Division, among others. Presently, Perlman is a senior advisor to The Vistria Group Link  and a Board Advisor to MSI Information Services Link.  

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Cello virtuoso KRISTINA REIKO COOPER has won worldwide acclaim for her musical diversity, artistry, and charismatic stage presence. Her credits range from having received her Bachelors, Masters, and Doctorate of Musical Arts at The Juilliard School to currently serving as visiting professor at Tel Aviv University, Israel. Although well-known for traversing musical genres, she first established her career as a classical artist.

Hailed by The New York Times as “sensational in concert” and as a “striking virtuoso” by the Los Angeles Times, Kristina has performed as a soloist and chamber musician on many of the world’s most distinguished stages including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, Suntory Hall of Tokyo, Radio France in Paris, and appearances with the Prague Chamber Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony and the Tokyo Yomiuri Symphony.

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Israeli superstar David Broza is considered one of the world’s most dynamic and vibrant performers. From his whirlwind finger picking to Flamenco percussion and rhythms, to a signature rock and roll sound, David Broza’s charismatic and energetic performances have delighted audiences throughout the world.

Raised in Israel, Spain and England, Broza has been giving his charismatic and energetic performances worldwide since 1977, when his hit song “Yihye Tov” first aired, promoting a message of peace. Broza is also known for his commitment and dedication to several humanitarian projects, especially a resolution to Israeli-Palestinian conflict through dialogue, culture, music and tolerance. Now, with a string of multi-platinum albums—in Hebrew, English and Spanish—he continues to hone his message. Broza was awarded a Spanish medal of honor by the King of Spain, Juan Carlos I, for his longtime contribution to Israeli-Spanish relations and his promotion of tolerance. A passionate peace advocate, he has also been named a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.

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LAMEDINA fosters peaceful coexistence in increasingly multicultural societies across the world, through high-level dialogue processes and in-depth studies and analysis of issues of interest. LAMEDINA co-organized the LA Dialogue on Creating Cities of Belonging in Los Angeles on March 4-5, 2020 under the chairmanship of the HR United Nations Alliance of Civilizations Miguel Angel Moratinos and the Mayor of Los Angeles Eric Garcetti.

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