Watching our government struggle with how best to end this longest war in Israel’s history and bring the remaining hostages back home, it occurred to me that perhaps we should simply admit, once and for all, that men are really not capable of leading us right now. Let’s just give the reins of leadership over to the women.
Earlier in the war I highlighted in my blogs some capable female executives who should be recruited for this purpose. But a recent article in the Calcalist on-line publication highlighted even more possible candidates. Some current examples follow.
Sarit Firon
Sarit Firon is the managing partner of Team8 Capital, the newest investment vehicle of the Team8 Group. One of Israel’s most accomplished investors, known for helping to build companies and bring them to IPO and acquisitions, Firon brings more than 26 years of global investment and operational experience across Silicon Valley, New York, and Tel Aviv.
She has held numerous operational and leadership roles, serving as CEO, CFO, chairperson, and board member at prominent hi-tech companies. She served as CFO at MediaMind during its Nasdaq IPO and acquisition by DG Corp for $517M, as well as at P-Cube during its $200M acquisition by Cisco. Firon also led the seed round of Datorama, taking an active board member role until the company’s $800M acquisition by Salesforce.
She is also a member the board of Shitufim, a social impact non-profit organization and holds a BA in Accounting and Economics from Tel Aviv University.
Sapir Harosh
Sapir Harosh is currently a director on the boards of both Grip Security and Zenity. Previously she was with Pitango, Israel’s largest venture capital fund with over $2.5 billion under management.
During her time at the fund, Harosh was involved in 20+ investments in early-stage tech start-ups, overseeing eight of them from sourcing to transaction. She also served as an observer on the boards of seven companies, including Komodor, PayEm, Frontegg, Swimm, and others still in stealth mode.
Harosh has an extensive network of relationships and works closely and regularly with the entrepreneurs and management teams of companies, assisting them with client relations, talent recruitment, strategic thinking, product development, introductions to the world’s leading capital funds, etc.
She began her career while serving in IDF’s elite 8200 unit. In her last position there, she was the recipient of the Unit Commander’s Award of Excellence for her work.
Following professional service in the IDF, she relocated to New York, where she served as a procurement manager in the Defense Ministry’s Mission to the US for two years – while taking part in sensitive procurement processes between the two countries, valued at hundreds of millions of dollars.
Harosh is the youngest board member of the 8200 Alumni Association, where she founded the Young Alumni Community. Since founding the community in 2015, she has overseen all operations, including providing opportunities, employment options, networking, and events to the 4,000 community members who, in return, give back by promoting entrepreneurship and technology in the Israeli society. Harosh volunteered to establish the community, teaming up with 10 other alumni to oversee its affairs.
Cochav Elkayam Levy
Cochav Elkayam-Levy established and heads Israel’s Civil Commission on Oct. 7th Crimes by Hamas against Women and Children. In her speech before the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, she represented Israel’s women’s rights movement.
Levy is the principal author of the National Report on Gender Mainstreaming in Times of Emergencies, which was adopted by Israel in a historic government decision in June 2022. She was selected as one of the most promising young leaders under 40 in Israel by Ha’aretz’s The Marker magazine in 2022.
Elkayam-Levy is the Sophie Davis Fellow on Gender, Conflict Resolution and Peace at the Leonard Davis Institute for International Relations, Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
She teaches human rights law, international law, climate justice, and feminist theories at Hebrew U and at Reichman University. She is also the founding head of the Dvora Institute for Gender and Sustainability Studies and a senior fellow at the Hartman Institute in Jerusalem.
Formerly, she was a Human Rights Scholar of the University of Pennsylvania Law School; Perry World House Fellow; a Salzburg Global Fellow for Outstanding Scholars in International Law, Washington DC, and a member of the president’s new Climate Forum.
Elkayam-Levy holds an LL.M. from the University of Pennsylvania School of Law; is the recipient of Penn Law’s Human Rights Scholarship Award; and holds an LL.B, and B.A. (magna cum laude), with joint degrees in Law and Political Science.
Sanaz Yashar
Sanaz Yashar, born in Tehran, was a young prodigy when she represented Iran in the Chemistry Olympiad there. Then, at age 16, she published an article in her school newspaper criticizing the Iranian Revolution. The move led to threats against her family, ultimately forcing them to flee the country.
After immigrating to Israel, she served nearly 15 years in Unit 8200, rising to the rank of major.
Yashar holds a BSc in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Tel Aviv University and an MNA from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
In 2022, she co-founded Zafran-Continuous Threat Exposure Management and the company now employs 100 people across Israel.
Maya Eisen Zafrir
Finally, we also have Maya Eisen Zafrir, the LeumiTech CEO who took over two years ago after serving in a prior role as the chief marketing officer at Bank Leumi USA for four years. She previously spent eight years at Kimberly-Clark, including as the marketing and strategy director.
Eisen Zafrir holds a bachelor’s degree from Tel Aviv University and an MBA from The Interdisciplinary Center, now Reichman University.
I could go on, as Israel is a leader in opening up senior executive positions to qualified women and celebrates their achievements as well.
Given the expertise shown here, can there be any doubt in anyone’s mind that they could do the job and do it well?
In addition, women bring a sensitivity and concern for humanity that many men lack but which is a critical talent when making decisions that directly impact all our lives.
In a word, they could do no worse than our present leadership and would probably do a whole lot better.
After all, it was none other than former US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg who set the tone for her sister judges when she admonished them, “Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you.”
We desperately need leadership that will follow that advice.
The writer is founder and chair of Atid EDI Ltd., an international business development consultancy. He is also the founder and chair of the American State Offices Association, a 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.