MEET THE TEAM
THE ADVISORY BOARD
Tova Dorfman, Director of the Steinhardt Family Foundation in Israel
Tova Dorfman is the Director of the Steinhardt Family Foundation in Israel. In that capacity, she oversees the provision of assistance to a variety of nonprofits operating in the area of children and youth at risk and has forged significant partnerships among other philanthropic foundations, public agencies and nonprofits in a number of far-reaching educational and social ventures. From 2008-2011 she served as the co-chair of the Forum of Foundations in Israel, a professional network of over 100 philanthropic foundations operating in Israel. Among the projects in which Tova has played a leading role in establishing and steering is Birthright Excel. Previously, Tova directed the Israel and Overseas Department of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit, based in Israel. In her years of representing the Detroit Jewish community in Israel, she has initiated a variety of projects and programs to foster relationships between Detroit Jews and Israelis, culminating in the pivotal role she played in shaping that community's relationship with the Central Galilee in the context of Partnership 2000. Currently, she advises the Federation leadership on special projects.
Raised in Oak Park, MI, Tova pursued her undergraduate and graduate education in Los Angles, receiving a BA in International Relations from UCLA and an MA in Jewish Education from the University of Judaism. She settled in Israel in 1984 and worked until 1993 for “Melitz” – The Centers for Jewish Zionist Education in Jerusalem.
Throughout her professional career, Tova has always been at the forefront of innovative, creative programming and has been singularly successful in bringing around the table of all of these programs key individuals and institutions that provide to them an invaluable synergy.
Tova lives with her husband Raviv Schwartz and their two sons, Matan and Yaniv outside of Tel Aviv.
Eliezer Shkedy, Retired Commander of the Israeli Air Force; former CEO of El Al
Eliezer Shkedy is a retired general in the Israel Defense Forces, who served as Commander of the Israeli Air Force from 4 April 2004 until 13 May 2008. He is also a former CEO of El Al, the flag carrier of Israel.
In addition to sitting on the board of TALMA, he is the chairman of Heroes for life, an international NGO for volunteer work at orphanages and other frameworks of need in Third World world countries, and Yedidim, an organization that supports wounded soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces.
Justin Korda, Executive Director of ROI Community
Justin is the Executive Director of ROI Community and has been with ROI since its inception in 2005. Growing up in Montreal, Canada, he saw how young people can truly be instruments for change, thereby setting the stage for a life of Jewish activism.
In 1999, he led the first Taglit-Birthright Israel trip from Canada. Justin went on to serve in a number of positions at the Canada-Israel Experience, where he was instrumental in implementing Taglit-Birthright Israel for the initial 5,000 Canadian participants. Justin holds an MBA from the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliya and a BA in political science from McGill University. He and his wife, Yael, live in California, with their three children.
Yuli Tamir, President of the Shenkar College of Engineering and Design
Yuli Tamir is an Israeli academic and former politician who served as a member of the Knesset for the Labor Party between 2003 and 2010, and as Minister of Immigrant Absorption and Education, as well as the deputy speaker of the Knesset and a member of the Finance committee, the Education committee and the Security and Foreign Affairs committee. Since 2010 she has been President of Shenkar College of Engineering and Design. Since 2015 she is an adjunct professor and the Blavatnik School of Government, Oxford.
Noa Gorlin, Associate Executive Director of ROI Community
As Associate Executive Director of ROI Community, No’a is responsible for supporting and developing ROI membership, enhancing the leadership development of its members, and all grantmaking within the ROI Community.
No’a began her career as a marketing professional in the Israeli high-tech industry and later, seeking to add meaning to her life while impacting the Jewish world, transitioned into the non-profit sector. As Associate Director at Kolot, she worked to increase Jewish identity among secular Israelis through text study, and at the Chais Family Foundation she allocated philanthropic funding to deepen Jewish identity as well as advance excellence in education.
No’a holds an MBA and a BA in Psychology, both from the Hebrew University. She lives in Jerusalem with her husband and four amazing children.
Shlomit Amichai, Founder of Teach First Israel
Shlomit Amichai has dedicated her career to improving the quality of education for pupils in Israel. When Shlomit completed her service in 2009 as the Director General of Israel's Ministry of Education, she decided to cross over from central government to the third sector, and try to generate change in the system by creating a new initiative: Teach First Israel. Teach First Israel seeks to bring excellent students from Israel’s' top universities, train them to be teachers in challenged schools and nurture them so that they become Israel’s' future social leaders.
Shlomit previously served as Director-General of Israel's Ministry of Education from 1999 to 2001 and was called in to serve in this role for a second time between 2007 and 2009. Shlomit returned to the Ministry of Education after six years with the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) where she served as Director of JDC-Israel's Division for Voluntarism, Philanthropy and ELKA: JDC's training center for senior executives who provide social services for various communities in Israel. While at the JDC, Shlomit oversaw the training of director-generals of Israel government ministries, mayors and senior personnel from the public and nonprofit sector fields of health, education and welfare. She also directed programs to promote voluntarism in Israel as well as programs for the Israeli-Arab sector. Among her many current activities, Shlomit assists the Israel Center for Excellence through Education in Jerusalem.
Yehudit Kadesh, Former Director of the Department of Elementary Education, Ministry of Education
Yehudit Kadesh is the former Director of the Department of Elementary Education in the Ministry of Education and founder of the School of Great Freedom in Israel.
She spent 36 years in the education system holding number of senior positions, including Deputy Director of the Nof Yam School, Beit Yehezkel School, and the Lachish Region Regional School. She was also the Supervisor of Education in Ashdod and Sderot, and the Director of the Division of Elementary Education. She lived all her life in Ashkelon and raised three children and four grandchildren, all residents of the city.