Wexner Israel Fellowship
In 1989, the Wexner Israel Fellowship program was created to specifically "support up to 10 outstanding Israeli public officials earning their Mid-Career Master of Public Administration (MC/MPA) at Harvard Kennedy School." Wexner Israel Fellow programs and its active alumni community have given Wexner considerable clout with prominent Israelis in major positions in government and industry.[1]
Official narrative
The goal of the Fellowship is to provide Israel’s next generation of public leaders with advanced leadership and public management training. Each year, up to 10 outstanding public sector directors and leaders from Israel work toward their Master in Public Administration degree at Harvard Kennedy School. These mid-career students – Wexner Israel Fellows – commit to returning to Israel and remaining in the public sector for at least three years after completing the program.[2]
More than 280 Israeli public officials have participated in the Israel Fellowship, including leaders who have gone on to become Directors General of government ministries, Generals and Commanders in the Israeli military, and top advisers to Prime Ministers.” As part of the program, participants meet with senior U.S. government officials. Wexner Israel Fellows also “commit to returning to Israel and remaining in the public sector for at least three years after completing the program.”
First Year Alumni
Among the 10 alumni of the first class of Wexner Israel Fellows is Shay Avital, a prominent leadership figure in the Israeli military and who had first served under Benjamin Netanyahu’s brother, Yonatan Netanyahu. Other alumni include Avinoam Armoni, former special adviser to Teddy Kollek, as well as Israeli prime ministers; Moshe Lador, former Israeli state prosecutor; Arik Raz, former governor of Israel’s Misgav region; Uzi Vogelman, current justice on Israel’s Supreme Court;Eduardo Titelman Goren, a Chilean economist who has played a major role in managing Chile’s copper mining industry (the world’s largest); and Yossi Tamir, Director General of the JDC-Israel, "the leading global Jewish humanitarian organization."[3]
Another interesting alumnus from this first class was Amos Slyper, who was Deputy Director-General of the State Comptroller’s Office in Israel, making him responsible for the auditing of Israeli government ministries and offices. During Slyper’s tenure, the legal adviser to that office was Nurit Israeli, an alumnus of the second class of Wexner Israel Fellows.
