First Woman Selected to Head the Tel Aviv U Board of Governors

Dafna Meitar-Nechmad selected to be next Chair of Tel Aviv University’s Board of Governors

Edited by: TJVNews.com

Last Wednesday Tel Aviv University’s Search Committee unanimously recommended the appointment of Dafna Meitar-Nechmad as the next Chair of the TAU Board of Governors. After serving for three years as Co-Chair of the TAU Global Campaign, Meitar-Nechmad will replace Prof. Jacob A. Frenkel, who will be completing two four-year terms as Chair of the Board of Governors at the next Board of Governors meeting. Her appointment is subject to the Board of Governors’ ratification.

This new appointment follows a series of eleven women appointed to leading positions at TAU over the past year, including VP for International Academic Relations, and the Deans of the Faculties of Exact Sciences, Humanities and Innovative Learning.

Meitar-Nechmad is an alumna of TAU and former partner in the Meitar Law Offices. No longer a practicing lawyer, she is a social investor with extensive philanthropic experience. Among her many public roles, she serves on the Boards of JFN – Jewish Funders Network and the Metropolitan Opera of New York, and heads the Zvi and Ofra Meitar Family Fund, which supports a wide range of cultural and educational organizations and projects both in Israel and overseas, with TAU as its major beneficiary. In addition, Meitar-Nechmad is a founding member of the Institute for Law and Philanthropy at TAU’s Faculty of Law which researches and promotes philanthropy in Israel, aiming to advance justice and equality in Israeli society and serves on its Management Committees. She is also a member of Committed to Give, an initiative for promoting philanthropy in Israel.

The Search Committee was headed by Prof. Itamar Rabinovich, former President of Tel Aviv University. In its recommendation, the committee members noted that they had been greatly impressed by Meitar-Nechmad’s leadership capabilities, her record as a leader of TAU’s Global Campaign, her extensive experience in the world of philanthropy and fundraising, and her commitment and dedication to the advancement of Tel Aviv University.

It should be noted that TAU’s Board of Governors holds supervisory and control functions, and is mandated to help the University raise funds for further development.

Dafna Meitar-Nechmad thanked the Search Committee for recommending to elect her and said: “As a woman, a social investor and an alumna of TAU, it will be a great honor and privilege for me to head its Board of Governors. The past decade has seen substantial development at TAU, in research, education and contribution to the community, and I am certain that together we can keep up this momentum, expand the sources of funding, and open TAU’s gates to new target populations from both Israel and abroad.”