In November 2020, Hassan Towafra was appointed Head of the Authority for the Economic Development of the Arab Society at the Ministry for Social Equality. He completed his tenure in this role in August 2025. Under his leadership, the Authority advanced policies designed to reduce socio-economic gaps and promote the integration of Arab society into Israel’s economy and broader community.

In this role, Towafra led the approval and implementation of Government Resolution 550, a five-year plan aimed at narrowing disparities between Arab society and the general Israeli society, with an unprecedented budget of 30 billion NIS. This plan encompasses a wide range of programs across multiple sectors, including education, employment, economic development, sports, health, infrastructure, and more. Towafra chaired and participated in numerous committees and inter-ministerial teams addressing issues concerning Arab society. Together with the Authority’s team, he collaborated with Arab local authorities, civil society organizations, private-sector companies, and philanthropic foundations. Through the Authority’s various departments, he managed relations with government ministries, initiated joint projects, and oversaw a comprehensive advisory and monitoring framework to ensure the effective implementation of Government Resolution 550. Now in its fourth year, this plan encompasses hundreds of initiatives that significantly advance the integration of Arab society into Israel’s economy and broader society.

Previously, Towafra served as Deputy Director of the Government Companies Authority and Head of its Finance and Control Unit. In this capacity, he oversaw financial management and business development within Israel’s government-owned companies (over 100 companies managing assets valued at 235 billion NIS). His work focused on strengthening financial oversight and maintaining economic stability across these companies. During his tenure, reporting and control mechanisms were enhanced, a financial performance measurement system was adopted, and oversight of proper management and efficient resource utilization was reinforced. He also promoted innovation, risk management strategies, and the first-ever public offerings of government companies on the stock market.

Between 2010 and 2015, Towafra held positions in leading financial institutions, beginning with KPMG (one of the largest accounting firms in Israel and worldwide) and later at the Israel Securities Authority, where he supervised public companies. In these roles, he gained extensive expertise in financial, economic, and taxation matters, working closely with leading figures in Israel’s capital market.

Since 2014, Towafra has also served as a lecturer in the Department of Accounting and Economics at Hadassah Academic College in Jerusalem.

Towafra holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and accounting and a master’s degree in business administration, both with Honors from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is a fellow of both the Maoz leadership program and the Wexner Israel Fellowship, which included executive training at Harvard University.

He resides in Haifa with his wife and their two daughters.

Rana Fahoum is the Director of the Center for Shared Society at the Shalom Hartman Institute. She founded and ran a Junior High school for girls in a seamline neighborhood in East Jerusalem and was later appointed by the Ministry of Education as superintendent responsible for all elementary education in East Jerusalem. Subsequently, Rana taught in the Hebrew University’s English Language and Linguistics departments and served as a research assistant.

In her most recent role, she served as the CEO of the Jerusalem International YMCA, and its subsidiary, Three Arches company. Rana has a master’s degree in English linguistics from the Hebrew University and a master’s degree in political and public leadership from Tel Aviv University. She is a graduate of the Mandel School of Educational Leadership and a member of the Maoz network.

Rana is a member of the Israeli Council for Culture and the Arts and of the Arab Culture Committee, and serves on the Board of Directors of Lavi, the Municipal Association for the Development of Education in Jerusalem, she is on the board of ALLMEP and Maoz as well.

She was born in Nazareth and currently lives in Jerusalem with her spouse and 3 children.

A social entrepreneur, TEMA is the third venture Yifat founded and leads. In the past, she founded and managed two NGO’s for the promotion of equality, diversity and inclusion: ‘Oliim Beyahad’ for employment equality for Israelis of Ethiopian descent, and ‘Co-Impact’ – which led to a breakthrough in Arab employment. Yifat served as a senior strategic advisor to the President of Israel on issues of society and government (2022-2023). YIfat is a lawyer with a bachelor’s degree in law from Tel Aviv University, a master’s degree in public administration from Harvard Kennedy School and was a Wexner Fellow.

Shahira currently serves as the Co-Executive Director at the Abraham Initiatives. Shahira is the former Deputy Mayor of Haifa, former city councilor, and was among the founders of the Palestinian Feminist Movement in Israel. She has held several key managerial roles at numerous social service organizations, including helping establish the Hiwar School for Alternative Education in Haifa. Previously, Shahira directed Shatil’s Shared Society Department for ten years and she co-founded Kayan, the first Palestinian feminist organization in Israel. She was on the faculty of the Mandel Center for Leadership in the North and managed its local leadership programs. Shahira holds an M.A. in Religious Studies and a B.A. in Social Work. She is a trained organizational consultant, group facilitator, and trainer specializing in dialogue, conflict, and conflict resolution.

Sally Awad Asfour is the Deputy Director of ICEI. Sally joined ICEI in 2019 as the Director of Arab Schools Initiatives, launching a pilot program in 3 Arab schools. Since then, she has been instrumental in the organization’s growth in Arab schools, establishing major initiatives like Qalam and Tamkin, ICEI’s first Joint Venture with the Ministry of Education. Her leadership has strengthened ICEI’s relationships with the Ministry and other key partners, helping to expand ICEI’s reach and deepen its impact. Before joining ICEI, Sally served as the Founding Principal of the Ajial School for Special Education in Nazareth, serving all the Arab communities in the North of Israel. Sally is a former lecturer and pedagogical instructor at the Oranim College of Education and worked for the Ministry of Education as a principal mentor. She holds a master’s degree in educational counseling from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and an MBA from Bar Ilan University.

Leah joined Hand in Hand in May 2020 to head its resource development department. She brings to this role nearly two decades of professional experience, having headed the resource development efforts of three other leading Israeli nonprofits.
A Canadian Israeli, Leah began her professional career in law. She worked as a foreign clerk at Israel’s Supreme Court and briefly practiced law with one of Israel’s leading firms before pivoting to the nonprofit sector.

Don Futterman is the founding director of the Israel Center for Educational Innovation (ICEI). He is also the Israel Director of the Moriah Fund, a private American foundation working to promote equality and strengthen liberal democracy in the U.S. and Israel. Don is the author of the recently published novel Adam Unrehearsed (2023), a coming-of-age comedy set in New York City in the early 1970s, and of two children’s books in Hebrew, Yaniv’s Treasure האוצר של יניב, (Tal-Mai Books), and Up and Over עד למעלה (HaMevoch Press), distributed by The PJ Library ספריית פיג’מה in Israel. A former columnist for Haaretz, Don has also written for The Daily Beast and The Times of Israel, and for the past 13 years, has been a co-host of TLV1’s The Promised Podcast – a weekly review of Israeli politics & society with four million downloads. Don is the creative force behind a performance podcast of autobiographical monologues, Futterman’s One-Man Show. A graduate of Brown University, Don is married with three children, and has lived in Israel since 1994.