Founding Director of the Jewish People Policy Planning Institute (JPPPI), Avinoam Bar-Yosef, announced yesterday three new appointees joining the leadership of the Institute.

Ambassador Stuart Eizenstat has been appointed Chairman of JPPPI’s Board of Directors and Professional Guiding Council.

Ambassador Eizenstat replaces Ambassador Dennis Ross who left the position last January to join the Obama administration.

Leonid Nevzlin has been appointed Associate Chairman of JPPPI’s Board of Directors and Professional Guiding Council. Nevzlin, who has a background in policy planning, is an expert on the FSU and is an active philanthropist who has been involved in and supportive of Jewish educational projects. In Israel, he established the NADAV Fund to support initiatives that strengthen Jewish Peoplehood, build substantive and pluralistic Jewish identity, and create lasting connections among Jews the world over.

Nevzlin is also Chairman of the International Board of Governors of Beit Hatfutsot (The Diaspora Museum, recently renamed the Museum of the Jewish People), and has led the efforts to first rescue and then revitalize the institution.

Major-General (res.) Aharon Ze’evi Farkash has been appointed JPPPI’s President, effective November 1. Farkash replaces Professor Yehezkel Dror, JPPPI’s Founding President, who retired last year, and follows Stephen H. Hoffman, President of the Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland, who served as the Institute’s Interim President during the search process.

Farkash was Israel’s Director of Military Intelligence (2002-2006). He previously served in a variety of roles both in the field and on the general staff, and was the commander of both the Planning Branch, and the Technological and Logistics Branch of the IDF.

He left his position as Head of the Intelligence and National Defense Program of the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) at Tel Aviv University in order to accept this position.

According to Bar Yosef, “JPPPI has completed a yearlong effort to assemble the right leadership to steward the next phase of its development, focusing on the implementation of its action-oriented policy recommendations made to Jewish organizations and the Government of Israel with respect to the current challenges faced by the Jewish People.”

about: The Jewish People Policy Planning Institute is a professional and independent think-tank. Its mission is to contribute to the thriving of the Jewish people through strategic thinking and policy planning in areas of primary significance to world Jewry.