NEW YORK, NY — Hadassah, The Women’s Zionist Organization of America, is pleased to announce that Gidon Melmed has been chosen to lead the Hadassah Offices in Israel as Executive Director, succeeding Suzanne Patt Benvenisti. Melmed, who joined Hadassah in 2016 and served most recently as Deputy Executive Director for Development, will report to Hadassah CEO Ellen Finkelstein. He will lead a 26-person team of philanthropy, marketing and other not-for-profit professionals charged with representing Hadassah and its interests in Israel. The appointment took effect on July 1.
One of Melmed’s chief responsibilities will be to partner with Yoram Weiss, MD, Director General of the Hadassah Medical Organization, Hadassah’s academic medical center in Jerusalem, and Dalia Itzik, Chair of the Board and a former Speaker of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, to elevate the medical center’s reputation in Israel and around the world.
Melmed will also represent Hadassah’s interests before the Israeli government, which oversees and helps support public hospitals in Israel, and work with Hadassah’s Youth Aliyah program, which operates two residential communities for vulnerable Israeli teens and pre-teens.
Additional responsibilities will include building and strengthening Hadassah’s partnerships with other Jewish organizations in Israel and overseeing the ongoing collaboration between Hadassah’s Israeli and American philanthropy and marketing operations.
“Gidon Melmed has been a key member of Hadassah’s Israel team for almost 10 years and is highly respected by his colleagues in Jerusalem and the US,” said Carol Ann Schwartz, Hadassah National President. “We are delighted to see him move into a position in which he will play a larger role in helping us strengthen our presence in Israel and our bond with members and supporters around the world”
Said Hadassah Medical Organization Director General Weiss, “Gidon has a keen understanding of our hospitals’ evolving needs and the strategic foresight to help us advance their mission. Board chair Dalia Itzik, my entire team and I value his partnership and are thrilled to see him take on a greater leadership role.”
Melmed has two decades of experience in Israel’s not-for-profit sector. Before joining Hadassah in 2016 as Director of Development, Donors and Events, he held senior positions at, among other places, Israel’s Summit Institute, a national organization that provides mental health rehabilitation for young adults and foster care for children, and Green Course, Israel's largest volunteer-based environmental organization.
Melmed earned a BSc in Life Sciences from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he minored in Jewish Thought and East Asian Studies, and an MBA from Melbourne’s Swinburne University of Technology through what was then an extension program in Ramat Aviv, Israel. He lives in Jerusalem with his family.