May 25th 2010

Ronit Heyd, Director of Shatil

Shatil is pleased and excited to announce that our own Ronit Heyd will assume directorship of the organization this coming June. Ronit has worked at Shatil for nine years, first directing our Religious Pluralism Project and then our Social and Economic Justice Initiative, taking both to new levels of outreach and impact.

Ronit takes over from Rachel Liel, who assumed directorship of the New Israel Fund in Israel after directing Shatil with visionary leadership for the past 12 years.

“Ronit is an exceptional leader with broad experience and an innate drive to make social justice a reality for all,” said Rachel. “Her many years at Shatil have given Ronit a deep understanding of social change on both the grass roots and national levels. Her dedication is unparalleled. Shatil will greatly benefit from her vision, intelligence and talent.”

Said Ronit: “When I was accepted to work at Shatil nine years ago, it was a great opportunity to translate my values into action. Directing the organization is like a dream come true.”

Ronit looks forward to expanding and broadening the circles involved in working for social change by reaching out to new audiences, such as youth, new immigrants, people of Mizrachi descent, members of the religious community, and “those people and groups who care and are aware, but do not yet translate their words into action.”

Ronit wants to “take our values down to earth” by inspiring more people to translate their values into daily activities of work, family and community life and involvement in public decision making processes.

Her vision includes using new strategies to engage people to press for social justice and equality and to protect and enhance Israeli democracy. In addition, she aims to strengthen and deepen the ties among social change agents and to work toward “making social change much more a part of people’s identity and sense of belonging to community.”

Ronit was born in New Jersey and grew up in Jerusalem. She earned her M.A. in social psychology with a specialization in conflict resolution, negotiation and leadership studies from the Hebrew University with highest honors. Ronit is married to Yaakov and is the mother of Yonatan and Shaked.

We look forward to working with Ronit to translate her vision into action.