Yohanan Plesner

Yohanan (Johan) Plesner serves as the President of the Israel Democracy Institute since April 2014, leading Israel's foremost think tank. Prior to this role, Plesner was a Senior Fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies, where innovative research on national security was conducted. As a Member of Parliament from 2007 to 2013, Plesner contributed to defense and foreign affairs discussions and chaired the Committee for Equality in the Burden of Service. Earlier, Plesner was the Secretary General of the Kadima Party and held various consulting roles in government agencies and think tanks. Plesner co-founded Eshbel Technologies Ltd. and served in the Israel Defense Forces as a Commanding Officer. Plesner holds an MPA in Government from Harvard University and a Bachelor's degree in Economics from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.