With more than 25 years of dedicated service, Talia Tzour-Avner has played an instrumental role in implementing KKL-JNF’s vision for the land and people of Israel.

As Jewish National Fund’s Chief Israel Emissary, Talia fosters a close connection between the American Jewish community, the Israeli people and KKL and JNF operations.

She oversees JNF Task Forces on water solutions and cutting-edge development of Israel’s Arava region. A Sabra born in Jerusalem, Talia continues the Zionist legacy of her family, who made Aliyah from all over the world to play their part in establishing the State of Israel.

Matthew Fragner is the founding partner at Fragner Seifert Pace & Winograd, LLP, and was previously a partner at two large, multi-national law firms. He has represented multi-national clients, including Chevron, Citicorp, Bank of America, and McDonalds. Fragner has also owned and operated a restaurant, a real estate development company, and a diesel emission reduction technology company.

Fragner serves on the Board of Governors of the JNF-USA Joint Institute for Global Food, Water and Energy Security. He is also the chair of JNF-USA’s Arava Task Force, in addition to previously serving as president and a board member of the organization’s Los Angeles Region Board of Directors.

Dr. Joaquin Ruiz has served as the University of Arizona’s Vice President of Global Environmental Futures since 2019 and the Thomas R. Brown Director of Biosphere 2 since 2013. He is also the Co-Director of the JNF-USA Joint Institute for Global Food, Water, and Energy Security, a collaboration between Jewish National Fund-USA, University of Arizona, and the Arava Regional Council to provide water and agricultural solutions in arid regions.

Ruiz previously served as University of Arizona’s Dean of the College of Science from 2000-2019 and Executive Dean of the Colleges of Letters, Arts and Science from 2009-2018. He also served as Associate Editor of the American Journal of Science, in addition to senior roles at other leading academic publications.

Sharon B. Megdal, Ph.D. is Director of The University of Arizona Water Resources Research Center (WRRC), a Cooperative Extension center and a research unit in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Other primary titles are Professor and Specialist in the Department of Environmental Science, C.W. & Modene Neely Endowed Professor, and Distinguished Outreach Professor.

She is the lead editor of the book, Shared Borders, Shared Waters: Israeli-Palestinian and Colorado River Basin Water Challenges and she has guest edited several special journal issues. Dr. Megdal teaches the multi-disciplinary graduate course “Water Policy in Arizona and Semi-arid Regions”. In 2020, she was awarded the Warren A. Hall Medal for lifetime achievement in water resources research and education by the Universities Council on Water Resources.

Born and raised in Jerusalem, Dr. Hanan Ginat was part of the founding members of Kibbutz Samar in the Arava and has been serving as the mayor of Eilot Regional Council since 2016. He is a teacher and educator and was the principal of Maale Shacharut regional school before becoming the region’s mayor.

Hanan holds a PhD in geology, has published many scientific papers in international media and served as the presidents of Israel’ Geology Society as well as the scientific director of the Arava Dead Sea Science Center. As Eilot Regional Council’s mayor Hanan has been leading many initiatives and is dedicated to promoting the communities and future of the Eilot Regional Council.

Naomi Becker is a member of the Central Arava Regional Council executive management and the CEO of the Arava Development and Building Company Ltd, which is part of the Central Arava Regional Council responsible for development and building, agriculture R&D, tourism, demographic growth industrial development, and community expansions.

Prior to this, Naomi was the Director of the Community and Demographic Growth Division of the Central Arava Regional Council and a member of the council’s senior management team and its affiliates. She also served as the Director of the Arava Community Center, the education and social wing of the Central Arava Regional Council responsible for activities in the fields of leisure, culture, sports, informal education, music, and arts, and was the CEO of Moshav Hatzeva.

Udi Gat was born and raised in Haifa and was active in the Israeli Scouts Youth Movement. Gat served as an officer in the Nahal Brigade and upon the completion of his military service in 1980, he moved to Kibbutz Ketura in the Arava where he worked in the date orchards.

Gat served as the Head of the Eilot Regional Council for four terms from 1999 to 2016. In addition to his career as an agricultural practitioner, Gat worked in agricultural research development in the southern Arava. Today, Gat serves as the Co-Director of the JNF Joint Institute for Global Food, Water, and Energy Security, in collaboration with the University of Arizona and Arava institutions.

Tania Pons Allon is the Director of the Kasser Joint Institute for Food, Water and Energy Security. Through developing applied research capacity and exchanging relevant knowledge and experience between the University of Arizona and the Arava Valley, the Kasser Joint Institute will have a positive impact on vulnerable communities, especially in arid lands, and will make the world a better place.

Originally from Kibbutz Ketura, Tania previously worked in Tel Aviv as a designer, and then moved to the Central Arava with her husband and their child. Tania also previously worked in the resource development department of the Central Arava Regional Council, a part of Jewish National Fund-USA’s Blueprint Negev campaign to make the region habitable for the next generation of Israelis.