Dani Dayan

Dani Dayan, 65, served most recently as Israel’s Consul General in New York from 2016 until 2020. Previously, he served as Chairman of the YESHA Council and before that served as Chairman of the Board and CEO of Elad Software Systems Ltd., a company that he founded. In addition, Dayan volunteers as the Head of the Advisory Board of Nefesh B’Nefesh and until his posting in New York was a member of the Yad Vashem Council.

Dayan holds a master’s degree in finance (with honours) from Tel Aviv University and a bachelor’s in economics and computer science (cum laude) from Bar Ilan University.

“I thank Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Education Minister Dr Yifat Shasha-Bitton and the Israeli Government for the trust they’ve placed in me,” Dayan said. “Leading Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Centre, is more than a position; it is a mission and one I take on with awe and reverence. Yad Vashem is not just a commemorative endeavour. On our shoulders rests the responsibility to research and educate, to document and disseminate, to validate fact-based historical truths about the Holocaust and reject all forms of distortion, in order to safeguard the memory of the Shoah and to ensure that the Jewish people and humanity will forever continue to remember this event. As time passes, our work becomes more challenging, albeit more vital, than ever before. I am determined to succeed in fulfilling our shared commitment, together with the dedicated staff of Yad Vashem.” Dayan added, “my thanks to Avner Shalev for his many years of dedication and work in the service of Holocaust remembrance and for his leadership in transforming Yad Vashem into the global organization that it is today as well as to Deputy Chairman Ronen Plot for volunteering to serve as Acting Chairman following Shalev’s retirement, until today.”