Ophir Pines-Paz

Ophir Pines-Paz - Head of the Institute of Local Government - Tel Aviv University

He holds a bachelor's degree with honors in international relations from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a master's degree in public policy from Tel Aviv University.

Served as a Member of Knesset for 14 years on behalf of the Labor Party, his main positions were Minister of the Interior, Minister of Science, Culture and Sports, Coalition Chairman, Chairman of the Labor Faction, Chairman of the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, and Chairman of the Interior and Environmental Protection Committee.

After retiring from political life, he served as a guest lecturer (first Israeli) for a semester at a Canadian school at Harvard University.

And in 2012 he founded the Shlomo Lahat (Chich) Institute for Local Government Research at Tel Aviv University and since then, he has headed it, and also serves as the head of the Local Government Studies program in the Department of Public Policy's Policy Leaders Program.

He also teaches at the IDC in Herzliya.