Hadas Minka-Brand

Executive Director, JDC Israel

Brigadier General (Res.) Hadas Minka-Brand, Ph.D., assumed the role as Executive Director of JDC Israel on September 15th. Hadas is a highly esteemed organizational psychologist and the former Head of the IDF’s Behavioral Science Center, where she commanded hundreds of organizational psychologists and sociologists. She’s held numerous senior leadership roles in the Israeli military during her 25-year service, including senior advisor to three IDF Chiefs of Staff and the Intelligence Directorate, and as the head of the IDF’s Behavioral Science Research Institute. Hadas’ work focused on organizational and leadership development, change management, and deployment of complex systems to address the needs of both IDF service members and Israeli society. Among her numerous accomplishments, Hadas played a major role in the IDF’s strategic Multi-Year Plan and led initiatives to promote equal opportunity and reduce social gaps among the ranks as well as efforts around digitization and data-based technology. Hadas retired from the IDF not long before the October 7th attacks, but shortly thereafter, she volunteered to return and became Chief Psychologist and part of the Senior Command Team of the Israeli Military Hostage Family unit, which works to ease the suffering of those who continue to wait for their loved ones to be returned from Gaza. Hadas also comes to JDC with a strong network of colleagues in government ministries, Israel's public service, business sector, and NGO space. Hadas holds an M.A in Labor Studies from Tel Aviv University and a Ph.D. in Sociology and Anthropology from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She's a graduate of the IDF's Military Behavioral Sciences Training College, the Wexner Senior Leadership program at Harvard, and has published dozens of professional articles.