BIELSKY, ZEEV

(1946- )

   Chairman of the executive of the Jewish Agency for Israel and the World Zionist Organization since May 2005. Born in 1946 in Jerusalem, he served in the Israel Defense Forces from 1967 to 1970, retiring with the rank of major. He holds a B.A. in economics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. From 1977 to 1980, he served as head of the Jewish Agency's "aliya department" in South Africa. With his family, he moved to the coastal city of Ra'anana in 1982, where he served as the city's mayor from 1989 to 2005. He was appointed chair of the Jewish Agency and World Zionist Organization following the surprise resignation of Sal-lai Meridor in the spring of 2005. He was reelected chairman of the World Zionist Organization and chairman of the Jewish Agency in 2006.