Brigadier General (Res.) Eival Gilady (Hebrew: עיבל גלעדי, Born: Israel, 1957) is the CEO of the Portland Trust [1] in Israel, a non-profit British foundation, established to foster peace and stability in the Middle East through the use of bespoke economic tools and mobilization of international resources.
Gilady is the Chairman of the Western Galilee College,[2] located in Acre providing high quality academic education to some 4000 students in Israel's periphery.
Gilady is also Chairman of KIEDF,[3] a foundation established in 1994 to demonstrate that deploying philanthropy efficiently and effectively can stimulate private sector economic expansion and create employment opportunity in Israel. KIEDF offers philanthropists a unique combination - leveraging contributions as if investing in their own business, helping people help themselves and contributing to a stronger private sector economy in Israel.
Gilady is the Chairman and the co-founder of the Israeli-Palestinian Chamber of Commerce (IPCC).[4] The IPCC was established to promote trade and commerce between Israelis and Palestinians, to create business opportunities and to improve the economic relations between the two peoples.
In addition, Gilady is also the President of VANADIS LTD providing "Strategy Beyond Borders", and is the Honorary Consul of the Republic of Slovenia in Tel Aviv.
Gilady was appointed Head of Coordination and Strategy at the Office of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in March 2005, and from 2001 to 2004 he served as Head of the Israel Defense Forces' Strategic Planning Division.[5] His responsibility in this position encompassed strategic net assessment and all areas of politico-military policy recommendations, including the security aspects of the peace process & peace talks. Within the context of this role, he was responsible for developing the Gaza Disengagement plan.[6] A Brigadier General in the IDF, Gilady had a distinguished military career spanning three decades – commanding field units for twenty years, and serving an additional ten years at the General Staff.
Gilady earned his Bachelor’s and three Master’s degrees from the University of Haifa, National Defense University and George Washington University, in the areas of Resources Management, Policy Analysis, National Security Strategy, and Public Finance. From 1999 to 2001 he was assigned as a research fellow at the Hoover Institution and the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University.
Eival Gilady lives on Kibbutz Kabri in the Western Galilee and is married with four children.