The authority has been without a permanent CEO for more than eighteen months, during the most testing period in Israeli aviation history.
Today, the government approved the recommendation of Transportation Minister Miri Regev to appoint Sharon Kedmi as CEO of the Israel Airports Authority. Kedmi was selected for the position by the Israel Airports Authority Board in June, and the appointment was approved by the Government Corporations Authority’s Appointments Committee in September.
In the midst of an unprecedented aviation crisis in Israel due to the war, the Israel Airports Authority has not had a permanent CEO for more than a year and a half, since the resignation of previous CEO Hagai Topolansky, after Regev threatened to dismiss him.
Kadmi’s appointment comes on the heels of Regev’s failed attempt to appoint her partner Ofer Malka, who in her previous term as Transportation Minister served as the ministry’s executive director. He recommended Regev Malka for the position of CEO of the Israel Airports Authority despite criticism from people who worked with him that he was not suitable for it. In April this year, the Appointments Committee of the Government Companies Authority excluded him, on the grounds that he did not have the necessary qualifications for the position.
Kadmi, a former journalist (including a stint at the Globes), served as director general of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor in Benjamin Netanyahu’s second government. He chaired the KDAMI committee that examined competition in the food sector. He then entered the private sector, where he set up a business consulting firm, became president of the local subsidiary of the French railway engineering company Alstom, and was later appointed president of the Middle East and Africa subsidiary of the Škoda Group. He replaces Amnon Cohen, who has been acting CEO of the Israel Airports Authority for the past 18 months.
Published by Globes, Israel Business News – en.globes.co.il – on October 31, 2024.
© Copyright Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2024.
Sharon Kedmi credit: Portrait