Avishay Braverman

Avishay Braverman was born in 1948 in Israel

Braverman was born in Ramat Gan on 15 January 1948. His father Jacob, born in Poland, was a carpenter, and his mother Sarah, born in Lithuania, was a kindergarten teacher. He attended Blich High School, where he captained the basketball team.

In 1968 he earned a bachelor's degree in economics and statistics with high honors from Tel Aviv University through the Academic Reserve. After army service he completed a master's degree at Tel Aviv University and a Ph.D. in economics at Stanford University under Joseph Stiglitz.

After receiving his Ph.D. in 1976, he joined the World Bank in Washington and worked there for 14 years as a senior economist and division chief. He led programs in several regions of the world and was finally in charge of the bank's agricultural policy.

In October 1990 he became president of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, which then had about 5,700 students. During his tenure the university opened new institutes and programs, and by its end it had about 18,000 students. In 2005 he mediated a dispute over industrial waste at Ramat Hovav.

From 2006 to 2015 he was a Labor Party Knesset member. He served as Minister of Minority Affairs and chaired the Knesset Finance Committee and Economic Affairs Committee. In 2020 he received the Israel Prize for Lifetime Achievement.