Nehama Ronen

Nehama Ronen was born in 1961 in Israel

Ronen was born in 1961 in Moshav Avihayil in the Sharon region. Her father worked in maintenance at the Israel Electric Corporation and her mother was a teacher. She earned a B.Ed. in education and history at Tel Aviv University and a master's degree in public administration at the University of Haifa.

From 1984 she worked for Knesset member and minister Rafael Eitan in several roles, starting as a parliamentary aide. When he became agriculture minister in 1990, she served as his political adviser. From 1994 to 1996 she coordinated foreign engineers and architects working on Terminal 3 at Ben Gurion Airport.

From 1996 to 1999 she was director general of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the first woman in Israel appointed to lead a government ministry, together with Nili Arad. She worked to close the Hiriya landfill. A police investigation into a donation linked to businessman David Appel was closed in 2004 with no criminal charges.

She missed a Knesset seat in 1999 but entered the Knesset in 2001, replacing Amnon Lipkin-Shahak. She sat on the Economics Committee and became Centre Party faction chair in 2001. In 2002 she moved to Likud, but her low list place in 2003 cost her the seat.

She chaired Maman Cargo Terminals and Handling from 1999 to 2001 and again from 2004. She also chaired ELA recycling and served as a director at Bank Hapoalim and other companies.