Oren Setter

The story of Oren Setter's life

Oren Setter was born to architect Michael Setter and Dr. Ora Setter. His maternal grandmother, Mazal Navon-Lineberg, was the sister of former president Yitzhak Navon.

He is a graduate of the IDF Talpiot program. He holds a bachelor's degree in physics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and an MBA from Tel Aviv University. In 2005 he completed a doctorate in operations research at Tel Aviv University, on budgeting for defense research and development.

He began his service in the Air Force, later headed the operations research branch at MAFAT and led a sector in the Intelligence Directorate's research division. In 2013 and 2014 he was a researcher at Harvard's Belfer Center, where he co-wrote a paper on the Iran nuclear deal with Graham Allison. In May 2020 he became head of the Strategic Division and represented the IDF in talks on the Israel and Lebanon maritime border.

He finished that post in May 2023. During the Swords of Iron war he served as deputy to Nitzan Alon in the effort to locate hostages and missing people, leaving in October 2024. In December 2025 he became chief technology officer of the fintech company Pagaya Technologies.