Brown Bag Lunch Speakers Series: David Lehrer

About the Speaker:
David Lehrer is the Executive Director of the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies. The Institute is a leading environmental studies and research institute in the Middle East with a student body comprised of Jordanians, Palestinians, Israelis, and students from around the world. Its mission is to advance cross-border environmental cooperation in the fact of political conflict and to make environmental cooperation a model for cross-border cooperation in all other areas of the conflict. 
Mr. Lehrer holds a joint Masters Degree in Management Science from Boston University and Ben Gurion University and has been the Director of the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies since 2001.  Mr. Lehrer has also worked as a business consultant for kibbutzim, small businesses, the Hevel Eilot Regional Council and the United Kibbutz Movement and has twice served as an emissary for the Jewish Agency for Israel in the United States. Among Mr. Lehrer’s other activities are the founding of the Green Kibbutz Association and the founding of the Alliance for Peace in the Middle East organization. His research includes studies on the effectiveness of the ISO 14001 environmental management system and sustainable development in the Dead Sea basin.  Mr. Lehrer is presently pursuing a doctorate at Ben-Gurion University’s Department of Geography researching the cost of nature protection in Israel. Mr. Lehrer moved to Israel in 1978 and has been a member of Kibbutz Ketura, a rural cooperative, since 1981.  He is married to Barbara Pinsker and they have three daughters, Avigail, Ariana, and Meital.