Samer Haj-Yehia (Dr.)
Of Counsel
Dr. Haj-Yehia is a leading subject-matter expert in global multi-disciplinary domains: executive leadership and management, profitability and growth strategy, entrepreneurship and publicly-traded companies, corporate culture and governance, risk and control, regulations and regulatory affairs, engagement with stakeholders and institutional investors, technological transformation and fintech, banking and capital markets, crisis and distress management, Middle East geopolitical insights, and central banks’ policies.
Bank Leumi (TLV: LUMI), Group Executive Chairman (since 2019, Board Member since 2014)
- Led the Bank to become the largest bank and company in Israel by market cap, to double its net income and rate of return, and to become the most efficient bank in Israel and one of the most efficient ones worldwide.
- Led the Bank to substantial responsible growth across all business lines, technological transformation and innovation, breakthrough in SLA and customer satisfaction, advanced corporate culture and ESG policy, merger of its US entity and restructuring of its UK entity, as well as capital raising by various instruments in global markets, despite challenging environments.
- Chaired the committees on CEO search, risk management, credit and business, technology and innovation, strategy, corporate governance, capital markets, investment and resources, and served as a member of special litigation, Shtrum reform, and lessons drawn from the “American tax case” committees.
- Dr. Haj-Yehia was the first Israeli-Arab board member and has been the only Israeli-Arab chairman of a public Israeli company. He works extensively with regulators and state officials around the world. 2014 - present
- BIG Shopping Centers (TLV: BIG), Board Member, member of the committee on financial statements 2018 - 2019
- Strauss Group (TLV: STRS), Independent Director, Chairman of the audit and financial statements committees, member of the finance, compensation, and CEO search committees 2017 - 2019
- BondIT (a fintech startup), Advisor to the Board and Management 2017 - 2019
- National Council for Higher Education (CHE), Member, Chairman of the audit and financial statements committee, member of the economic business and law committee and academic policy recognition and certification committee 2017 - 2019
- Hadassah Medical Center (PBC), Chairman of the audit and financial statements committees, and oversaw the medical center’s recovery plan 2015 - 2019
- Professional and Managerial Experience
- Global Trading Strategist, GMO, Boston, MA 2012-2013
- VP for Financial Engineering, Fidelity Investments, Boston, MA 2006-2012
- Associate Economic and Finance Consultant, Analysis Group, Boston, MA 2004-2006
- Senior Manager, Deloitte Touche, Tel Aviv, Israel 1999-2000
- Law Associate, Herzog, Fox & Neeman, Law Firm, Tel Aviv, Israel 1998-1999
- Economic Researcher, Falk Institution for Economic Research at The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel 1994-1998
- Director of Undergraduate Studies, Economics Department, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel 1991-1996
- International and Government Committees
- Member, WEF’s Community of Chairpersons, Davos, Switzerland 2020-2023
- Member, Presidential Award for Volunteering, Jerusalem, Israel 2021
- Member, Search Committee for Head of the Authority for Economic Development of Minority Sector 2019
- Member, Search Committee for the Head of the Government Companies Authority, Jerusalem, Israel 2017
- Member, Judging Committee for the Establishment of an Arab Academic Institution, Jerusalem, Israel 2016-2017
- Teaching Experience
- Has been teaching, since 1990, graduate, undergraduate and for-certificate students a series of courses in global banking, fintech, financial innovation, finance, capital markets, risk management, credit and fixed income, derivatives, investment management, macroeconomics and microeconomics, entrepreneurship, trading, econometrics, and financial statements analyses at world-renowned academic institutes, including Harvard, MIT, Reichman, and the Hebrew universities.
- Co-founded the Center for Economic Policy of the Arab Sector and the MA in Financial Economics Program at Reichman University.
- Awarded certificates of distinction in teaching by Harvard, Reichman, and the Hebrew universities.
- Research, Seminal Publications, and Guest Speaker
- Guest speaker at international conferences, including the AEA in the US, WEF in Switzerland, Finance Week in the UAE, and FII in Saudi Arabia (the only Israeli).
- “Time Series Analysis of The Impact of Terror on Investment and Consumption,” AEA Annual Meeting, Jan 2006
- “The Econometric Robustness of the Exchange Rate Models and PPP,” Mimeo, MIT, 2002
- “Currency Option Markets,” VII Spring Meeting of European Association of Young Economist, Sorbonne University, Paris, France, 2002
- “Arbitrage Tests of the Israeli Currency Options Markets,” Falk Institute for Economic Research in Israel, Discussion Paper No. 99.01, 1999
- “The Currency Option Market Policy of the Bank of Israel,” The 15th Annual Conference of the Israeli Economic Association, Jerusalem, Israel, 1999
- “The Exchange Rate Policy of the Bank of Israel: 1985-1992,” Falk Institute for Economic Research in Israel, Discussion Paper No. 93.06, 1993. (led to transformation of the exchange rate policy of the Bank of Israel)
- Honors, Scholarships, Fellowships, and Awards:
- Harvard University Certificate of Distinction in Teaching, MIT George Schultz Fund Grant, IASP/Fulbright Scholarship, Gaathon/Bank of Israel Prize for Outstanding Empirical Research in Israel, Reichmann University Excellent Teaching Award, Hebrew University Outstanding Lecturer Award, Ben-Porath Distinguished Researcher Scholarship, Palzoska Distinguished Graduate Student Award, Gelfat Excellent Graduate Student Award, Falk Excellent MA Thesis Scholarship, Hebrew University Graduate Scholarship, Hebrew University Dean’s List and Excellence Award.
- Israel Bar, 1999
- CFA Charterholder, 2011
- PhD, Economics, major: Macroeconomics and Financial Econometrics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA 2004
- PGD, Post-Graduate Diploma, Auditing and Accounting, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv. Israel 1999
- MBA, major: Banking and Finance, Summa cum laude (Valedictorian, with Thesis), The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel 1998
- LLB (JD), Law, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel 1998
- MA, Economics, major: Macroeconomics and International Trade, Magna cum laude (Valedictorian, with Thesis), The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel 1994
- BA, Accounting and Economics, Magna cum laude, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel 1991
