Iris London-Zolty – Executive Director

Adv. Iris London-Zolty is the executive director of the Agnes and Beny Steinmetz Foundation. She has been serving in this role since 2006, having helped the Steinmetz family establish the organization and form its operational approach. London-Zolty is responsible for the implementation of the Steinmetz family’s aim of promoting and developing early childhood education in Israel.

Adv. London-Zolty holds a bachelor’s degree in law from Tel Aviv University and a master’s degree in business administration from Heriot-Watt University in Edinborough, Scotland. London-Zolty’s wealth of experience in the spheres of law, business administration, and conflict resolution has contributed greatly to her success in this position.

Since the foundation’s establishment, Iris has worked faithfully and with great dedication to promote early childhood education. She has done so with the understanding of how important a matter this is for children, parents, and the social fabric of the State of Israel. She has also observed firsthand the severe shortage of resources and professional services, particularly for young children aged three and younger. Iris believes that it is the duty of the national government as well as the local authorities to ensure that high-quality professional services are provided to these children. She works to raise awareness about the necessity of this matter and to ensure that the relevant government bodies take the necessary responsibility.

As part of her work at the foundation, Iris endeavors to convince local authority chairpersons to establish preschool departments for children up to the age of six. She has succeeded in establishing a comprehensive and integrated system of services for children, parents, and staff. In addition, she works to ensure that a new generation of professionals receives training that includes a broad and multidisciplinary outlook on early childhood education. Furthermore, she works to have existing community child development units properly overseen, which she believes is key to the proper facilitation of early childhood education by local authorities.