AMIT, the alumni association of the Israeli Intelligence Corps' Technological Unit 81, has appointed Gali Sheskin as its new chief executive. The announcement marks a leadership transition for an organization that sits at the center of one of Israel's most consequential technology ecosystems, one that has produced founders and senior executives across hundreds of startups and growth-stage companies.
Sheskin arrives with a background that spans community building, operations, and project development rather than a traditional military-to-tech pipeline. She most recently served as Community and Customer Success Manager at Venn, following a stint as Project Development Manager at Ignite the Spark and Head of Operations at enSights. Alongside her professional roles, she has spent years volunteering in renewable energy and climate initiatives, supporting entrepreneurs in that sector on both domestic and international stages. For readers tracking how leadership profiles shift across Israeli tech associations, this pattern of cross-sector experience is worth weighing much the same way one might weigh options in this comparison of competing priorities before settling on a direction.
She succeeds Chen Kamin, who led AMIT for five years, a tenure during which the association expanded its role connecting alumni across business and technological lines. Unit 81, the engineering and technology arm of the Intelligence Corps, has built a reputation as a training ground for people who later found or lead companies such as Wiz, Armis, Innoviz, Claroty, Tenzai, and Jazz, several of which have reached unicorn status or completed exits of considerable scale.
Why the Unit 81 Network Matters
Military technology units in Israel function as more than training grounds for defense work. Unit 81 in particular has become a known source of cybersecurity, hardware, and deep-tech talent, with alumni carrying specialized engineering skills into civilian ventures. AMIT exists to keep those former service members connected after discharge, translating informal camaraderie into structured mentorship, hiring pipelines, and investment introductions. The strength of that network has measurable effects on Israel's broader tech sector, which depends heavily on founders who can recruit experienced engineers quickly and raise capital from investors familiar with the unit's track record.
A Leadership Shift With Broader Implications
Sheskin's appointment signals a possible shift in how the association positions itself going forward. Her experience in customer success and operations, paired with volunteer work promoting entrepreneurs in renewable energy, suggests an interest in broadening AMIT's reach beyond pure cybersecurity and defense-adjacent technology into adjacent sectors where alumni are increasingly active. In her own remarks, she framed the association's value around its ability to connect people, entrepreneurship, and measurable impact, a framing that points toward continued emphasis on business development and community cohesion rather than a change in the association's core mission.
What Comes Next
Leadership transitions at alumni organizations rarely make international headlines, but they matter to the ecosystems they serve. AMIT's influence stems less from formal authority and more from its ability to keep a dispersed, highly skilled community engaged over decades. How Sheskin builds on Kamin's five-year foundation, particularly in strengthening ties between established unicorns and newer ventures founded by recent alumni, will likely shape the association's relevance as Israel's tech sector continues to mature and diversify.