Ohad has been the Trade Commissioner and Director of the Foreign Trade Administration at the Ministry of Economy and Industry since 2012.
He is responsible for an annual budget of 80 million USD and manages 300 employees in Israel and around the world, working in Israel and in 50 Economic and Commercial Missions, located in the most important economic centers globally. These Missions promote Israeli exports and attract foreign investments to Israel.
Ohad is in charge of Israel's international trade policy. As the Trade Commissioner, he led a strategic move to expand Israel’s Free Trade Area (FTA) Agreements network. In this framework, Israel signed a record number of new and updated agreements, among them with South Korea, Ukraine, Canada, Colombia, Panama, and the United Kingdom.
In addition, Ohad initiated negotiations to establish FTA Agreements with several countries, including China, Vietnam and the Eurasian Union. These agreements are still being negotiated.
Ohad initiated the establishment of two programs to support exporters: “Smart Money” and “Shalav”, to assist exporters who are entering new markets abroad. Ohad is the committee chairman of both programs, which had a joint budget of 30 million USD in 2020.
In addition to his export promotion and foreign investments activities, he pushed to create a new department within the Foreign Trade Administration, which controls dual-use exports. The department aims to enforce an effective supervision system of these exports while enabling a free flow of goods.
Before he was nominated as Director of the Foreign Trade Administration, between 2007- 2012, Ohad was the Head of Israel’s Economic Mission in Washington DC. In this position, he was responsible for strengthening and advancing the trade and investments between Israel and the United States and enhancing the competitivity of the Israeli industry in the American markets by developing and promoting trade agreements, removing trade barriers, locating and creating business opportunities for Israeli companies, promoting Israel’s economic public relations, encouraging bilateral joint ventures and providing individual assistance to companies.
Ohad joined the Foreign Trade Administration as part of the prestigious cadet course of the Ministry of Economy and Industry, and has held several significant roles within it since then: Director of the South Europe Department, Cadet Course Manager, Head of the Economic Mission to Sweden, which covered the entire Nordic area, Deputy Director of the Bilateral Trade Agreements Division, and Head of the Economic Mission to Jordan.
Ohad was a member of the industrial cooperation committee in the Barcelona Process of the European Union (EU), whose objective was to establish regional economic cooperation between the EU, Middle Eastern and North African countries.
Once he completed his academic studies and before he joined the cadet course, Ohad worked as an economist in the planning and development department at Zim, a large shipping company based in Israel.
Ohad holds a BA in Economics and MBA, both from the University of Haifa. He was born in Haifa in 1971, is married to Monika, and has three children: Eitan, Neta, and Doron. Ohad is a history enthusiast and an avid sports fan.
