AMIT, the alumni association representing veterans of the Intelligence Corps' Technological Unit 81, has named Gali Sheskin as its new chief executive. She takes over an organization that functions as a connective structure for one of Israel's most consequential technology talent pipelines, linking entrepreneurs, engineers, and executives who trace their professional roots to a single military unit.
Sheskin arrives with a background that blends operational management and community building rather than a conventional corporate trajectory. She most recently served as Community and Customer Success Manager at Venn, following a stint as Project Development Manager at Ignite the Spark and a role as Head of Operations at enSights. Alongside that career, she has spent years volunteering in renewable energy and climate initiatives, supporting entrepreneurs working on sustainability projects in Israel and abroad. For readers tracking how technology communities intersect with broader digital and infrastructure trends, more details on related sectors illustrate how alumni networks increasingly shape innovation beyond their original military context.
Why Unit 81's Alumni Network Matters
Unit 81 has built a reputation as a technological incubator within Israel's defense establishment, training engineers who go on to found or lead companies across cybersecurity, sensing, and enterprise software. Alumni have been involved in hundreds of startups and growth-stage companies, including firms that have reached unicorn status or completed substantial exits. Wiz, Armis, Innoviz, Claroty, Tenzai, and Jazz are among the companies with leadership ties to the unit, underscoring how military technical training has translated into commercial influence well beyond Israel's borders.
AMIT exists to formalize and extend those connections once service ends. Rather than functioning as a ceremonial alumni body, it operates as a working network, organizing initiatives intended to strengthen business relationships, mentorship, and technological collaboration among people who already share a common technical foundation. That structure gives the association an unusual degree of practical relevance in an ecosystem where informal connections often determine which companies get funded, staffed, or acquired.
A Transition in Leadership
Sheskin succeeds Chen Kamin, who led AMIT for five years and oversaw its growth during a period when Israeli technology companies faced both rapid expansion and, more recently, geopolitical and economic headwinds. Leadership transitions in organizations like AMIT carry weight because the association's value depends heavily on trust and engagement across a dispersed, highly accomplished membership rather than on traditional organizational hierarchy.
"I believe that the true strength of a technological community is measured by its ability to connect people, entrepreneurship, and real impact," Sheskin said, describing her approach to the role. She framed her priorities around deepening existing initiatives and expanding business and technological ties across the community, rather than introducing a wholesale change in direction. Her operational background, paired with experience fostering entrepreneurship in adjacent sectors such as clean energy, suggests an emphasis on practical collaboration over symbolic leadership, a distinction that may matter considerably as AMIT works to keep its alumni network cohesive amid an increasingly competitive global technology landscape.
