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ALUMNI<br />
PROFILES<br />
Our Alumni<br />
Where Аre They Now?<br />
Tamar Yassur, Vice-President<br />
& Head of Digital Banking,<br />
Bank Leumi<br />
A<br />
silver sculpture of two willowy<br />
ballerinas is poised on a wide<br />
shelf in Tamar Yassur’s office<br />
at Bank Leumi. Yassur is the first<br />
Executive Vice President and Head of<br />
the Digital Banking Division at Bank<br />
Leumi as well as Chairperson of the<br />
Board of Leumi Card. Twice a week<br />
she briefly escapes from her relentless<br />
daily schedule to dance – classical<br />
ballet infused with modern elements –<br />
“a style created by the world-renowned<br />
Rina Schenfeld,” explains Yassur.<br />
Still exuberating energy and<br />
enthusiasm near the end of a long<br />
work day, she describes her present<br />
roles within Bank Leumi, as “a daily<br />
learning curve requiring critical<br />
decisions to be made at every<br />
meeting.” At the moment, she is<br />
spearheading an initiative to develop a<br />
full digital bank by the end of <strong>2016</strong><br />
The digital future, she explains,<br />
provides the possibility for “nanopersonalization”<br />
of products: “the right<br />
product, in the right place, at the right<br />
time, at the right price.”<br />
She is the clear voice of a marketing<br />
professional, a career that she has been<br />
engaged in since graduating from the<br />
Hebrew University with an MBA.<br />
Prior to enrolling at HU, Yassur had no<br />
interest in entering commerce. “I had<br />
thought I’d be a scientist...a chemist or<br />
microbiologist, but when I heard that<br />
the University was initiating a new<br />
double major that sounded exciting, I<br />
changed tracks,” she explains.<br />
In 1991 she became the first woman<br />
CEO of the Jerusalem-based Kol Ha’ir<br />
newspaper. From there she has climbed<br />
the corporate ladder, never feeling<br />
that she encountered any difficulties<br />
by being a woman in what used to be<br />
a male-dominated environment. That<br />
said, she notes that “for the past ten<br />
years, banking has become completely<br />
open to women,” and this, she feels,<br />
has been an important development<br />
“because of the diversity and balance<br />
women bring to an organization.”<br />
<strong>2016</strong>-2017<br />
30
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