# Hila Oren

Dr. Hila Oren (Hebrew: הלה אורן), the current CEO of the Tel Aviv Foundation, is a city maker with a deep passion for urbanism and a vast experience in city branding and marketing. She is a world renowned expert, speaker, and educator of Public Spaces development and an avid believer that our shared urban spaces must function as Pockets of Health.
Dr. Oren is known for her work in urban development, the advancement of public spaces, and for her role in positioning Tel Aviv as a global innovation hub.

## Biography

Dr. Oren received her BA in Education (1991) and MBA (1997) from Tel Aviv University. She later participated in the Wexner Senior Leadership Program at Harvard Kennedy School (2016) and earned her PhD from the Department of Geography at Haifa University (2019), with a thesis focused on "The Global Branding of Tel Aviv." She is an affiliated researcher at Nur Lab (Negev Urban Research).

## Career
### Early Career

Dr. Oren began her career as CEO and founder of the Municipal Culture Company LT in Shoham (1998-2004), where she led a municipal company for cultural management that maintained 80% self-financing and engaged hundreds of employees. During this period, she also launched the Shoham Economic Company, overseeing construction, development, and financial initiatives for the local council. Her initiatives included innovative projects such as the Shoham Park and the Small Gas Stations Initiative.

### Society for the Protection of Nature

From 2005 to 2007, Oren served as Director of Tourism Operations at the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel, where she initiated business strategies targeting different sectors nationally and internationally. She designed and led ecologically based educational initiatives, including seminars, summer camps, tours, and festivals.

### Tel Aviv Centennial

As Municipal General Director of the Tel Aviv Centennial (2008-2010), Dr, Oren spearheaded the development, planning, execution, and branding of the Tel Aviv Centennial Celebrations programs and events. These included performances, festivities, educational projects, community initiatives, international operations, conferences, and artistic endeavors.

### Tel Aviv Global

Dr. Oren founded and led Tel Aviv Global (2011-2015), an initiative started by the Mayor's Office of Tel Aviv-Yafo dedicated to elevating the city's brand and global positioning. Under her leadership, she launched a cross-platform innovative city re-branding process that positioned Tel Aviv as one of the top innovative metropolitans in the world. This initiative led to Tel Aviv winning the Smart City Award in 2014. During her tenure, Dr. Oren developed the "Startup City" vision—a municipal strategic plan for investors, entrepreneurs, tourists, and students that connected city platforms with private initiatives.

### The Tel Aviv Foundation

Since 2016, Dr. Oren has served as CEO of the Tel Aviv Foundation, a non-profit founded in 1977 and currently chaired by Tel Aviv's mayor Ron Huldai. The Foundation focuses on raising the quality of life for Tel Aviv residents through partnerships that enhance the city's values of openness, innovation, inclusion, and opportunity. Under her leadership, the Foundation has delivered over 1,000 projects to date, with a focus on creating an inclusive city and hopeful future through matched funding models.

## Concepts and Contributions

Dr. Oren is known for developing and advocating the concept of "Pockets of Health"—safe, friendly, versatile urban areas in Tel Aviv and worldwide that function as places of wellbeing for city residents. She describes herself as "an urbanist and a true believer that well-planned ergonomic metropolitans, accommodating all residents, can change the world."
During her tenure at Tel Aviv Global, Dr. Oren was instrumental in positioning Tel Aviv as a global innovation hub, which contributed to the city's reputation as a "Startup City" and its subsequent Smart City Award in 2014.
At the Tel Aviv Foundation, Dr. Oren shifted the focus from "project based" to "program based" initiatives, providing immediate solutions to residents' needs. Under her leadership, the Foundation saw a 50% increase in local donations while advocating civic duty across communities.

## Teaching

Dr. Oren has held visiting professor positions at:
* Columbia University, International and Public Affairs Department (2020), teaching a course on Placemaking, Branding & Urban Economics
* Tel Aviv University, The David Azrieli School of Architecture (2021), teaching a course on The Ergonomic City, which investigated the processes of creating the ergonomic city as a human-socio-cultural-emotional landscape

## Board Memberships and Volunteer Positions

Dr. Oren serves or has served on numerous boards and committees:
* Board Member, Haifa Port (2017-2020)
* Board Member, Amidar, Israel National Housing Company Ltd. (previous)
* Board of Trustees, The Academic College of Tel Aviv-Yafo (2016-present)
* Advisory Board, Charney Forum for New Diplomacy, Haifa University (2019-present)
* React Barcelona, Barcelona Municipality Post Covid Urban Strategic Advisory Board (2021-present)
* The committee for international R&D partnerships (2021-present)
* WTCF – World Cities Tourism Federation (2015-present)
* Executive Committee of Future Mobility (previous)
* Chairman of the Board, Daniel Rowing Center (2016-present)

## Selected Conference Appearances, Podcasts & Interviews

Appearances and Interviews
* Tomorrow City - Technology, AI and Governance: The Era of Smart Collaboration city (November 2024)
* WRLDCTY - Fighting the Loneliness Pandemic Via Public Spaces (October 2023)
* SNF Conference - Loneliness in Tel Aviv: Cracking the innovation code (July 2023)
* Tomorrow City - New Economic Models to Fuel Productivity (November 2022)
* The Israel Institute of New Zealand –Dr. Hila Oren "thinker in residence" (September 2021)
* Vibe Israel - Tribe Marketing with Dr. Hila Oren (August 2021)
* Charney Media - City Branding & Tourism in the Age of Covid (July 2020)
* Charney Media - Ido Aharoni in conversation with Dr. Hila Oren (October 2019)
* Charney Media - The Rise of New Diplomacy (April 2019)
* Cities to be - A city is a living organism (2018)
* Perception - Building Knowledge Speaker Series (August 2017)
* Smart City Journal - Hila Oren, CEO, Tel Aviv Foundation (November 2016)
* Cities Summit - Hila Oren, CEO & Founder of Tel Aviv Global (September 2015)
* עירוני, אישיות עירונית ומה שבינהם - המקרה של תל אביב, הלה אורן (יוני 2015) DNA
* וועידת מפיק - אירועים גלובליים כמנוע צמיחה עירוני (מרץ 2014)
Podcasts
* The Grimshaw Podcast - The Essence of Cities (March 2025)
* Voices of Impact - Urbanism, Tel Aviv, Diversity: Dr. Hila Oren (January 2025)
* Lead on Purpose with James Laughlin - Revolutionary Leadership: Transforming Cities and Minds from Within with Dr. Hila Oren (August 2023)
* Tzuzamen - Understanding Tel-Aviv and What it Means to its Citizens with Hila Oren (July 2022)
* Innovate or Die - “After Covid-19, we’re having a pandemic of loneliness and the cure are open spaces” (April 2022)
* Nadlan - The importance of the public space (August 2022)
* Tzuzamen - with Dr. Hila Oren, Chairwoman of the Tel-Aviv Foundation (March 2021)

## External Links

* https://www.linkedin.com/in/hilaoren1/
* The Tel Aviv Foundation
* Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality