b'YOHANAN PLESNERPartners for Democracy Award HonoreePHOTO CREDIT: AVISHAG SHAAR-YASHUV Yohanan (Johan) Plesner has been President of the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI) since 2014. IDI is the countrys largest impact-oriented policy think-tank.From 2007 to 2013, he served as a Member of Knesset and was a member of the Constitution, and Defense and Foreign Affairs Committees and Chairman of the Knessets permanent delegation to the Council of Europe. In 2012, was appointed chair of the special governmental Committee for Equality in the Burden of Service, which produced a blueprint for incorporating the ultra-Orthodox community into military and national service. In 2005, Plesner served as Head of Special Projects in the Prime Ministers Office. After that, he became the first Secretary-General of Israels new ruling party, Kadima, and spearheaded the creation of the partys organizational infrastructure. His business experience includes time as a management consultant (UK, 1998-2000) and co-founder and CEO at an enterprise software company based in Israel, Canada, and the U.S.Plesner holds an MPA (economic and security policy) from Harvard Universitys Kennedy School of Government. He graduated magna cum laude with a BA in Economics from the Amirim Program for Excellence at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He grew up in Jerusalem and served as a combatant and officer in the IDFs elite Sayeret Matkal unit, in which he still serves as a Major in active reserve duty.'