Yona Shem-Tov is the Chief Executive Officer of Encounter, which she has led since 2011. Her leadership centers on helping Jewish leaders confront the responsibilities of sovereignty and the inescapable entanglement of Jewish and Palestinian lives, guiding them toward more constructive outcomes. During her tenure, Encounter has grown from its early work with rabbinical students, to engaging a broad and diverse swath of American Jewish leaders, and most recently to expanding a national network of Israeli Jewish leaders navigating the Israeli–Palestinian reality. Prior to leading Encounter, Yona pursued graduate studies at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and doctoral research at New York University as a Wexner Graduate Fellow. Earlier in her career, she taught Jewish History at the Community Hebrew Academy of Toronto (CHAT).