The Mandel Institute for Social Leadership is unique in the world, applying a business and management approach to civil society and the third sector. The magnificent new building will house the Mandel Social Leadership MBA Program of the Guilford Glazer Faculty of Business and Management and the Israeli Center for Third Sector Research ICTR and will become a home for a variety of executive programs in the future.
Prof. Rivka Carmi and Mr. Morton Mandel
Short Video of the dedication ceremony
“Over the years, Ben-Gurion University has built a reputation for itself as a place of higher learning that goes well beyond academics and test scores. The difference lies in the values BGU holds and the sense of social responsibility it tries to instill in its students,” said Guilford Glazer Faculty of Business and Management Dean Prof. Oded Lowengart. “Social leadership requires the integration of advanced management knowledge, leadership skills and a deep commitment to social improvement. Our goal is to further educate the best MBA students to become social leaders, and help create qualified generations who pay it forward. Thank you, Mr. Mandel, for recognizing how together, with our shared values, we can improve life for so many through a unique partnership,” he concluded..
Prof. Rivka Carmi praised Mort Mandel’s vision and commitment. “The Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel visionary assertion is ‘the hallmark of our philanthropy is our commitment to invest in people with the values, ability and passion to change the world.’ And indeed, Mort Mandel, the relentless torch carrier of the legacy of this incredible trio of siblings is not a donor. He is an investor. And a very smart one. To me he is the embodiment of a 'startupist,' an investor in start-ups. All of Mort's philanthropic start-ups that I am aware of have proved to be very successful. “But the one I know the best, since I was intimately involved with its conception and birth, is the MBA in Social Leadership, one of a kind in the world that was founded some six years ago with Mort Mandel's unique and very clear vision, that in order to prepare the best people for running the third sector, which has gradually grown to be a key factor in growth and development not only in Israel but throughout the world, we need to give them a well-rounded, rigorous MBA education with a parallel curriculum in social leadership.
Turning to the third graduating class of the Mandel Social Leadership MBA Program, Beer Sheva Mayor Ruvik Danilovich praised, “There is no formula that turns people into leaders. You must be born with it. But it can be refined and improved. The country needs you."
Mr. Mandel began: “I care a lot about this Institute and being part of a process that will turn out people who will change the world.”
Establishing the Institute's surrounding gardens in memory of Mr. Mandel's parents, Simon and Rose Mandel, his family's philanthropy comes directly from a sense of obligation to their mother and her values. Mr. Mandel said emotionally that since her passing in 1959, "I have been trying to please her and make her proud. She can take pleasure that her children are acting in ways of which she would approve."
The Simon and Rose Mandel Garden
The five-floor, 3,400 square meter building has been designed to create a welcoming, beautiful home for students, faculty, and researchers and to provide an environment that facilitates learning and research connected with society. Ahead of the building's inauguration, a time capsule was stored behind a wall on the Institute's first floor. The time capsule contains documentation of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev's and the Mandel Foundation's joint endeavors. The time capsule is to be opened in 2066.
The vision of the Mandel Social Leadership Institute includes a strong will to contribute to social progress in Israel. In order to accomplish this goal, it intends to impact a large array of social leaders in Israel. In August 2016, the Mandel Social Leadership Institute began to offer executive education programs. By educating students who are deep in their careers and who have already acquired ten years or more of experience, the Institute expects to have greater and more immediate impact on nonprofit organizational management and social progress.
L to R: Prof. Jehuda Reinharz, Prof. Rivka Carmi, Mr. Morton Mandel, Prof. Oded Lowengart,
Mayor Ruvik Danilovitch, Aharon Yadlin
Prof. Pierrz addresses the SLMBA Third Graduating Class at their graduation ceremony
GGFBM Dean Prof. Oded Lowengard's address to the third graduation class of the Social Leadership MBA included warm regard for the high character of those who choose such studies and career in the Third Sector (nonprofit sector), saying: "Embrace the challenges and stay ahead of the fame... you are the leaders of our present and our future."
Prof. Pierre Kletz, Director of the Mandel SLMBA Program, proudly addressed the graduates who he knows closely, and whose careers and success he and the Mandel Foundation will continue to follow and accompany. He reminded them: "We teach you in your first year about the importance of social commitment when working inthe Third Sector, and here we have before us a living example in Mort Mandel, who wrote the book you studied from, and who turned and turns theory into practice."
