Efrat Minivitzki Thein is a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s N7 Initiative in the Rafik Hariri Center and Middle East Programs and has a background in the fields of national security, international relations, gender equality, and climate change policy. She holds a Masters in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and a BA in political science and French from Tel Aviv University. Minivitzki Thein spent the last fifteen years working for the Israeli government. She joined the Israeli National Security Council (NSC) in 2010 and has been involved in shaping the country’s national security policy. In her last position, she served as director of climate change and gender equality. Prior to that, she served as director of the Department of Foreign Relations and International Organizations, where she was in charge of strategic dialogues with global counterpart agencies as well as enhancing cooperation with international organizations. Minivitzki Thein served for five years as chief of staff to two national security advisors. Prior to that, she was the head of the North America desk at the NSC.

After graduating from Tel Aviv University, Minivitzki Thein worked at the Congressional Affairs Department of the Embassy of Israel in Washington, DC. Prior to that, Minivitzki Thein participated at the Capital Semester program at the Fund for American studies. She worked at the office of US Senator Joseph Lieberman while studying at Georgetown University.

Minivitzki Thein speaks English, French, and Hebrew. She lived in Paris and studied at La Sorbonne University for a year.