ABOUT DEKEL TOURS

LeeAnn Langer,

Chief Operating Officer

As COO, LeeAnn manages day-to-day operations and keeps our ship in shape. LeeAnn grew up in central New Jersey and studied comparative religion at Boston University.

On her first visit to Israel when she was 9-years-old, LeeAnn found particular interest in the country’s cat population. As she grew and continued visiting Israel, she discovered more and more to be fascinated by here. As a young adult, LeeAnn had the opportunity to come back to Israel several times as a teen tour leader before ultimately deciding to make Israel home.

LeeAnn now lives in Tel Aviv, where she loves the beach and active vibe and discovering new places to explore. COVID may have slowed down the tourism industry, but it didn’t slow down LeeAnn: she managed to balance holding the reins at Dekel Tours with earning an MBA from Bar Ilan University and becoming a first-time mom. She’s also interested in photography and theater (lighting design and stage managing) and loves to read, volunteer, and travel.

Her favorite part of working at Dekel Tours is helping people create their dream trips and hearing about the impact their visits have had on their lives.

David Gross,

Director of Tourism

David heads up our team of friendly, dedicated Tour Specialists. David grew up in New York/New Jersey, dominating his neighborhood basketball and football games (or so he claims). David received his bachelor’s degree in Economics from Queens College, New York, and shortly thereafter joined the professional ranks as a medical supply chain consultant. After getting married and beginning to build their family, David and his wife fulfilled their lifelong dream of moving to the Holy Land, Eretz Israel.

David and his growing family recently moved to Ma’alot, where they enjoy the extra space and fresh air while cultivating their (impressive) backyard garden. In his limited free time (not much with 3 amazing kids), he continues to play sports, make music, and go outside as much as possible.

David has unquestionably found his calling at Dekel Tours, organizing Excel workshops and highly-competitive games of catch for the staff and working tirelessly to reunite bar mitzvah boys with their lost suits.

Avital Rachmilevitch,

Communications Director

As Head of our Media and Communications Department, Avital is the resident writer, content manager, and coffee machine expert. Avital was born in Israel but grew up in the Chicago area. As a member of Habonim Dror North America, she explored her Jewish roots, love of Israel, and passion for social justice and Tikkun Olam (healing the world). At DePaul University, Avital studied Religious Studies, focusing on the interplay of religion and politics. After spending the next decade as a teacher and community educator, Avital returned to Israel with her husband; they’ve since become the proud (and exhausted) parents of two incredible children.

After completing a masters degree in Learning Disabilites and Second Language Acquisition, Avital found her way to Dekel Tours, where she gets to put her talents for punctuation and word choice to good use. As the mother of two young children, Avital thankfully can’t remember what spare time is, let alone what she enjoyed doing with it.

Mark Coleman,

Senior Tour Specialist

Hailing from Liverpool, England, Mark generously shares his British wit (and spelling) with the Dekel Tours Family while charming his clients with his accent and courteous demeanor Mark has called Israel home since 2008 but still gets excited when the plane touches down at Ben Gurion Airport after one of his frequent jaunts abroad. When he’s not out traveling the world, he can be found savoring the diverse flavors of Israel, hiking his favorite trails, or experimenting in his kitchen.

Before he made Aliyah, Mark honed his client relations chops in the catering and service industries and earned his BA in Hotel and Restaurant Management, but he didn’t truly feel at home until he came to Israel. With his vast experience in catering and hospitality, as well as an MA in Tourism that he earned along the way, Mark has been an amazing addition to Dekel Tours. Since joining the team, he says he has gained an even greater appreciation of all that Israel has to offer visitors and residents alike, and the staff has gained a not-insignificant number of Britishisms (win-win). Though we’re still holding out for some hard evidence, Mark insists he’s neither a Beatle nor a retired MMA fighter.

Jodie Schaverien,

Tour Specialist

Jodie, AKA “Sparkles,” grew up in London and moved to Israel with her family when she was a teenager. With her background in event planning and hospitality, she is a natural fit for the Dekel Tours Tourism Team, where she enjoys helping her clients turn their Israel travel dreams into reality.

Since Jodie joined our team, we’ve experienced a steep incline in our Britishness as well as a marked improvement in our fashion sense (correlation? causation? the world may never know). As a Tour Specialist, she loves being able to share her passion for tourism and her connection to Israel with visitors from all over the world while helping to make their holidays as perfect as possible. As honorary captain of Team Cappuccino, she has taken our office coffee game to the next level with her unmatched milk-frothing skills.

Though she still travels frequently to visit friends and family in London, Jodie feels most at home in the warm Israeli sunshine and loves how friendly and welcoming Israelis are (also, the falafel here is WAY better). She spends as much time as possible enjoying the vibrant Tel Aviv nightlife, but she’s equally at home exploring the laid-back atmosphere of northern Israel.

Samantha Hirsch,

Tour Specialist

When Samantha (Sam) joined the Dekel Tours Team as a tour specialist, she quickly proved herself to be a natural at designing private Israel tours for her clients. Of course, this makes perfect sense given her passion for DIY projects and deep love of Israel. With a background in logistics management and event planning, Sam has found tour management to be a great outlet for her creativity and problem-solving savvy. And while the rest of the team does truly appreciate her general dedication to trip-building and office productivity, we’re secretly waiting for the day she comes back with her VR system so we can do some more zombie killing.

Sam fell in love with Israel while on a gap-year program after high school and said goodbye to LA shortly thereafter (though it would be, like, several years before finally leaving behind the Valley Girl Speak, right?). During her army service and university studies, she enjoyed getting to know different parts of the country and loves that her work with Dekel Tours allows her to continue connecting with places she might not otherwise have visited. Sam currently lives in Tel Aviv and loves being able to step out of her apartment and find a seemingly endless number of places to explore, taste, sit, shop, and people-watch.

Nili Ehrlich,

Tour Specialist

Nili comes to Dekel Tours with a wealth of experience in tourism as well as a passion for helping people discover Israel and everything it has to offer visitors. Despite knowing the country like the back of her hand, Nili loves all the moments of discovery and joy that come with creating each unique Israel tour for clients. Since joining the Dekel Tours Team, she’s really enjoyed the feeling of being part of something bigger as she experiences Israel through our guests’ eyes when they encounter the country for the first time.

Having recently moved from the Jerusalem area to a small hilltop community in the north of Israel, Nili loves taking advantage of all the green space around her. She tries to get out for a hike with her unfathomably sweet (and disproportionately large) dog, Lupin, as much as possible. Lupin, for his part, gets just as much pleasure from finding strategic locations around the office for a nap and politely waiting for teammates to share their lunches with him.

Nili’s deep love for Israel and her endless generosity of spirit bring such joy to the Dekel Tours family (and it’s not just because she makes the best coffee around). It’s like we struck gold twice when Nili (and Lupin) joined the team.

Tamar Cohen,

Supplier Relations Manager

Tamar comes to Dekel Tours with a deep love and unmatched knowledge of Israel. A licensed tour guide, Tamar now finds an outlet for her passion for this country looking for off-the-beaten-path places to add to our clients’ custom-designed itineraries. Originally from Hamilton, Canada she’s spent most of her life in Israel, but she hasn’t lost her native Canadian friendliness (or accent, eh).

A classic over-achiever with a penchant for efficiency, Tamar completed her 2-year (plus) tour guide course while simultaneously earning a BA in Communications and Political Science. Then she proceeded to meet the love of her life, get married, and have a baby in under two years. She’s also an avid traveler and looks forward to dusting off her passport as soon as possible, and (somehow) finds time to hit the volleyball court once a week. Tamar and her family recently relocated to Harish, which, despite her encyclopedic knowledge of Israeli geography, she refers to as “Up North.” Since joining the Dekel Tours Family, Tamar has been finding great joy in sharing her clients’ excitement about experiencing Israel for the first time. The rest of us are pretty excited about finally having met the world’s nicest human.

Irina Zagorskaja,

Creative Designer

The Amazing Irina, as she’s known around the office, is busily revolutionizing our Media and Communications Department with her knack for graphic design and her incomparable efficiency. Originally from Russia, Irina traces her road to Israel through Ireland, Austria, and Lithuania. With a master’s degree in International Marketing and Management and a passion for everything creative and visual, she brings to Dekel Tours the same drive and determination with which she has developed her impressive multidisciplinary toolkit.

Irina fell in love with Israel on a Taglit trip and returned for regular visits until finally making Aliyah in 2021. As Dekel Tours’ resident photographer, videographer, and drone operator, Irina especially loves getting out from behind her desk to explore Israel and capture its beauty and charm. When she’s not at the office, she enjoys exploring Haifa and the rest of the country, hiking and camping, and soaking up the abundant sunshine. She’s also recently discovered her talent for taming Haifa’s wild boar population, while the rest of us have discovered her talent for pretty much everything.

Zoe Vardi,

Digital Marketing Specialist

One of the newest members of the Dekel Tours Team, Zoe hails from London, England, and made Aliyah to Israel in 2021. Since she joined us, Zoe has been transforming both our digital presence and our general office vibe, proving that our own little British Invasion is here to stay. With a degree in sociology and a professional background in marketing, Zoe rounds out our Media and Communications team with her digital media prowess and aptitude for content creation.

Though she loves coming into the office and collaborating with actual human beings again after a long stint working from home at her last job, Zoe still makes time to take advantage of all the amazing things Tel Aviv has to offer. When she’s not exploring her adopted city’s restaurant scene looking for culinary treasures, she can frequently be found walking the beachfront promenade scouting out the best spots from which to capture Tel Aviv’s impossibly photogenic sunsets.

Since joining Dekel Tours, Zoe has been enjoying getting to know the ins and outs of tourism in Israel and discovering new places and interesting stories she might not otherwise have encountered. In the process, the rest of the team has found a knowledgeable resource for all our media-related questions as well as an enthusiastic partner for routine office shenanigans.