Shai Babad (; born 1976) is an Israeli business executive and former civil servant.
He was the Director General of Israel's Ministry of Finance, and has served as president and chief executive officer of Strauss Group, one of Israel's largest food and beverage companies, since December 2022.
Early life Babad was born in 1976, to a modern Orthodox family in Herzliya. His father was an aviation engineer and his mother a teacher. After high school he studied at Yeshivat Har Etzion.
Education Babad holds an undergraduate degree (BA) in economics and law from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a graduate degree (MSc) in finance and economics from the London School of Economics. He completed a senior executives programme at Harvard University.
Career
ZIM and early career Between 2005 and 2012, Babad held a number of senior management positions, in Israel and internationally, at the shipping company ZIM, including head of the company's budget and economics division and, later, CEO of ZIM's Israel and Near East division.
Second Authority for Television and Radio Babad served as CEO of the Second Authority for Television and Radio from 2013 to 2014. He left the position in late 2014 to run for the Knesset on the list of the newly formed Kulanu party, led by Moshe Kahlon; he placed 11th on the party's list and narrowly missed being elected in the 2015 election.
Director General of the Ministry of Finance In June 2015, after Kahlon became finance minister, he appointed Babad as director general of the Ministry of Finance. Babad served in the role for nearly five years, during which he was involved in structural reforms to Israel's electricity market and pension savings system, and in Israel's economic dialogue with the Palestinian Authority, the European Union and the United States. The Finance Ministry announced his departure in May 2020.
Extra Group and Alon Blue Square In 2021, Babad joined businessman Moti Ben-Moshe's privately held Extra Group as chief business officer, taking up the post on 3 June 2021 once a post-government "cooling-off" period had ended. He subsequently also became CEO of Extra's publicly traded holding company, Alon Blue Square Israel. He left both positions in November 2021, after about six months, reportedly preferring to run an operating company rather than a holding company.
Strauss Group On 27 October 2022, the board of Strauss Group announced the appointment of Babad as the company's president and CEO, succeeding Giora Bardea; he took up the position on 1 December 2022. The appointment came during a difficult period for the company, in the aftermath of a salmonella contamination incident at its confectionery factory in Nof HaGalil, which led to one of the largest product recalls in Israeli history. Babad had no prior experience in the food industry.
As Strauss CEO, Babad has overseen the company's continued international expansion, including the 2025 sale of a 50 percent stake in the Sabra and Obela dips joint ventures to PepsiCo. Following the start of the Gaza war in October 2023, he has spoken publicly about maintaining production at Strauss factories in southern and northern Israel near conflict areas, and about support for employees affected by the war and called up for military reserve duty.
Military service Babad was drafted into the Israel Defense Forces Paratroopers Divions, and then transferred to the intelligence corps.
He is currently a lieutenant colonel (reserves) and, for more than four years until January 2023, commanded a reserve infantry battalion. He was called up for reserve duty on 7 October 2023, and in September 2024, he began to command a brigade in the IDF's newly formed reserve Division 96.
Personal life Babad lives in Hod HaSharon. He is married to Shani Babad and the couple have three daughters.
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