THE TEAM
Carice Witte
Founder and Executive Director
Carice Witte is the Founder and Executive Director of SIGNAL Group. In 2011, Ms. Witte initiated Chinese-Israeli Track II exchanges and launched an annual program in Israel for Chinese faculty on teaching Israel Studies, leading to the establishment of Israel Studies Programs at universities across China.
Having conducted over 1,500 briefings in both China and Israel, Ms. Witte established an annual conference on Israel’s China policy in 2016 and, in 2017, a semi-annual China-Israel and annual China-Israel-U.S. Track II dialogue, fostering high-level policy discussions between key global players. In 2019, she introduced a seminar series tailored for international experts, government officials, and policy professionals focused on China’s evolving geopolitical role.
As China’s global influence has grown, Ms. Witte has expanded SIGNAL Group’s work to include the Indo-Pacific region and is often a speaker at international security conferences across Asia. A recognized authority on China and China-Israel affairs, she has made significant contributions to the academic and policy fields, publishing numerous articles, research papers, and policy analyses on topics such as Sino-Israeli relations, China’s policy reforms, and the impact of these developments on Israel and the broader Middle East. Her research also explores China’s role in global governance, including the United Nations, the Global Security Initiative, and the Global Civilization Initiative, with a focus on China’s strategic involvement in the Middle East.
Ms. Witte serves on the board of the Israel Council on Foreign Affairs. She immigrated to Israel from the U.S. in 1987 and is a graduate of Yale University. She has five children and four grandchildren.
Tommy Steiner
Policy Director
Tommy Steiner is the Policy Director of SIGNAL Group. Based in Israel, Tommy is concurrently an Honorary Fellow of the Middle East Institute (MEI) at the National University of Singapore and an Adjunct Lecturer on International Relations and Strategic Studies at the Lauder School of Government, Diplomacy and Strategy at Reichman University (IDC) in Herzliya, Israel.
Before joining SIGNAL Group, Tommy was a senior research fellow at Reichman University’s Institute for Policy and Strategy. A member of the founding team of the Annual Herzliya Conference Series (www.herzliyaconference.org), Tommy managed the Conference series from 2007 through 2013 – a period during which the Conference was considered one of the top international policy conferences.
Tommy served as the executive director of the Atlantic Forum of Israel, a network-based policy organization that promoted and advanced Israel’s relations with the Transatlantic Community and Europe, and which was especially instrumental in enhancing NATO-Israel relations. Tommy’s fields of expertise include, global politics and international security, transatlantic relations, Israel’s foreign relations, and regional politics in the Indo-Pacific and the Middle East. In his areas of expertise, Tommy regularly advises Israeli authorities, international organizations, business, media, and think-tanks.
Tommy earned his MA (cum laude) in International Relations from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and is the recipient of the Yehoshafat Harkaby Award from the Hebrew University’s Leonard Davis Institute for International Relations.
Tommy resides in Herzliya, Israel, and raises his three children – Jonathan, Ariel, and Talya.
Dr. Ori Goldberg
Director of Research and Academia
Dr. Goldberg has worked as a consultant with Israeli defense organizations, from the IDF to the Israeli PMO . He has been an active participant in SIGNAL Group’s track II dialogues and engagements for the past seven years, developing substantive knowledge of Chinese thought and policy.
Julia Rose Cole
Director of Operations and Communications
Julia Cole is the Director of Operations and Communications at SIGNAL Group, where she oversees projects, events, operations, and communications across all departments. She has been with SIGNAL Group for 4.5 years, starting as a Research Associate.
Immigrating to Israel from the United States in 2017, Ms. Cole served in the Israel Defense Forces as a non-commissioned officer in the International Cooperation Unit—Military Strategic Information Section (MSIS), completing her service with the rank of Sergeant. This experience laid the foundation for her deep understanding of cross-cultural communication, which she has continued to refine through both her professional and academic endeavors.
She earned her MA from the University of St Andrews in International Relations and an MSc from the London School of Economics in Comparative Politics, specializing in Middle Eastern History and Politics.
Guan Yuan (Helen)
China's Program Coordinator
Ms. Guan Yuan joined SIGNAL Group as an intern in translation in 2012. She officially joined the SIGNAL Group team as a professional translator in late 2013 after attaining her MA in English Translation and Interpretation from China University of Petroleum. Ms. Guan focused on translating materials for the Israel Resources Center, a SIGNAL Group on-line library of introductory to scholarly materials about Israel. Ms. Guan’s years of association with SIGNAL Group have provided important insights into Israel that facilitate the subtly accurate translations. In 2014, Ms. Guan’s role at SIGNAL Group expanded to include ISP (Israel Studies Program) Coordinator in China in March 2014, assisting SIGNAL Group in establishing and supporting the study of Israel at universities across China. In 2016, Ms. Guan became SIGNAL Group’s China coordinator, adding to her area of responsibility the management of SIGNAL Group’s quarterly delegations of scholars and experts from Israel to Beijing. Ms. Guan visited Israel in 2013 on an academic exchange program at Ben Gurion University to expand her expertise on Israel. She returned to Israel in 2019 to accompany the Chinese delegation from the School of International Studies (SIS) of Renmin University for the SIGNAL Group-SIS China-Israel-US annual track II dialogue.
Ms. Guan has over 9 years of experience in international business and translation.
Aryeh Tepper
China Academic Conference Director
Dr. Aryeh Tepper oversees SIGNAL Group’s academic initiatives, including the Israel Studies Program (ISP) in China and Faculty Fellowship Program (FFP) in Israel. Aryeh is also a Fellow at The Azrieli Center for Israel Studies at the Ben-Gurion Research Institute, BGU, and serves as the Director of Publications at the American Sephardi Federation.
Aryeh is the author of Progressive Minds, Conservative Politics: Leo Strauss’ Later Writings on Maimonides (SUNY 2013). He has published numerous academic and journalistic articles, essays and translations in both English and Hebrew in Moment Magazine, The Tel Aviv Review of Books, Mosaic, The Weekly Standard, Jewish Ideas Daily, The Jewish Review of Books, Commentary, The Jerusalem Post, The Forward, The Diplomat, Ha’aretz, Makor Rishon and Akdamot. He lives in the southern town of Ofaqim, where he serves on the Steering Committee of the Municipal Archive and Museum.
Yaakov Kirschen
Chairman of the Board & Advisor
Yaakov Kirschen is SIGNAL Group’s Chairman of the Board, a political analyst, and cartoonist.
He is the founder of the long running Dry Bones political cartoon series that was syndicated in scores of publications until it moved on-line. In late 2009 he started strategizing for SIGNAL Group and was one of the first policy speakers for SIGNAL Group in China.
In 2010, Yale published Kirschen’s ground-breaking working paper entitled “Memetics and the Viral Spread of Antisemitism through “Coded Images in Political Cartoons”. The paper identifies antisemitism as a behavioral virus, isolates its three viral strains, and reveals its use by totalitarian movements in their attempts to conquer the West.