Tzipi Livni is one of the most influential politicians in the Middle East. As Israeli foreign minister she was the second woman to hold that post, and the first woman to have held eight cabinet posts. Tzipi Livni gained a reputation for her freedom-oriented peace policy. Born in Israel in 1958, Tzipi Livni is a lawyer by profession. She received her law degree from Bar-Ilan University, and from 1984 to 1996 practiced law in a private firm for ten years before entering public life. Her fields of specialization included commercial law, constitutional law and real estate law. She served as an officer in the IDF, and later in the Mossad and from 1996 she served as Director General of the Government Companies Authority. In this capacity, she was in charge of the privatization of government corporations and monopolies – and was one of only a few women at that time to have held this high governmental position. Tzipi Livni was first elected to the Knesset in 1999 and has since held numerous ministerial and political positions including: Minister of Foreign Affairs and Vice Prime Minister, Minister of Justice, Minister of Regional Cooperation, Minister of Immigrant Absorption, Minister of Housing and Construction, Minister of Agriculture, Leader of the opposition, Leader of Center Party and leader of Hatnua Party. As Minister of Foreign Affairs she led the most fruitful round of peace negotiations with the Palestinians in nearly a decade and became the face of the peace process in Israeli politics. Tzipi Livni is the most prominent Israeli leader promoting peace based on the vision of two states for two peoples as a means of keeping the values of Israel as a Jewish-Democratic state. She has also served as a member of the Israeli National Security Cabinet and the Senior Security Cabinet during the Second Lebanon War against Hezbollah and initiated Security Council resolutions that enabled the war to come to an end. She was a member of the Security Cabinet during military operations against Hamas in Gaza, and was a member of the Security “Trio” that decided to attack the Syrian nuclear reactor in 2007. Following the 2009 elections in which Livni's Kadima party won the most seats, but could not form a government, she took the party into opposition, becoming Israel's first female leader of the opposition. After her retirement from politics in 2019 Livni has become a Fisher Family Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School. She is a board member of International Crisis Group as well a member of The Aspen Ministers Forum.