Keren Terner Eyal (), also rendered Keren Terner-Eyal, Keren Terner or Keren Turner Eyal, is an Israeli civil servant and businesswoman. She served as Director-General of Israel's Ministry of Transport from 2016 to 2020 — the first woman to hold that post — and as Director-General of the Ministry of Finance in 2020, becoming only the second woman to head the ministry. After leaving government service, she became Chief Operating Partner at the venture capital firm Vintage Investment Partners, and in April 2026 was named one of the first two declared candidates for former prime minister Naftali Bennett's new party ahead of elections expected later that year.
Early life and education Turner grew up in moshav Hadar Am. She has a Bachelor's degree in economics, as well as a Master's degree in Business Management, both from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She served in the Israel Defense Forces as a training officer in the Moran special unit and was discharged with the rank of First Lieutenant.
Public sector
Ministry of Finance Budget Division Terner Eyal began her career in the civil service in the Ministry of Finance's Budget Division, working on transport-sector allocations, and later served as the ministry's coordinator for foreign-worker affairs. In 2011 she moved to the Ministry of Transport, where she was placed in charge of infrastructure planning; she was appointed deputy director-general in 2012.
Director-General of the Ministry of Transportation In 2011, Terner was appointed Deputy Director of the Ministry of Transportation by then-minister Israel Katz. The following year, she was appointed the Ministry's first female Director, following the retirement of her predecessor. Terner served under ministers Israel Katz and Bezalel Smotrich.
As a senior transport official she was also the finance minister's representative on the boards of directors of Israel Railways and Israel Post.
Dismissal from the role In May 2020, while on maternity leave following the birth of her third child, Terner Eyal was informed by incoming Transport Minister Miri Regev that she would be removed from her post immediately, prompting public criticism of the move. Regev defended the dismissal as standard practice for an incoming minister.
Director-General of the Ministry of Finance In May 2020, after being dismissed from her role in the Ministry of Transportation, Minister of Finance Israel Katz appointed Terner Eyal as director-general of his ministry, and the cabinet confirmed the appointment in June 2020.
At 41, she returned early from maternity leave to lead the ministry through the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, replacing the outgoing Shai Babad. In September 2020 she wrote to the director-general of the Health Ministry warning that further lockdown restrictions would carry a "dramatic and painful cost" for the economy running into billions of shekels.
In October 2020, after five months in office, Terner Eyal resigned amid disagreements with Katz over the government's handling of the coronavirus crisis and the continued absence of a state budget, in what was one of several senior departures from the ministry that year. Katz appointed Israel Tax Authority head Eran Yaacov as acting director-general pending a permanent replacement.
In 2021, Terner was appointed to serve on the Board of Directors of real estate company Amot, and joined Israeli Venture Capital fund Vintage.
Political career In April 2026, former prime minister Naftali Bennett named Terner Eyal, alongside former director-general Liran Avishar Ben-Horin, as the first two candidates on the party list for Bennett 2026 ahead of the 2026 election. The announcement drew criticism from the Likud party, which linked her to the Brothers and Sisters in Arms and its participation in judicial reform protests. Bennett's party disputed the characterization, saying she had volunteered with a civilian coordination centre formed after the October 7 attacks and had never been a member of, or involved in, the movement's calls for refusal to serve in the military.
Private sector In October 2021, Terner Eyal joined Vintage Investment Partners, a global technology investment firm, as its Chief Operating Partner.
In March 2022, the vehicle-to-everything communications company Autotalks announced her appointment to its board of directors as an observer representing Vintage Investment Partners, which had invested in the company.
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