Noam Lemelshtrich Latar is the Founding Dean of the Sammy Ofer School of Communications at IDC Herzliya (the first private academic institution in Israel). He served from 2009 to 2012 as the Chairperson of the Israeli Communications Association, (which groups all media researchers in the Israeli Universities and Colleges) and as member of the governing body of the Israeli Press Council as of 2011. Lemelshtrich Latar received a Ph.D. in communications from MIT in 1974 and M.Sc. in engineering systems at Stanford in 1971. He was among the founders of the Community Dialog Project at MIT, experimenting with interactive TV programs involving communities through electronic means. From 1975 to 2005 Lemelshtrich Latar pioneered the teaching and research of new media at the Hebrew, Tel Aviv, and Ben Gurion Universities. From 1999 to 2005 he was involved in the Israeli high-tech industry helping to establish several communications startups in cognitive enhancement, data mining of consumer choices and home networking. In 2005 he joined IDC Herzliya Israel as founding Dean of a new school of communications. His current research interest is in digital identities AI decision-making and journalism and Cyber Advocacy.

Founding Dean Responsibilities included: Creation of the school's vision and academic programs and receiving the Israeli government full academic accreditation; planning of the technological infrastructure which includes TV ,Radio, Audio Visual and Virtual studios, a twenty stations newsroom, post production facilities; creation of research laboratories and centers including a new media innovation laboratory (MiLab), a research center for the study of the psychology of the internet, a virtual world laboratory, and a media online advocacy center; hiring all academic and professional personnel and establishing all relevant academic committees.