Barbara Swirski, executive director of Adva, is a sociologist and social entrepreneur: she was among the founders of the first shelter for battered women in Israel, in Haifa in 1977, and among the founders of the Adva Center, in 1991. She is a feminist and has written on women – among others, Daughters of Eve, Daughters of Lilith (1984), Women on the Israeli Assembly Line (1987), Calling the Equality Bluff: Women in Israel (1989 and 1991), The National Budget from a Gender Perspective (2009); and on the public health system, among othersThe Israel Equality Monitor: Health in Israel (1992 and 1998), Goals for Health Policy in the 21^st Century (2001) , Working Today to Narrow the Gaps of Tomorrow (2010).

Dr. Shlomo Swirski is a sociologist who serves as the academic director of the Adva Center. In the past he lectured at the universities of Tel Aviv and Haifa, was a partner in the founding of academic and social enterprises, among them the academic journal Notebooks of Research and Social Critique, which published articles in Hebrew accessible to the general public; HILA for Quality Education, which encourages parents in working-class neighborhoods, development towns, and Arab towns to get involved in their children's schools; the Kedma Schools, founded to provide quality, community-based education on the high school level. He is the author of, among others, Mizrahim and Askkenazim in Israel: The Ethnic Division of Labor   (1981), Campus, State and Society (1985), Education in Israel (1990), The National Budget: What They Do with Our Money (2004), The Cost of Arrogance: The Price Israel Pays for the Occupation (2005).

Etty Konor-Attias is research coordinator and lecturer at the Adva Center, and is co-author of annual reports: Looking at the National Budget, Israel: A Social Report, Workers and Employers in Israel and the Distribution of the National Income.  She has an MA in Public Policy from Tel Aviv University. Her work at Adva includes analyzing budget books and official statistics on a variety of subjects.  She is responsible for research utilizing quantitative data and supervises graduate students of applied sociology at Haifa University who do internships at Adva Center.

Yael Hasson is a researcher, lecturer and coordinator of the Women's Budget Forum. She is working on a Doctoral degree in Sociology at Haifa University – on gender and economic policy. She has written on gender (The National Budget from a Gender Perspective: The Winners and Losers from the Policy of Tax Reduction, The Cost of Care – Report on Women in the Caring Professions in Israel) privatization (Three Decades of Privatization, Personal Social Services in an Era of Fiscal Restraint, Privatization of Preventive Health Services) and on policy vis-à-vis the Bedouin living in the Negev (Invisible Citizens). In the framework of the Women's Budget Forum, she is engaged in promoting gender mainstreaming at the national and local levels.

Valeria Seigelshifer is an advocacy expert for Adva Center and for the Women's Budget Forum. She does advocacy work at the Knesset and in government ministries, with a focus on gender mainstreaming programming and budgeting. She has an MA in Philosophy and Education from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and is a doctoral student in Gender Studies at Bar-Ilan University. She also works as a lecturer and as a research and teaching assistant at the Hebrew University and in the past served as a coordinator of educational programs at the Mosaic Center. She also conducted workshops in sexuality and gender for female junior high school students at the Hartman Midrasha.

Adi Sofer is an economist completing his MA degree in Economics at the Tel Aviv University. He also has a background in Sociology, Physics and Philosophy. In the past, he worked in the area of energy, including green energy. He has done volunteer work for projects involving youth at risk and low-income families. He is active in the movement Combatants for Peace and is a sailing instructor.

Mira Oppenheim is the office manager and is responsible for media relations. She worked in the field of communications as a reporter of the internet newspaper nrg and the weekly Time-Out Tel Aviv, and as a research assistant and deputy editor of films, series and documentary projects, among them "Bulldog," "The Beauty Industry," "Beware of Water," and " The Politics of Verticality". She was co-director at the NGO Green Action and a founder and writer at Indymedia Independent Media and Salon Mazal – an alternative information center.

Shira Pinhas is the community action coordinator for the Adva Center gender equality project at the local level, where she serves as a facilitator for women's groups working for gender equality in their communities. She is a graduate student in History at Tel Aviv University. She is an active member of Koah Ovdim, an alternative, democratic labor union and a member of the Tarabut-Hithabrut Movement. In the past, Shira served as community action coordinator at the organization Maapach-Tagir – a coalition of students and local residents for social change and of Escolita, a community organization of migrant workers from Latin America.

Ariane Ophir is a Research assistant at Adva Center. Recentley completed her MA degree in Sociology from University of Haifa. First started at Adve Center as an intern, part of the intership program with the department of Sociology and Anthropology (Applied Sociological Research division) at University of Haifa. Her thesis deals with intergenerational transfers from parents to adult children in Israel.