Start-up Nation (38 page)

Avner, Yehuda, adviser to Israeli prime ministers Levi Eshkol, Golda Meir, Yitzhak Rabin, Menachem Begin, and Shimon Peres;
ambassador to the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Australia; April 2008.

Bachar, Yossi, former director general, Ministry of Finance; May 2008.

Barkat, Eli, chairman and cofounder,
BRM
Group; January 2009.

Ben-David, Dan, Department of Economics, Tel Aviv University; June 2008.

Ben-Ephraim, Brigadier General Rami, head of personnel division, Israeli Air Force; November 2008.

Berry, Orna, venture partner, Gemini Israel Funds; January 2009.

Bialkin, Kenneth J., partner, Skadden, Arps; January 2009.

Brodet, David, former director general, Ministry of Finance; May 2008.

Brokaw, Tom, author,
The Greatest Generation
; April 2009.

Catalano-Sherman, Joni, corporate director of technology transfer and academic relations, Corporate Office of Science and
Technology (COSAT); December 2008.

Chaliva, Colonel Aaron, commander of officer training base, Bahad 1,
IDF
; December 2008.

Chase, Al, founder, White Rhino Partners; February 2009.

Cohen, Eliot A., counselor to the State Department; former director of the Strategic Studies Program, Paul H. Nitze School
of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University; January 2009.

Davidson, Christopher M., author of
Dubai: The Vulnerability of Success
; March 2009.

Davis, Tim, director, Entrepreneurship Indicators Project,
OECD
; March 2009.

De Haan, Uzi, William Davidson Faculty of Industrial Engineering and Management, Technion; July 2008.

Dermer, Ron, former economic attaché, Embassy of Israel in Washington, D.C., and senior adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu; September 2008.

Dilian, Colonel Tal (res.), former 8100 chief; member of the board of directors, Atidim; May 2008.

Doron, Daniel, president, Israel Center for Social and Economic Progress; August 2008.

Dotan, Yuval (fictitious name), fighter pilot, Israeli Air Force; May 2008.

Edelstein, Yuli, former minister of absorption; member of Knesset; May 2008.

Eden, Shmuel (Mooly), vice president and general manager, Mobile Platforms Group, Intel; November 2008.

Edry, Illy, founder and chief strategist, Poptok; May 2008.

Eisenberg, Michael, partner, Benchmark Capital; May 2009.

Elias, Asher, Tech Careers; March 2009.

Epstein, Asher, director, Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship, University of Maryland; May 2008.

Erlich, Yigal, founder, chairman, and managing partner, Yozma Group; May 2008.

Farhi, Major Gilad, commander in the Kfir infantry unit,
IDF
; November 2008.

Fick, Nathaniel, chief operating officer, Center for a New American Security; author,
One Bullet Away
; March 2008.

Friedman, Thomas, columnist,
New York Times
; April 2009.

Galil, Uzia, chairman and
CEO,
Uzia Initiatives & Management Ltd; July 2008.

Gerson, Mark, executive chairman, Gerson Lehrman Group; January 2009.

Gidron, Rafi, and Orni Petruschka, cofounders, Precede Technologies, Chromatis Networks, and Scorpio Communications; December
2008.

Giladi, Brigadier General Eival (res.),
CEO
, Portland Trust; March 2009.

Goren, Amos, venture partner,
Apax
Partners; January 2009.

Grinstein, Gidi, founder and president, Reut Institute; May and August 2008.

Gross, Yossi, director and cofounder, TransPharma Medical; founder of many medical-device start-ups; December 2008.

Hamed, Colonel Ramiz, head of the Minorities Unit, Human Resources Branch,
IDF
; November 2008.

Harris, Clinton P., founder and managing partner, Grove Street Advisors; founder and former managing director, Advent International;
January 2009.

Haug, Laurent, founder and
CEO
, Lift Conference; May 2009.

Hausmann, Ricardo, former Venezuelan minister of state and current director of the Harvard Center for International Development;
February 2009.

Ivri, David, former ambassador to the United States and former chief commander of the Israeli Air Force; December 2008.

Kagan, Frederick W., military historian; resident scholar, American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research (AEI);
December 2008.

Kaplinsky, Major General Moshe (res.),
CEO
, Better Place Israel; November 2008.

Kaufmann, Yadin, founding partner, Veritas Venture Partners; December 2008.

Keinan, Tal, cofounder,
KCPS
; May and December 2008.

Kerbs, Gil, venture capitalist and contributor to
Forbes
; January 2009.

Ketels, Christian H. M., economist, member of the Harvard Business School faculty and of the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness;
March 2009.

Kohlberg, Isaac T., senior associate provost and chief technology development officer, Harvard University; January 2009.

Kranz, Eugene (Gene) F., former flight director and manager,
NASA
; May 2009.

Laor, Michael, founder of Cisco Systems Development Center in Israel; February 2009.

Lipow, Jonathan, Department of Economics, Oberlin University; May 2008.

Lipsky, David, author,
Absolutely American
; March 2009.

Lowry, Colonel John (res.), general manager, Harley-Davidson Motor Company; November 2008.

Luttwak, Edward, senior associate, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS); December 2008.

Luttwak, Yael, former commander in tank gunnery course,
IDF
; documentary filmmaker; August 2008.

Maarek, Yoelle, former director, Google’s R&D Center in Haifa, Israel; January 2009.

Maoz, Darya, anthropologist, the Hebrew University; June 2009.

Margalit, Erel, founder of Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP); May 2008.

Matanya, Aviatar, senior officer, Talpiot program; December 2008.

Matias, Yossi, director, Google’s R&D Center in Tel Aviv, Israel; January 2009.

McLaughlin, Andrew, director, public policy and government affairs for Google; January 2009.

McMaster, Brigadier General H. R., U.S. Army; May 2009.

McWilliams, David, Irish economist; July 2009.

Medved, Jon,
CEO
and board member, Vringo; May 2008.

Messer-Yaron, Hagit, president, Open University; January 2009.

Mitchell, Lesa, vice president, Kauffman Foundation; March 2009.

Mlavsky, Ed, chairman and founding partner, Gemini Israel Funds; December 2008.

Molla, Shlomo (Neguse), member of Knesset, Kadima Party; March 2009.

Moralli, Dorit, owner, El Lobo restaurant and guesthouse in La Paz, Bolivia; March 2009.

Nagel, Brigadier General Jacob (res.), deputy director of Mafat,
IDF
; December 2008.

Netanyahu, Benjamin, prime minister of Israel; December 2008.

Newbold, General Gregory (ret.), former director of operations, Joint Chiefs of Staff; May 2009.

Ofer, Idan, chairman of the board, Better Place; December 2008.

Oren, Michael, senior fellow, Shalem Center; May 2008.

Peled, Dan, Department of Economics, University of Haifa; July 2008.

Peres, Chemi, cofounder and managing general, Pitango VC; December 2008.

Peres, Shimon, president of Israel; December 2008.

Peretz, Shay,
CEO
, DefenSoft Planning Systems; December 2008.

Perlmutter, David, executive vice president and general manager, Mobility Group, Intel Corporation; January 2009.

Petraeus, General David, commander, U.S. Central Command; May 2009.

Porter, Michael E., professor of economics, Harvard Business School; founder and chairman, Initiative for a Competitive Inner
City (ICIC); institute director, Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness; cofounder, Monitor Group; March 2009.

Pulver, Jeff, founder and chief executive, Pulver.com; August 2008.

Rabinovich, Abraham, author of
The Yom Kippur War: The Epic Encounter That Transformed the Middle East
; May 2009.

Rezk, Amr, EFG-Hermes; March 2009.

Riesenfeld, Tal,
IDF
Special Forces (res.); cofounder, EyeView; December 2008.

Ron, Lieutenant Colonel Nathan (res.),
IDF
; attorney, Ron-Festinger Law Offices; December 2008.

Rosenberg, David, Bloomberg Jerusalem bureau; former business editor,
Jerusalem Post
; former chief North American economist, Merrill Lynch; May 2008.

Samet, Yoav, corporate development manager for Israel, Central/Eastern Europe, and Russia/
CIS
, Cisco Systems Inc.; January 2009.

Schell, Jessica, vice president of
NBC
Universal, Inc.; April and June 2008.

Schmidt, Eric, chairman and
CEO
, Google; June 2009.

Schramm, Carl J., president and
CEO
, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation; March 2009.

Schroeder, Alice, author of
The Snowball
; January 2009.

Sela, Michael, Department of Immunology, Weizmann Institute of Science; December 2008.

Senior eBay executive, background interview; September 2008.

Shainberg, Gary, vice president for technology and innovation, British Telecom; May and August 2008.

Sharansky, Natan, chairman and distinguished fellow, Adelson Institute for Strategic Studies, Shalem Center; founder of Yisrael
B’Aliya Party; May 2008.

Solomon, Ian, partner, Profile Group; vice president of business development, Aespironics; December 2008.

Swersky Sofer, Nava, former
CEO
, Yissum; December 2008.

Thompson, Scott, president, PayPal; October 6 and October 16, 2008; January 2009.

Tice, Captain Brian (res.), U.S. Marine Corps; February 2009.

Vardi, Yossi, Israeli Internet guru; founder of more than fifty high-tech companies; May 2008.

Vieux, Alex,
CEO
, Red Herring; May 2009.

Vilenski, Dan, former chairman of the board, Applied Materials Israel, Israel National Nanotechnology Initiative (INNI); July
2008.

Vilpponen, Antti, founder, ArcticStartup; January 2009.

Vise, David A., coauthor of
The Google Story
; January 2009.

Vitman, Assaf, economic attaché, Embassy of Israel in Washington, D.C.; January 2009.

Wertheimer, Eitan, chairman of the board, Iscar; January 2009.

Whitman, Meg, former president and
CEO
, eBay; September 2008.

Wolfe, Josh, cofounder and managing partner, Lux Capital; December 2008.

Wood, Doug, head of creative affairs, Animation Lab; May 2008.

Yaalon, Lieutenant General Moshe (res.), Likud member of Knesset;
IDF
chief of staff in 2002–05; May 2008.

Zeevi-Farkash, Major General Aharon (res.), former head of Intelligence Unit 8200,
IDF
; May 2008.

Dan Senor,
adjunct senior fellow for Middle East studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, has been involved in policy, politics,
and business in the Middle East. As a senior foreign policy adviser to the U.S. government, he was one of the longest-serving
civilian officials in Iraq, for which he was awarded the highest civilian honor by the Pentagon. He also served as a Pentagon
adviser to Central Command in Qatar and as a foreign policy and communications adviser in the U.S. Senate. He has studied
in Israel and at Harvard Business School and has traveled extensively throughout the Arab world. In his business career, he
has invested in a number of Israeli and American start-ups, and today is with a New York–based global investment fund. Senor’s
analytical pieces are frequently published by the
Wall Street Journal
; he has also written for the
New York Times
, the
Washington Post
, the
Weekly Standard
, and
Time
. Mr. Senor lives in New York City with his wife and two sons.

Saul Singer
is a columnist and former editorial page editor at the
Jerusalem Post
. Historian Michael Oren called his book
Confronting Jihad: Israel’s Struggle and the World After 9/11
“mandatory reading for anyone, layman or expert, interested in the Middle East.” He has written for the
Wall Street Journal, Commentary, Moment, the New Leader, bitterlemons
(an Israeli/Palestinian e-zine), and the
Washington Post’s
international blog,
PostGlobal
. Before moving to Israel in 1994, he served as an adviser in the United States Congress to the House Foreign Affairs and
Senate Banking Committees. Mr. Singer lives in Jerusalem with his wife and three daughters.

You can visit the authors’ website at
www.startupnationbook.com
.