5th Annual Trendlines Company Showcase Shefayim, Israel • January 28, 2015
Medical Track Panelists
Robert L. Grossman Co-‐Chair, Israel Practice
Greenberg Traurig
Robert (Bob) Grossman is an M&A and securities attorney with a wide range of experience taking companies public, handling private offerings, acquiring and selling companies, and advising businesses. His clients include many companies in the medical device, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, digital healthcare and healthcare industries, among others. Representative life science clients include and have included Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, IVAX Pharmaceuticals, OPKO Health, The Frost Group, Prolor Biotech, Oppenheimer & Co., Galmed Pharmaceuticals, Glasses Off, Ramsay HMO, Integrity Applications, Scivac, Biolight, Safestitch Medical (now Transenterix), Labstyle Innovations, and many others.
In addition to representing Israeli companies, Bob and the firm’s Israel Practice Group provide assistance to Israeli and U.S. companies through introductions to strategic partners.
Limor Sandach Venture Partner
Access Medical Ventures
Limor Sandach has over 18 years of extensive hands-‐on experience with Israeli health care companies. From inception to late stages, she is highly skilled in planning commercial strategies, business development, strategic alliances, and fund-‐raising. She is a venture partner at Access Medical Ventures (AMV), a U.S.-‐based VC fund focusing on early-‐stage health care companies. She manages AV Medical, one of AMV’s portfolio companies.
Prior to AMV, Limor was a partner at 7 Health Ventures, an Israeli VC fund focused on investments in medical devices, and a principal at Evergreen Venture Partners, focusing on health care investments. She began her career at Naiot Venture Accelerator.
Limor holds a master’s of engineering from the Technion-‐Israel Institute of Technology.
Zeev Zehavi
VP, Venture Investments J&J Development Corp.
At J&J Development Corporation, Zeev Zehavi is responsible for venture capital investments in Europe and Israel. Zeev’s background covers an extensive array of health care and health care related businesses. He spent over 10 years with Teva Pharmaceuticals, including a five-‐year assignment as president of the bulk chemical business in North America. Following the experience with Teva in the United States, Zeev returned to Israel to work with Clal Industries, one of the largest investment companies in Israel. He served as president of Clal Pharmaceutical Industries for four years.
Fluent in Hebrew, English, and Arabic, Zeev received his MBA in marketing and finance from Tel Aviv University and his B.Sc. from Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
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Agritech Track Panelists
Moshe Bar Head R&D, Golden Leaf Holdings
A seasoned scientist, agronomist, and executive in agribusiness, Moshe Bar has more than 23 years of experience in the seed industry. He served as global crop lead for peppers and as global head of scouting and strategic projects at Syngenta. During this time, he gained experience working in global senior management positions as a member of the company’s vegetable R&D leadership team.
Prior to Syngenta, Moshe was a tomato breeder and VP R&D at Zeraim Gedera, a leading Israeli vegetable seed company. He has extensive knowledge of plant breeding, biotechnology, life sciences, integrated solutions, and project management.
Moshe holds a Ph.D. in life sciences and an M.Sc. in genetics and breeding from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Benjamin Belldegrun Founder & Managing Partner Pontifax Global Agriculture
Technology Fund
Benjamin (Ben) Belldegrun has been an investor and portfolio manager in the agriculture sector for over 10 years. He is the founding partner of Pontifax AgTech, a growth equity fund dedicated to food and agriculture technology investments.
Previously, he was the founding partner of Lodestone Natural Resources, where he focused investments in the agricultural sector. Prior, he was a portfolio manager at Brevan Howard, managing a $100 million dedicated agriculture portfolio. Ben started his career at Merrill Lynch Investment Banking in New York, working within the Leveraged Finance Group.
He is an MBA from The Anderson Business School, UCLA, and a B.A. in economics from Columbia University.
Ofer Haviv
President & CEO Evogene
Ofer Haviv has served as Evogene’s president and CEO for more than 10 years. Previously, he was the Company’s COO and CFO and was involved in Evogene’s spin-‐off from Compugen in 2002. At Compugen (Nasdaq: CGEN), Ofer was director of finance and treasurer for four years, during which time the company completed two private placements and an IPO on Nasdaq. Ofer received a B.A. in economics and accounting from Tel Aviv University and is a CPA in Israel.
Ohad Zuckerman
Founder, UniVerve Biofuel
Ohad Zuckerman gained his experience in management and business during 18 years at Zeraim Gedera, a leading Israeli vegetable seed company. He served as company CEO for eight of those years. During his tenure, Ohad transformed Zeraim Gedera from local to multinational, initiating its successful sale in 2005 to Markstone Capital and in 2007 to Syngenta. In 2009, Ohad co-‐founded and currently manages UniVerve, which promotes the biofuel industry.
Ohad holds an Executive MBA from Kellogg-‐Recanati. He has a B.Sc. in agriculture from Hebrew University of Jerusalem.