Oz Benamram - Co-Chair

Mr. Benamram is the Israel Practice Counsel and Director of Knowledge Management at Morrison & Foerster LLP.  He uses his knowledge of both American and Israeli business cultures and legal systems to help represent Israeli businesses in the United States as well as foreign investors in Israel.  As the Director of Knowledge Management he provides the firm with strategic direction in the use of technology and knowledge management to support the substantive practice of law.

Born in Jerusalem in 1967, Mr. Benamram received his BA in Economics from Tel Aviv University Faculty of Social Sciences, magna cum laude, and his LLB from the Tel Aviv University Law.  He clerked for the Honorable Justice Mishael Cheshin of the Supreme Court of Israel and was a Major in the Israel Defense Forces, where he served as a Tank Company Commander.

Mr. Benamram is a member of the New York State Bar, the Israel Bar, the Board of Directors of the America-Israel Chamber of Commerce and the International Council of the New Israel Fund.  He can be contacted at:  ozb@israelibusinessforum.org.

Yossi Jayinski - Director

Mr. Jayinski is a member of Grant Thornton's Israeli-U.S. Business Group and Senior Manager in the Technology Industry Practice.

As a member of the Israeli-U.S. Business Group, Mr. Jayinski's responsibilities include coordinating events and forums that encourage business between Israeli and American companies, developing key relationships with Israeli companies and maintaining cohesive relations with the GT Israeli and GT U.S. practices.  Through his work as a Senior Manager with the Technology Industry Practice, Mr. Jayinski has a broad base of experience serving start-up to established companies in the biotechnology, software, Internet and other industries. He has performed audits of private and public companies as well as various IPO's and has served as a consular for U.S. and international business.

Mr. Jayinski is a Certified Public Accountant and received a BS in Accounting from the Yeshiva University.  He is a member of the AICPA.  Mr. Jayinski can be contacted at:  yj@israelibusinessforum.org.

 

Gil Galanos – Director

Gil Galanos was appointed Deputy Economic Minister to North America for the Government of Israel Economic Mission in April 2006.  In this position he promotes bilateral trade relations, American investment in Israel and strategic partnerships between Israeli and U.S. companies.  His responsibilities include organizing business-to-business conferences and industry road shows and directing life sciences and information technology advisory boards for Israeli companies seeking to penetrate the U.S. market.

Mr. Galanos comes to the Economic Mission with broad experience in the Israeli high-tech arena.  Most recently, he was the Sales and Technical Projects Manager for Comverse Technologies, the world’s leading provider of software and systems to enable multimedia network-based services (2004-2006).  From 2003-2004, Mr. Galanos was Marketing and Sales Manager for BioGuard Components and Technologies, a biometrics technology company.  He also spent two years at Intel Jerusalem in information analysis and design (2001-2003).  He served as a security officer for the Ministry of Defense (1997-1999) serving in several locations in Europe.  From 1992-1996, he was a captain in the elite Golani unit of the Israel Defense Forces.

Mr. Galanos received his BS in information systems engineering from Ben Gurion University.  He and his wife currently live in New York City.

 

Alon Gev - Director

Alon is an audit and assurance partner in Grant Thornton’s New York office. He has fifteen years of experience in providing professional services to both public and private companies in a variety of industries.  Alon is a member of Grant Thornton’s Technology Practice. He is also a member of the Israeli Practice serving many Israeli and Israeli-related companies.

Alon has significant experience with IPOs, mergers and acquisitions as well as debt offerings and other complex business transactions. He also has significant experience in dealing with technical issues facing emerging companies. Some of these issues include revenue recognition, stock based compensation and complex equity transactions.

Alon received his Bachelor's degree from the Tel Aviv School of Business Administration and is a Certified Public Accountant and member of the American and Israeli Institute of Certified Public Accountants.