Members
Dr. Edna Pasher
founder, chairman and ceo
Dr. Edna Pasher earned her Ph.D at New York University in Communication Arts and Sciences and has served as faculty member at Adelphi University, the City University of New York, the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and the Tel‐Aviv University. Edna Pasher founded Edna Pasher Ph.D. & Associates Ltd in 1978. The firm, Edna Pasher Ph.D. & Associates Ltd provides customized consulting services to organizations both in the private and the public sectors. Edna has been a pioneer and leader of the innovation and knowledge management movement in Israel and an active member of the international community of the KM pioneers. She has over 30 years of experience in regional and international IS projects using a variety of evaluation methodologies, modeling techniques, quantitative analysis. Dr. Edna Pasher is the co-founder and chairperson of the Israeli Institute for Smart Cities.
Mr. Shmuel Ben-Tovim
Shmuel is the director of Ben-Tovim Consultants Ltd, an Israeli boutique investment bank www.ben-tovim.com; President of City TLV www.city-tlv.org; A member of BlueStar Indexes Advisory Board, New York; Director at Koret Israel Economic Development Funds; Board member of the Israel-EU Chamber of Commerce and the Council for Conservation of Heritage Sites.
Shmuel has served as Director at Israeli leading corporations including Bezeq, Israel Chemicals, Leumi & co. Investment Bank and the Jerusalem Economic Corporation.
He is a former board member of the Israel Export Institute and the Federation of Israeli Chambers of Commerce.
From 2005 to 2010 he was seconded to the Israeli Embassy in London where he served as the Minister for Economic Affairs.
From 1998 to 2005 Shmuel served as the directly-elect Mayor of Kfar Shmaryahu.
His career began in the Israeli Ministry of Industry, Trade & Tourism where he held the positions of Consul & Trade Commissioner to the USA, based in New York, and the Chief Economic Adviser to the Minister in Jerusalem. Later he was Assistant Director General of the Bank Leumi Group.
Mr. Hagai Dafna
Expert in emergency preparation and disaster management. Former consultant for the Israeli national emergency office. In addition, Mr. Dafna is a renowned expert in urban education systems and schools.Mrs.
Mr. Yossi Dan
Expert specializing in urban innovation both locally and globally. Runs the 'City Labs' for urban Innovation along with Erez Mizrachi.
Mr. Dubi Faust
A senior strategic business consultant at Edna Pasher PhD. & Ass Ltd.,Specialized in the interface between technology and society. R&D manager and EU H2020 fund's application submission consultant.
MSc. In Organo-Physical Chemistry (Tel-Aviv University, 1980)
Wealthy experience in people, technology and manufacturing management (~30 years) in a multidisciplinary large, global hi-Tec business environment.
Former Operation Director (Intel) and H.R Director (Micron Technology)
A Partner in an Israeli Start-up company - Endotect Ltd., dealing with a 'Smart' bio-medical solution for cardiovascular diseases'
Mr. Luis Gomez
Director International Smart City Expo World Congress at Fira Barcelona.
Mr. Uri Kushnir
Expert in digital engagement, open data and urban mobility.
Together with Mr.Guy Pross, they led the DigiTel, digital engagement campaign for Tel-Aviv city.
Dr. Danny Marian
Danny Marian is the Chairman of the Israeli Association of Construction and Infrastructure Engineers (IACIE), a Civil Engineer, a businessman and corporate director. He Specializes in, real-estate ,contracting, construction and infrastructure initiatives as well as BOT and PFI projects.
As Chairman of IACIE, a statutory association that represents all civil engineers in Israel, he is an ex officio member of government committees, the Board of Directors of the Standards Institution of Israel, and the Governmental Council of Engineering and Architecture.
Danny has specialized in high rise buildings development and construction. He is a member of the CTBUH and through IACIE was co-founder of CTBUH Israel.
He is experienced in initiating and managing tenders for BOT infrastructure projects and other PPP projects, including long term involvement in the largest BOT project in Israel, the Cross-Israel Highway. He was a partner in several consortia that competed for a wide variety of projects and were awarded several of them.
As a past and present member of many Boards of Directors and managerial bodies, Danny Marian has extensive knowledge and experience in initiating, establishing, acquiring, managing and supervising companies and projects of all kinds. His specialties are integrative management of large, complex systems; he focuses on improvement and streamlining the operation while creating internal synergy.
As CEO of the largest construction contractor in Israel (Danya Cebus) for seven years and as board member for 8 years of Electra the major contracting, M&E and FM company in Israel , Marian acquired extensive experience in managing and operating contracting companies responsible for very large construction projects, with emphasis on integrating the business and engineering-operational aspects.
Dr. Elias Messinas
Dr. Messinas is an architect and a consultant in ‘green’ projects. He is an expert in ‘green’ Architecture and ecological building in Greece, Cyprus and Israel. Dr. Messinas has established the environmental NGO ECOWEEK which is active in Greece, Israel and Cyprus and soon also in the US, with the mission to raise awareness on the environment and climate change. Among others, Dr. Messinas invited Al Gore to give his slide show in Athens, Greece in June 2007. He is a graduate of Bezalel Enviornmental Design, he holds an M.Arch. from Yale, a Ph.D. from the National Technical University of Athens (on Greek synagogues – world expert), completed a post-doc at the Technion (Kaufmann Fellowship) and attended a Master in Environment and Development. He completed research at the Desert Architecture Unit of Ben Gurion University (with a scholarship of the Ministry of Foreign Affaris) and attended the prestigious Ford Motor Company International Fellowship for Community Leadership at Columbia University and 92stY in New York. Dr. Messinas practices ‘green’ Architecture in Greece, Cyprus and Israel, and cooperates with companies in the activity of ECOWEEK on environmental awareness. Dr. Messinas is a consultant to the Pasher Group on ‘green’ Architecture and sustainable building.
Mr. Erez Mizrachi
Expert specializing in urban innovation both locally and globally. Runs the 'City Labs' for urban Innovation along with Yossi Dan.
Mr. Dani Morgenstern
Environmental and waste management expert. Former manager of marine and railway delivery in the Ministry of transportation. Senior member of the national committee of solid waste recycling.
Mr. Guy Pross
With over 15 years of experience in business development and strategic negotiations, Guy is responsible for working with large industrial players to analyze and pin-point opportunities for breakthrough or sustaining innovations, and open up new investment opportunities.
Guy is also the co-founder and managing partner of 31ºNorth Ltd., a consulting company that specializes in digital engagement, open data and urban mobility. the company has offices in both Israel and Korea and maintains strategic alliances in China and Australia. The company provides consulting and investment services to major global corporates and Auto manufacturers amongst which are: Hyundai Motors, Hanwha Corporation, Tel Aviv Municipality, Israel Electricity Company (CyberGym), GHD Engineering, Queensland Government, Noosa CouncilPrior to his position Guy was an executive and co-founder of the Australian division of the Global electric vehicle start up Better Place. He held multiple roles including Director of Gov. Policy Australia, Director of Business Development Australia, GM Australian Capital Territory, Head of Business Development and Special Advisor to Global CEO.
Guy holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of New South Wales and a Masters of Commerce (MComm) / Major in Governance - Research component - Public Private Partnerships University of Sydney, Australia.
Mr. Haim Rousso
Mr. Haim Rousso was the Elbit Systems Executive Vice President for Engineering and technology Excellence. Mr. Rousso has also held the position of General Manager of Elbit Systems Electro-optics – Elop and Executive VP of Elbit Systems Ltd., since 2000. During a 36 year career at Elop, he held a wide variety of senior positions, In October, 2003, Mr. Rousso was awarded the prestigious Israeli “Industry Prize” in recognition of his leadership role in positioning Elop as the global leader in electro-optics. Mr. Rousso is an active member of the Israeli National Council for Research and Development. Mr. Rousso holds B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the Technion – Institute of Technology in Haifa, Israel.
Since his time at Elbit, Haim led several projects developing smart solutions for private and public electrical transportation.
Dr. Asher Vaturi
Dr. Vaturi is a researcher and a consultant in the area ofenvironment and urban policies, energy technologies development and socio-economic aspects. Between 2000 and 2013, he worked as a senior researcher at the Interdisciplinary Center for Technological Forecasting at Tel Aviv University which focused on the interrelationship between technology and society.
Since 2009, Dr. Vaturi is the head of the Environment and planning division at The Max Stern Yezreel Valley College.
As an urban planner and urban consultant, Dr. Vaturi was involved in large number of municipal and national projects in Israel including development of master plants. In addition, since 2014, he serves as a team member of the national planning reform group for local authorities.
In the international area, Dr. Vaturi took part in several EU research projects in the area of environment and urban planning such as EFONET - Energy foresight Network and Perfection – Performance Indicators for the Built Environment under FP7 program.
Mrs. Michal Vieman-Derhi
Founder and designer of Melach – Design Studio for Urban Experience as part of resident–environment interface.
Mr. Sergio Vinitsky
Graduated from the Israeli Institute of Technology- TECHNION, BSc. InEconomics and Management (1986). Head of "Tavor Consultants Ltd." International Department since 2005. Vast experience in the Israeli market, as manager and consultant of leading enterprises.
Specialized in providing tailor-made solutions for private and public sector, finding creative business solutions for local and international clients to help them move fast and create strategic alliances in today's global market.
Main Activities: International business development for Israeli Companies, representation of Israeli Companies worldwide, Joint Ventures establishments between Israeli and Foreign enterprises - Fira Barcelona Israeli Delegate including Smart City Expo World Congress - Consultant of the Israeli Export Institute and the Economy Ministry - Lecturer at the Galilee College and Haifa Golda College - Co-Founder of the Israeli Institute for Smart Cities (May 2015)
Dr. Zvi Weinstein
A Town Planner specializing in the field of urban regeneration of disadvantaged neighborhoods. Has been coordinated the Israeli National Project Renewal at the Ministry of Construction & Housing in the years 1978-2015. Project Renewal is a comprehensive and holistic program includes physical, social, economic, education, health, community, employment and services infrastructure aspects.
Academic background includes a PHD. in urban regeneration; MSc. in town planning; MA in public policy; Represents the State of Israel in two European Commissions dealing with the issues of smart cities: People Friendly City in a Data Rich World and Cyber Parks – the relationships between ICT and public open spaces in the city.
In 2015 he joined Tel Aviv University the Urban Design Lab as a researcher and serves at the management board of the Israeli Institute of Smart Cities.
A member at the Israel Planners Association and at the Movement of Israel Urbanism.
His articles are published in the international magazines on urban issues and smart cities.