The Israel Conference Announces Featured Speakers from Oracle, SanDisk, Microsoft, Marvell, and Google

Tuesday May 11, 2010, 9:30 am EDT

The Israel Conference 2010

LOS ANGELES --(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The premiere business conference for Israel-facing companies will bring top-tier executives together on Thursday, June 3, 2010 in Los Angeles. Featured speakers include Oracle's president, SanDisk's chairman, Google Israel's head of R&D, Microsoft Israel's head of R&D, and Marvell's co-founder, among other chief executives who will be speaking throughout the day. The Israel Conference™ brings companies that do significant business in Israel together to increase business and investment opportunities between Israel and the United States. Registration is going strong at www.TheIsraelConference.org

“We keep reading in the news about industry giants such as Google and Oracle who are buying Israeli start-up companies that have created innovative applications and technologies. The Israel Conference™ brings this into focus by featuring companies that are on the radar of the large multinationals.  Attendees can see the courting of companies in action,” says Sharona Justman, managing director of STEP Strategy Advisors, an acquisitions advisory and strategic planning firm with offices in Israel and California, and co-chair of The Israel Conference™.

The Israel Conference™ offers a forum for CEOs, CIOs, CTOs, senior executives and business development executives as well as entrepreneurs, private equity, financiers, venture capitalists, and industry innovators, to learn about the technologies and applications of the most innovative Israeli companies. It’s a great opportunity to meet with the business people behind the technologies to develop business ties and create new business ventures.

The event is co-chaired by Yossi Vardi, (the founder and pioneer along with his sons of Instant Messaging) who is considered the ‘Godfather of High Tech in Israel’.   The Israel Conference™ brings together leaders of significant Israel-facing businesses that were founded in Israel, have R&D operations in Israel, do business in Israel, or invest in Israeli companies.

This year’s speaker lineup includes leaders of industry giants - SanDisk Chairman Eli Harari, Oracle President Safra Catz, Google Israel Head of R&D Center Yossi Matias, Microsoft Israel Head of R&D Moshe Lichtman, and Answers.com Chairman Bob Rosenschein.

Specialized panels will address six key areas.  One area touches on technology that is designed near the Dead Sea in Israel and is being implemented in sunny California.  The Solar and Clean Tech panel will focus on hot companies with innovative solar technologies who will speak about their explosive growth. The panel includes BrightSource Energy Chairman Arnold Goldman, Capstone Turbine CEO Darren Jamison, HelioFocus Founder Ori Zik, former DWP CEO and Senior Advisor to the Clinton Climate Initiative David Nahai, and Southern California Edison.    

Another panel on Digital Delivery will demonstrate how to connect the consumer on all devices from TVs to PCs to PDAs with content worth viewing and show the latest trends in IPTV technologies with the most market-changing companies.  This panel features RayV Founder Ori Birnbaum, Catch Media CEO Yaacov ben Yaacov, Boxee CEO Avner Ronen, Taboola CEO Adam Singolda, and Evergreen Venture Partners’ Managing Director Erez Shachar.

The Israel Conference™ also features the highly enjoyable Fast & Cool™ where companies will provide short and targeted presentations on the ‘wow’ factor of their technology and includes firms such as WorldMate  a leader in travel applications, Wix enabler of over three million websites, TuneWiki the social music player, and WinBuyer an onsite comparative pricing solution.

A new and exciting interactive area of The Israel Conference™ is the Pavilion of Companies, an expo for investors and business development executives to meet companies such as SeamBi, a leader in ad placement and Tigo Energy, a maximizer of solar energy output. These companies will demonstrate their unique technologies and discuss their business directly with the attendees.

“This conference has become the locus for great connections with Israel-facing companies.  Familiar comments in the past have been “I didn’t know that” about the technology that has been invented and designed in Israel from chips to consumer electronics.  We are changing this refrain to be “I know the founder”.  This familiarity will promote more interaction between business leaders and decision makers, and that is the energy behind good deals,” commented Sharona Justman, conference co-chair. 

This is an outstanding opportunity to create business ties with one of the most technologically innovative countries in the world:

• Tel Aviv was named one of the ten most technologically influential cities in the world.
• Solar water heating is used by over 90 percent of Israeli homes.
• International Technology companies such as Marvell, Intel, IBM, Google, Hewlett-Packard, Cisco, Oracle, Motorola, Microsoft, and CA have research and development facilities in Israel. 
• More than 3,000 star-ups have been launched in Israel, second only to the United States.
• Significant Israeli companies have corporate offices in California with job creation in the hundreds of thousands worldwide.  A number of these are Fortune 500 companies such as Check Point, SanDisk, Magic Software, VocalTec Communications, AudioCodes, and Amdocs.
• Israeli corporations do business in the world market and hold the No. 1 position on the NASDAQ with over 120 Israeli companies quoted, second only to U.S. corporations.
• In 2009, foreign direct investment in Israel reached $3.8 billion.
• Israeli high-tech capital raising in 2009 reached $1.12 billion across 447 Israeli high-tech companies, with 124 companies raising $275 million in the fourth quarter.  Sixty-seven companies attracted more than $1 million each.

“We are connecting U.S. business leaders and entrepreneurs with Israeli companies and innovators. By bringing Israel-facing enterprises, companies, and their know-how to the forefront we can expand the business market’s familiarity with strong Israeli companies, which will translate into new business while promoting further innovation and market leadership,” commented Eran Wagner, president of North American Operations for cVidya Networks and a member of the conference organizing team.

The Israel Conference™ organizing team includes Yossi Vardi of International Technologies, Sharona Justman of STEP Strategy Advisors, Eran Wagner of cVidya Networks, Glenn Yago of Milken Institute, Isabel Maxwell, David Ben-Ami of MacroCure, Yair Landau of Mass Animation, David Nahai of The Clinton Climate Initiative, Noam Lotan of MRV Communications, Igal Litovsky of Shamrock, Ayelet Weinerman, Ronit Harel of Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, Sharon Rechter of BabyFirstTV, Dan Yukelson of Premiere Radio Networks, Tracy Williams of Olmstead Williams Communications,  Baruch Littman of The Foundation, Ron Zuckerman of RayV, Izhar Shay of Canaan Partners, David Blumberg of Blumberg Capital, and Sigal Admony-Ravid of Israel Consul for Economic Affairs, of The State of Israel.

The Israel Conference™ sponsors include Marvell Technology Group, Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton, Answers.com, The Economic Mission of the State of Israel, Vintage Filings, STEP Strategy Advisors, Wells Fargo Bank, Bank Leumi, Wasserman, Comden, Casselman & Esensten, as well as Glaser, Weil, Fink, Jacobs, Howard & Shapiro, The Foundation, Fox Rothschild, El Al, Luxe Worldwide Hotels, and Canaan Partners. 

Media Sponsors and Business Partners include TheMarker, Business Wire, Premiere Radio Networks, Olmstead Williams Communications, Santa Monica Observer, IVC Research Center, American Friends of the Hebrew University, American Technion Society, Southern California Israel Chamber of Commerce, Magic Sauce Media, Technology Council of Southern California, Canada’s Venture Capital & Private Equity Association, California Israel Chamber of Commerce, Nosal Partners, WITI-Women In Technology International, Maverick Angels, Larta, and iHollywoodForum.

For further information, contact The Israel Conference™ at 310.445.5388 or email Paula@TheIsraelConference.org or visit www.TheIsraelConference.org.

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Contact:
Olmstead Williams Communications for The Israel Conference
Tracy Williams, 310-479-7055
Tracy@OlmsteadWilliams.com