Zafrir Levy - Senior VP - Business Development - Exact Sciences & Engineering
Mr. Levy joined BGN in 2007. Prior to Joining BGN, Mr. Levy managed for several years the business development activities in the areas of engineering, computer, exact sciences and medical devices at TRDF (Technion R&D Foundation). Previously he held a number of managerial positions in the R&D and Marketing teams of Encotone, a provider of PKI digital signatures solutions and acoustic signing technologies. He was the founder and the CEO of Thinking Different, a company which activated out-sourcing classes and other activities in the field of computers, sciences and innovative thinking. Mr. Levy holds a MBA focus on Hi-Tech from the Technion, and a B.A. in Economics and Business Administration from Haifa University.
Shirley Sheffer Hoffman - Senior VP Business Development – Water, Energy and Agriculture. Shirley joined BGN in 2017. Shirley brings extensive experience in Business Development, Marketing and Investment roles. Since 2011, Shirley served as VP Investments at Capital Nature investing, incubating and growing early stage start-ups in the clean energy and smart transportation/smart city space. Previously, for nine years, Shirley was with Poalim Ventures where she led investment opportunities from introduction, via due diligence and deal making, to actively working with the portfolio companies on the Board of Directors, to support them with strategy, financing issues, recruitment, and exiting. Shirley's experience also includes senior international marketing roles that spanned over the range of product management, product marketing and go-to market strategy, business/cooperation development, and team management in companies like ECI Telecom, Radway, Teledata, DEC, and others.
Shirley holds a BSc in Computer Science from the University of Massachusetts and an MBA from Tel Aviv University.
Dana Gavish-Fridman- VP Entrepreneurship
Dana joined BGN in 2017. Ms. Dana Gavish Fridman serves as a unique focal point to the flourishing ecosystem of the city of Beer Sheva, that connects between the academy, business partners, startups, VCs and multinationals.
In her previous role, Ms. Gavish-Fridman was VP Marketing at Yissum, the Hebrew University Technology Transfer company, for over twelve years. She was responsible for overall strategic marketing and PR activities and has successfully brought early-stage scientific inventions to commercialization with local and international business partners. Gavish-Fridman was also responsible for business development activities related to technologies in the fields of Chemistry, Nanotechnology and Physics.
Prior to joining Yissum in 2004, Ms Gavish-Fridman spent seven years as a producer at Israel's Channel 2 television news, Associated Press Television, and Fox News. She subsequently worked as a business development manager at several start-up companies and a business development consultancy. She holds a BA in Political Science and Literature, and an Executive MBA in Integrative Management, both from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Dganit Yaari - CFO
With over a decade of experience in business, financial, economic and commercial management, Dganit Yaari joined BGN Technologies in 2017.
In the past, Dganit was Head of Accounting Department at a major governmental infrastructures, and operating projects on a huge budget there. Dganit's professional experience
includes financial management in companies of various disciplines, as well as hi-tech and biotech companies.
Dganit is also an active member of the CEO, Finance Manager and Treasurer Forum at the Institute of Certified Public Accountants and serves in the IDF reserves as head of the economics division (Lt. Col. Equivalent)
She holds a BA in Accounting and Business administration (College of Management Academic Studies) and an Executive MBA in Accounting (Bar Ilan University).
Avi Strugano - Business Development
Mr. Strugano joined BGN in 2002. He has over 15 years of international marketing and business development experience. In addition to his business development position in BGN, Mr Strugano is the CEO of MultiPON which is one of BGU start-up companies developing chips to the ultra high data rates (10Gps and above) markets. Mr Strugano was the VP for Business Development and Marketing at Ness-ISI, a division of Ness Technologies (Nasdaq: NSTC), the Founder and VP for Sales and Projects at ScheduLogic and the Projects and Marketing Manager at Yahav – Projects and Computers. He is a graduate of the special program for PhD students in Physics and Electro-optics at Ben-Gurion University (BGU) and is currently doing his PhD in Business Management at BGU.
Danny Shtaier - Business Development - - Exact Sciences & Engineering
In the last two years Danny is a business development manager in the areas of engineering, computer and exact sciences at BGN Technologies. Prior to Joining BGN, Danny worked at MBT/Israeli Aircraft Industries (IAI) for 8 years as a system engineer and was the head of the satellite engineers team. Danny also worked at the NSC/Israeli Prime Minister's Office, where he served as R&D director at the Counter Terrorism Bureau (CTB). Later he served as the Head of the Technologies Department at the CTB, where he oversaw due diligence process and project analysis and managed the governmental funding for HLS projects. Since 2013 Danny has been focusing in bringing entrepreneurship to various fields including social media analysis and the 'New Space' industry. Danny is currently an Associate at the ICT, The International Institute Counter Terrorism, IDC Herzliya, where he leads some research groups. Danny has graduate courses in Mediation and a Director and Senior Management, and received an Aerospace Engineer (BSc) and a System Engineer (ME) from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology..
Dr. Naomi Siew-Efrat – VP Intellectual PropertyDr. Siew-Efrat is a certified Israeli patent attorney. She joined BGN Technologies in 2012, and brings a wealth of experience from her previous patent positions with Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. and at the offices of Dr. Shlomo Cohen & Co., and from her scientific research in the Bioinformatics field, including work at the Scripps research institute in San-Diego, California and the Buffalo Centre of Excellence in Buffalo, New York.
As the head of BGN's patent department, Dr. Siew-Efrat is managing the company's patent portfolio, creating, leading and maintaining regulatory and management procedures in the company's patent system, and collaborating with business development managers, university inventors and patent attorneys.
Dr. Siew-Efrat is a graduate of the Hebrew University (B.Sc. and M.Sc.Pharm) and holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry and Bioinformatics from the Ben-Gurion University. In her free time, Dr.Siew-Efrat passionately pursues explaining the science of cooking, on her blog “science in my plate", at https://scienceinmyplate.com.
