Yosef Abramowitz, - President, and Co-founder
Yosef I. Abramowitz, an American-Israeli human rights activist, educator and entrepreneur is recognized as one of the pioneers of the solar energy industry in both Israel and East Africa. Named by CNN as one of the six top global “Green Pioneers,” by PV Tech as “one of the most inspiring solar CEOs” worldwide, and as Person of the Year by the Israel National Business and Energy Conference, Abramowitz is co-founder of the Arava Power Company, Israel’s leading solar developer. Nominated three times for the Nobel Peace Prize, Abramowitz heads Energiya Global Capital, an impact investment platform that provides healthy returns to investors while advancing the environmental and humanitarian goals of providing affordable green power to underserved populations as a fundamental human right.
Howie Rodenstein - Chairman of Advisory Board and Acting CFO
Howie Rodenstein served for the past 15 years as CFO of Adheris Inc. a pharmaceutical information services company that he grew from a start-up to its sale for $100 million to inVentiv Health. He earned an MBA with Distinction (Baker Scholar) from Harvard Business School and a BA in Economics from Brandeis University. Howie founded and still chairs an annual charity bike ride that has attracted over a thousand riders and raised over $2.5 million for environmental NGO's over the past nine years.
Weldon Turner, - COO
Weldon Turner was previously a senior product manager at RCS Solar, a leading supplier of solar power plants in Europe, Africa and Israel. From 1994 to 1999, Weldon was the Director of International Equity Sales/Trading at Credit Suisse in New York, and from 1985 to 1992 he was a V.P. of Equity Sales/Trading at Salomon Brother in New York. Mr. Turner has been on the Board of Advisors of Thorium Power Company and Portofino Equity Advisors.
Aryeh Green, - Chief Strategy Officer
Aryeh is director ex officio of MediaCentral, and has been a consultant and executive for various publicly-traded companies, including Pfizer and MotoGuzzi. An expert in Middle Eastern affairs and media issues, Aryeh has served as a senior advisor to minister Natan Sharansky in the Israeli Prime Minister's office. He is a well-known international speaker and has been a leading advocate and activist for freedom and democracy for two decades. He holds masters degrees in business and international relations.
Michael Fichtenberg, - VP Finance
Michael Fichenberg handles finance for both corporate and project finance needs. Michael started his professional career as an entrepreneur in the construction materials business in NYC, where he founded and operated his company in custom materials servicing high-rise buildings in Manhattan. Deciding to move into the clean technology sector, Michael worked at an insurance company at their renewable energy desk, where he dealt with private wealth management, clean technology start-ups, and acquisition/sale of operating solar fields. Joining the Arava Power Company in 2011, Michael worked under the CFO and assisted in raising the debt and equity for 100 mw of solar PV, and the construction and commissioning of Israel's first medium sized PV field. Michael holds degrees in Finance and Information Technology.
Dr. Hanna H. Klein, - Director of Research and Grants
Dr. Klein in an energy expert. She has developed gas turbines with ABB in Switzerland and worked with Nuclear Safety for Vattenfall power company in Sweden and designing concentrated solar systems with Aora Israel. She has developed her own patents in concentrated solar technologies (as EZKlein) and has been active as an evaluator for the European Commission for grants regarding energy and environmental Science. She built up her business experience working as a business consultant for Arthur Andersen out of Amsterdam. She holds a MSc in Energy Systems from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm and a PhD in solar energy from the Weizmann Institute of Science.
Mandy Efrati, - Comptroller
Mandy Efrati, CPA, began her career at Ernst & Young in New York City in 2008, just as the global recession was beginning. After four years of working in the real estate department, she moved to Israel and relocated to Ernst & Young, Tel Aviv where she began working with start-ups and high tech companies. Next, she moved to Jerusalem and began working at KPMG where she continued to service start-ups, including Energiya Global. She joined the Energiya Global team in May 2015. She holds a Bachelors in Economics from the University of Maryland, and a Masters in Accountancy from the University of Notre Dame.
Shoshi Harari, - Book Keeper & Payroll Manager
Shoshi has over 20 years of experience working in businesses and nonprofit organizations as solo book keeper. She holds a BA in Business Management from Touro College in Jerusalem.
Jennifer Posen, - Assistant to President
Jennifer brings over fifteen years of executive and corporate management experience as well as a BBA in Finance experience to her role as assistant to Yosef Abramowitz. With her calm, no-nonsense approach, if it needs to get done, on-time and well, Jennifer is the go-to person.
Chaim Motzen, Co-Founder
Chaim Motzen, Co-Founder of Gigawatt Global, led the successful development of the first utility-scale solar field in East Africa in record time, an 8.5 MW plant in Rwanda which reached full production in September 2014 and increased Rwanda's generation capacity by approximately 6%. Chaim is a former consultant at McKinsey and Company, where he was awarded “The Marvin,” McKinsey’s highest award for non-partners, recognizing exceptional work in knowledge building. He received an MBA from Harvard Business School and an MPA from Harvard Kennedy School. Chaim is on the Board of Directors of the Gift of Life Bone Marrow Foundation, a world leader in facilitating bone marrow transplants for children and adults suffering from life-threatening diseases.
