jonathan shapira is a boston-based associate at goodwin procter llp and co-founder of the cleanIsrael network, a business network for entrepreneurs and investors in israel's cleantech industry. a graduate of middlebury college, the london school of economics, and boston college law school, jonathan helps identify technologies that are relevant to jha's projects in africa. while attending law school, jonathan was an intern at israel cleantech ventures and served as a law clerk to justice ayala procaccia of the supreme court of israel.
jonathan hollander grew up in annapolis, md where he became interested in the environment as a youth sailor. after studying engineering and environmental sciences at tufts, jonathan worked in finance in new york city. jonathan completed his mba at stanford, and then worked with an international investment fund where he analyzed real estate and mining companies worldwide and also traded metals. he travelled extensively throughout africa and began to volunteer with jha as a way to give something back to the continent from which he feels he gained so much. jonathan also volunteers with harlem rbi where he has been a baseball coach for 5 years.
andrew greene, founder and president of greenenergyco, has an extensive background in clean power markets and technologies, environmental compliance, strategic planning, and emission control measures and green trading markets. for the past 15 years, he has consulted with a wide range of energy companies and other public and private sector clients seeking to expand market opportunities for clean power technologies and services. his work also involves environmental strategy and regulatory guidance, due diligence assessments, and project investment analysis. previously, he served as assistant secretary for policy and planning at the massachusetts executive office of environmental affairs, and was director of the gas and water division of the massachusetts department of public utilities. he holds a ba in economics from tufts university, and an mba from boston college
in his worklife, steven is the ceo of brook plaza surgical center--a private multi-specialty, article 28-licensed, outpatient surgical facility. born in new york, steven has traveled extensively in europe and south america, and has worked on community-based social action initiatives such as the heifer project international and a stove construction program in guatemala. after learning about jewish heart for africa, steven joined the jha team on their trip to ethiopia, tanzania and uganda to see firsthand the work being done by sivan and co., and immediately began volunteering his time, energy and resources to the cause.
former ambassador of zambia isaiah chabala served as the ambassador and permanent representative of his native country to both the united nations and european union. he has worked extensively with various united nations programs including the UN security council, UNICEF, the UN commission on human rights, UN economic and social council and UNESCO. since 2005, former ambassador chabala has been working as the president and chief executive officer of visionary consulting associates, specializing in areas such as sustainable grass-roots development, poverty alleviation, gender equality, education and empowerment of women and girls. he currently resides in new york, and is married with two children.
shmuel chafets joined giza venture capital in 2009 as director of business development and is also a member of the giza internet investment team and focuses on consumer facing internet companies. shmuel leads giza’s investments in soluto, visual.ly and the elevator (a TechStars affiliate). in addition to his roll in giza, shmuel is also a partner and member of the investment committee in GPV, a giza sponsored warsaw based early stage venture capital fund. formerly, shmuel served as vice president at EBP Sp.z.o.o., a polish-based holding company focusing on infrastructure and alternative energy. prior to EBP, he worked as business development manager and consultant at GCS issue management israel, a leading israeli and CEE consultancy. during his time at GCS shmuel consulted government agencies and top tier corporate clients including the polish government, the coalition to bridge the digital divide (intel, cisco, microsoft, the jewish agency) the israeli cellular forum (constituting of the three majored local cellular companies), the israeli airport authority and others. prior to his work at GCS, shmuel served in several positions in the israeli parliament and government including advisor to the deputy minister of interior. shmuel is also member of the board of directors of the israeli opera and of the rabinovich foundation where he also serves as a member of the finance and investment committees.
david is an international development professional and advocate dedicated to working with populations in need. in 2008-2009, david worked as a consultant for the united nations world food programme--in brussels, belgium working on european union development aid issues and in 2009, in lusaka, zambia working with food voucher projects and refugee assistance programs. david is currently a program officer at the palms for life fund: a ny based global alliance to fight poverty. he has experience with sustainable hunger solutions, poverty reduction initiatives, refugee migration and agriculture-based projects. david has traveled and worked in over fifteen countries including significant time spent in india, israel and africa. he holds a masters in international relations from the maxwell school of citizenship and public affairs at syracuse university and a b.a. from lehigh university. in his spare time, david is a photographer and a cyclist.
