Isaac Devash, WEV'88 Managing Director Devash Investments and Consulting Ltd. Tel Aviv

Wharton Speaker >> Biography

Mr. Isaac Devash is a business and social entrepreneur with fourteen years of international private equity and venture capital experiences.  He also gained several years of experience as an investment banker with Credit Suisse First Boston in New York, London and Tokyo.

Isaac founded two private equity/venture capital funds, while forging strategic alliances with large global institutions including, Hambros Bank Plc, Nomura Japan, Jafco Singapore and Israel Discount Bank. He led several successful investments such as: 'Shahal Telemedicine' (listed in Swiss stock exchange and received an investment of $40 million from Philips); 'Morecom' (sold to Liberate for $561 million) and Israel Direct Insurance's international operations (received a $170 million investment from Sun Alliance). Before founding IIF, Isaac managed the $157 million Renaissance Fund and led the privatization of Shikun U’ Pituach, Israel's largest reservoir of zoned land for residential housing.  More recently, Isaac represented several reputable investors in Israel and he co-founded a biotechnology company that is developing a multi-seasonal/multi-strain vaccine against the Influenza virus. Currently, he is focusing, with two partners, on setting up the first stand alone Israeli Internet Bank.

Before returning to Israel, Isaac gained international experience while working at the mergers & acquisitions and asset management departments of Credit Suisse First Boston and he led several transactions including the first privatizations in Poland and Hungary. Isaac earned his undergraduate degree, Summa Cum Laude, from The Wharton School and his MBA from Harvard Business School. Isaac serves on the Board of Governors of Ben Gurion University and the Jerusalem College of Engineering as well as on the boards of several companies and NGOs.  Isaac founded the Atidim: Cadets for Public Sector program, with the objective of "channeling"-over the next 10 years- 300 well-trained, capable and committed young Israelis into the public sector. Isaac played an important role in reshaping the Israel capital markets by devising a strategic reform-plan for the Ministry of Finance and the office of the Prime Minister.   In addition, he founded several educational initiatives with the objective of encouraging young Israelis to discuss the future challenges and opportunities facing Israel. Isaac founded and serves as the President of both the Wharton and Harvard Business School Clubs of Israel.

Isaac serves on Wharton's Executive Board for Europe, Middle East, and Africa.