HERITAGE FLORIDA JEWISH NEWS, MAY 17, 2013
/
pAt?a: 11A
•
This semester, Tel Aviv
University inaugurated a
pioneering business develop-
ment program aimed at Pal-
estinian executives, designed
jointly by LAHAV Executive
Education, and Kellogg-
Recanati Executive MBA
program at TAU's Recanati
Business School with USAID.
Addressing the unique chal-
lenges facing Palestinian
high-tech companies, the
12-day course gave partici-
pants the tools to effectively
manage their business, court
foreign funding and break
into international markets.
Mustafa Deeb, Information
and Communications Tech-
nology (ICT) sector lead at
USAID's Compete Project and
a graduate of the Kellogg-Re-
canati EMBA program, says
that this innovative course
was met with overwhelming
enthusiasm. "For just over 30
slots, we received more than
90 applications--a clear indi-
cation of the high demand for
this type of programming,"
he adds.
Top academics from Israel
and the United States and
leaders in the fields of high-
tech and venture capitalism
shared their expertise on top-
ics including software entre-
preneurship, international
marketing and business
management, technology
markets, negotiation strategy
and more.
The organizers believe that
this unique initiative can
bring a much-needed boost
to the Palestinian economy.
"The Palestinian private sec-
tor has many companies that
serve their local market, but
only a few in the regional
or international markets.
Since Palestinian companies
are typically either family-
owned or led by engineers,
their executives need to de-
velop proper business skills
to penetrate the complicated
international marketplace,"
says Deeb.
In selecting a host for the
project, USAID wanted a uni-
versity program that not only
offers outstanding academics
but also brings international
expertise and top manag-
ers from technology-driven
companies to share their
knowledge and international
experience with the par-
ticipants. Having graduated
more than 50 Palestinian
Executive MBA students
over the last 17 years and
boasting a top world rank-
ing, the Kellogg-Recanati
program was a natural fit.
The additional involvement
and expertise of LAHAV, the
executive education unit at
the Faculty of Management,
made TAU the ideal home for
such an ambitious project.
Combining academic theo-
ry and on-the-ground experi-
ence, LAHAV has 45 years of
experience building execu-
tive education programs to
suit a variety of sectors and
audiences around the world,
says LAHAV's CEO Udi Aha-
roni. But they have never
before" had the opportunity
to workwith their neighbors.
"At the end of the day, every
manager understands similar
concepts and vocabulary of
business, putting aside cul-
tural, religious or political
issues," Aharoni says. "From
our point of view, this is the
first stone in a long bridge to
business collaboration."
Lecturers, guest speakers
and participants continue to
be in touch outside of class,
he says proudly, which con-
tributes toward the program's
goal of facilitating a network
of Palestinian business lead-
ers with ties to the Israeli
market.
Dr. Itay Kama of TAU's Fac-
ulty of Management, who was
one of the lecturers during
this session, calls this one of
the most important programs
he has been involved with. A
teacher of financial account-
ing who believes that the
language of numbers tran-
scends boundaries, he thinks
this program has similarly
allowed Israelis and Palestin-
ians to engage in a common
dialogue. "If we are going to
have a better future, based
on peace and understanding,
then we must learn to com-
municate," he says.
Participants have been in-
spired by this unique experi-
ence and are enth~
recommending their col-
leagues for future sessions.
"The topics we addressed
and our guest speakers were
extraordinarily relevant to
their businesses and the
issues that they encounter
on a day-to-day basis," notes
Denis Gallagher, director of
USAID's Compete project.
On the heels of such
success, the organizers are
hoping to design courses
for Palestinians dedicated to
professionals in a variety of
fields, including commercial
agriculture and tourism.
4
By Ben Harris
NEW YORK (JTA)--When
the Museum of the History
of the Polish Jews opened its
doors to the public recently
after years of delays and
tens of millions of dollars in
spending, it was in no small
part thanks to the work of
Tad Taube.
A successful San Francisco
businessman and philan-
thropist, Taube (pronounced
Toby) has been directing the
considerable resources of the
Taube Philanthropies and the
Koret Foundation, both of
which he helms, to support
efforts to revive Jewish life
in Poland.
Between them, the orga-
nizations have devoted some
$16 million to the museum,
which also is supported by
the Polish government and
other donors. Taube has
spent millions more support-
ing Jewish educational and
cultural efforts in Poland,
all in a country Taube fled
as a child as invading armies
approached.
Taube is also a major
donor in the United States,
where he supports a dizzying
array of causes, including
conservative and libertarian
groups, Republican political
campaigns, schools, an op-
era and the Jewish Renewal
movement.
Rather than harbor resent-
ment toward Poland, Taube
has become one of the coun-
try's most irrepressible boost-
ers, and not just through his
philanthropy. Since 2007,
he has served as Poland's
honorary consul in the Bay
Area. Taube also has publicly
criticized the Jewish fixation
on Poland's Holocaust era,
exemplified by programs like
March of the Living, which
ignores the hundreds of years
of Polish Jewish history that
preceded it.
"I think it is essential that
we not lose our connection
with the country that was the
historical center of Jewish life
and culture for a millenium,"
Taube told JTA. "Our Judeo-
Christian culture came from
that 1,000-year period of Jew-
ish history in Poland."
Born in Krakow and raised
in Torun and Warsaw, Taube
Philanthropist Tad Taube
Jews in Warsaw.
fled Poland in 1939 when he
was 8, just months before the
country was invaded by the
Nazis and the Soviets. The
following year, the family
relocated from New York to
Los Angeles, where Taube's
father believed he would have
better success in business.
As a kid, Taube starred in
wartime propaganda films
produced by Hollywood
studios, playing Polish and
Russian children. He was
educated in Los Angeles
public schools before going
on to earn two degrees from
Stanford University and serve
in the Air Force ROTC. After
a brief technology career in
what was then the burgeon-
ing high-tech hub of Silicon
Valley, Taube got into real
estate.
One of his clients was
Joseph Koret, the founder of
an apparel company with his
wife, Stephanie. In the 1970s,
the company, Koracorp, faced
legal and financial trouble
and Koret asked Taube to
take it over and affect a
turnaround. The company
eventually was sold to Levi
Strauss & Co.
Taube began visiting Po-
land for business in the
1970s and was struck by the
deprivations wrought by
communism--empty restau-
rants, the lack of commerce,
shabby hotels. After the fall
Malgorzata Turczynska
attends the dedication of the Museum of the History of Polish
of communism, everything
changed.
"The socialist state was
dead," Taube said. "The
democratic and capitalistic
state that evolved after the
freedom that was gained in
Poland in 1989 developed
possibly one of the strongest
economies in all of Europe,
not tinged by all the problems
of Greece and Spain."
Taube's love of free en-
terprise led him to a diverse
business career, including a
stint at the electronics com-
pany Ampex and an attempt
to create an alternative to
the NFL, the United States
Football League that foun-
dered in the 1980s. Taube was
the owner of the short-lived
Oakland Invaders franchise.
"It was not a success
financially, but it was an
adventure," Taube said.
As aphilanthropist, Taube's
interests are similarly om-
nivorous. There's the Taube
Tennis Center--including
the Taube Family Tennis
Stadium and the adjacent
Taube South Courts--at
Stanford University; the
Taube Discussion Series on
Teaching American Values at
the Woodrow Wilson Center
in Washington; the Taube-
Koret Campus for Jewish
Life in Palo Alto, Calif.; and
various named initiatives at
Stanford's Hoover Institu-
tion, the conservative think
tank where Taube sits on the
board of overseers.
Taube's philanthropies, the
Taube Foundation for Jewish
Life & Culture and the Taube
Family Foundation, support
a bewildering array of civic
and charitable institutions:
the San Francisco Opera
and Museo Italo Americano,
a Bay Area museum cel-
ebrating the heritage of
Italian-Americans; the Jew-
ish Renewal movement and
the Nueva School, a private
school in Hillsborough, Calif;
an at-risk youth program,
Touchdowns for Kids, and
the Cezar Chavez Academy.
He also supports a number
of conservative and libertar-
ian causes, including the
Cato Institute, the Ayn Rand
Institute, the David Horow-
itz Freedom Center and the
Claremont Institute. In 2012,
Taube's political donations
went exclusively to Repub-
licans, including the cam-
paigns of Mitt Romney and
Eric Cantor, and the Repub-
lican National Committee
and the National Republican
Senatorial Committee.
Taube also ;supported the
San Francisco Jewish Film
Festival, but pulled funding
over its decision to screen a
film in 2009 about Rachel
Corrie, an American activist
killed in 2003 by an Israeli
bulldozer while protesting
Palestinian home demoli-
tions. Shana Penn, executive
director of the Taube Foun-
dation, resigned as festival
president in protest.
"I don't want to be pigeon-
holed as someone who is oper-
ating in Poland because I like
everything about Poland,"
Taube said. "What I like in
Poland is that they reclaimed
their freedom and rebuilt
i their economy with a model
I think works. I also like the
support that the government
is giving to the museum and
other Jewish institutions."
After the fall of commu-
nism, Taube began to support
the resurgence of Jewish life
in Poland. At the time, the
field had a single dominant
player, the cosmetics mag-
nate Ronald Lauder, who was
beginning to build a sprawl-
ing philanthropic empire
across the countries of the
former Eastern Bloc. Taube
began working with Lauder
on various projects.
In addition to the museum,
Taube supports Jewish com-
munity centers across Po-
land, organizations devoted
to scholarship and heritage
preservation, education and
religious life, artistic endeav-
ors and cultural exchange.
"It was one of those situ-
ations that you turn up one
card and there's 100 more
behind it," Taube said. "In
otherwords, itwas like trying "
to move the Sahara Desert
east by 1 mile, a teaspoon of
sand at a time. The amount
of work was so great, prob-
ably even 10 organ'mations
could not do it. But we could
start, and we did. And now we
have the results of a decade
of sustained effort and com-
mitment."
Your in
Orlando Real Estate!!!!
Over 25+ years Residential Real Estate Sales experience
Over $200 Million+ Lifetime Sales
GALE MILGRIM, P.A., Realtor
Gale.Milgrim@FloridaMoves.com
407-443-9832
Visit www.OrlandoJewishRealtor.com
To read my Glorying Client Testimonials and my BIO!!!!!
Member Congregation Ohev Shalom • Parent of 2 Jewish Academy Ahmmi
Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando Supporter
REAL ESTATE SERVICES
