Home » TOP 50 COUNTDOWN: Meet the community’s new tech titans! – Jewish News

TOP 50 COUNTDOWN: Meet the community’s new tech titans! – Jewish News

TOP 50 COUNTDOWN: Meet the community’s new tech titans! – Jewish News

Click here for the Top 10 Digital & Tech List

Click here for an intro by the judges

Profiles 11-50 (unranked)

Josh Adley, 35, Multimedia

 

 

 

 

Multimedia extraordinaire Josh is the managing director of Listen, an award-winning agency that creates premium podcasts, radio shows and social-first content. The 35-year-old counts an impressive array of big names among his client list, including Netflix, Spotify, Amazon, Comedy Central and Sky Sports. His firm has won an array of awards, including Best New Podcast 2023 at the British Podcast Awards, Start-up Agency of the Year, ALF (2022) and Production Company of the Year at the Audio Production Awards (2021).

Outside of work, Josh also co-founded the non-profit social enterprise, Linkey, in 2017 after a personal encounter with a homeless man left him determined to act. Through its online shop, providing donors with a transparent method of buying essential items for the homeless, Linkey raised £100,000 worth of donations in its first 18 months alone. Passionate about supporting vulnerable people, Josh has featured on numerous major outlets, including Sky, BBC, LBC and The Sun, to promote his initiative.

Dan Benitah, 38, Senior Manager/Leader

Software engineer Dan has used his skill set to help drive a revolution in green software. As a pioneering member of the Green Software Foundation, a non-profit organisation promoting standards, tooling and best practice for green software, he has addressed numerous conferences of leading tech companies in the UK and Europe to encourage them to reduce their emissions.

The 38-year-old is also the group manager at Avanade, a leading global provider of cloud and advisory services, AI and sustainable industry solutions across the Microsoft ecosystem. Notably, Dan led the team that designed and developed the NHS Covid vaccination booking website, which was subsequently used by millions of people across the UK. Working under significant time and societal pressure to deliver an efficient, user-friendly website, Dan was praised for demonstrating exceptional “resilience and flexibility” when adapting the website at short notice to accommodate significant traffic.

 

Katie Bohm, 37, Advertising/Marketing/Communications

Katie is an expert in influencer and social media marketing with a proven track record of driving successful, data-driven strategies. Her expertise spans the entire spectrum of influencer marketing, from the development and execution of international strategies to the management of consumer engagement programmes.

Known for her strategic acumen, intellectual rigour and meticulous attention to detail, Katie consistently delivers high-impact results. The 37-year-old is currently director of partnerships, EMEA at Captiv8, a leading influencer marketing software for enterprise businesses. Katie is responsible for spearheading the expansion and strategic growth of the business across the region from the London office. Prior to this, she was instrumental in establishing the London office for HYPR, an advanced influencer data and analytics company. Before transitioning to the influencer platform sector, Katie held the position of global network director at Talk PR, an M&C Saatchi-owned communications agency, where she significantly contributed to its growth and client success.

Guy Cherni, 39, & Nadav Steinmetz, 31, Entrepreneur

Nadav and Guy are deep-tech entrepreneurs and investors with a joint passion for tackling humanity’s most significant challenges. The pair are the co-founders and managing partners of Climate First, which supports European climate tech companies seeking to solve major challenges in the field of decarbonisation. Their company has invested in more than 30 firms disrupting the fields of energy, materials, food, mobility and more. These include Israeli climatech start-up BreezoMeter’, the global leader in providing street level and real-time air quality information, which was acquired by Google in 2022.

Prior to Climate First, Guy, 39, co-founded Atlas Dynamics, the leading European unmanned aerial systems company that redefined the drone industry using autonomous swarms. Nadav, 31, is a former private equity investor with more than a decade of experience in financial services, venture capital and real estate, having worked at Blackstone and other institutions. Undoubtedly ones to watch, the pair continue to support category-defining start-ups with outsized returns.

Rafi Cohen, 35, Entrepreneur

Rafi is passionate about utilising his skills to address the most pressing challenges facing our environment. The 35-year-old is the co-founder and CEO of Verna, an environmental services company that uses geospatial data science to address the climate and nature crises.

The company helps landowners, investors, and policymakers to use land in ways that draws down carbon, enhances biodiversity and generates sustainable returns through woodland creation, habitat creation and enhancement, and regenerative agriculture. Founded in 2022, the company’s impressive client base has already grown to include major players, such as National Highways, the Environmental Agency and Forestry England. Highly regarded for his purpose-driven mentality, the former KPMG and Boston Consulting Group employee also founded the national social enterprise TalentEd Education in 2012. The organisation provides high quality, small group tuition in English, mathematics or science to young people from disadvantaged backgrounds across the UK.

Jacob Colton, 39, Entrepreneur

Jacob is a serial entrepreneur whose  successful ventures have ranged from confectionery to hosting websites. The 39-year-old is currently managing director at Joju Solar, the UK’s leading installer of solar PV and EV charging infrastructure. Until recently, he was the COO and director of catalyst2, which offered a range of managed hosting, ranging from single websites to fully redundant cloud hosting. Under Jacob’s leadership, the company ballooned into providing services for tens of thousands of individuals and companies, including Virgin Care and the Royal British Legion, before being acquired in 2021.

Jacob previously founded Tasty Trading, which sold consumer and corporate gifts under two brands – Posh Pick and Mix and Cookie Canteen. His impressive customer list included major clients such as Bloomberg, EE and L’Oréal. Since 2022, Jacob has been a trustee of Jewish Blind & Disabled and was formerly a trustee of Tavistock Relationships, which focuses on psychoeducational approaches to supporting couples.

Ben Crome, 30, Advertising/Marketing/Communications

PR guru Ben has become indispensable in driving strategic communications between firms straddling the UK and Israel. Praised as “one of the finest PR practitioners in the game”, the 30-year-old heads up the UK office of Headline Media, a premier international PR and strategy firm based in Tel Aviv that has represented around 400 of Israel’s top tech companies.

Herein he has secured strategic global media coverage for dozens of firms, including London-based YuLife and the Israel Innovation Authority, a leading player in the realm of technological innovation. With regards the latter, Ben has played a significant role in increasing its international exposure and establishing it as a leader in fostering entrepreneurial innovation. Previously, Ben served as the head of British media at the Israel Defence Forces’ spokesperson’s unit, honing his skills in managing narratives and media relations, and worked as a special features writer at Jewish News in 2017/18.

Ami Daniel, 40, Entrepreneur

Ex naval officer Ami’s passion for the oceans has resulted in him building multiple award-winning social projects. The 40-year-old is the co-founder and CEO of Windward, a global market leader in maritime risk analytics. His company helps organisations – including marine insurers, governments and law enforcement – understand maritime risk, thereby enabling them to undertake effective mitigating activities.

Headquartered in Tel Aviv and London, the company has raised almost $85m in funding since 2010 and listed on the London Stock Exchange in December 2021. Ami has twice been listed on 40 under 40 lists in Israel, and even secured a place on the Wall Street Journal’s top 100 tech leaders list in 2022. Outside of work, Ami is an advisory board member of HaGal Sheli (My Wave), a leading non-governmental organisation that supports disempowered young people to overcome difficulties by learning how to surf and embrace the ocean.

Josh Drukarz, 30, Investor

Josh has demonstrated considerable passion in driving the sustainability and decarbonisation of the real estate sector. The 30-year-old is the managing partner of Scalar North Capital, a private investment vehicle for several privately-owned real estate companies and high-net-worth individuals investing in early-stage technology companies at Seed and Series A. Since joining from HSBC’s investment banking division in 2019, Josh has led investments in several companies, including VisiLean, Converge, Snap It and Connectd.

He has also spearheaded Scalar North Capital’s expansion into new sectors and launched the advisory and consultancy functions. Highly passionate about driving entrepreneurship, Josh is also the managing director of TeqDen, which provides opportunities for young start-ups to showcase their businesses, pitching to a panel of judges made up of advocates and investors. Numerous TeqDen events have proven successful, with the most recent one taking place alongside UK Israel Business at WeWork Labs in Tel Aviv.

Gideon Farrell, 33, & Raphael Scheps, 33, Entrepreneur

For more than a decade, Gideon and Raphael have worked to revolutionise the use of digital technology in the construction industry. The pair co-founded Converge in 2014, a construction technology company that optimises concrete operations and materials for the site, factory and ready mixer by digitising the physical world of construction with sensors and AI technologies.

The firm partners with the world’s largest construction companies and has won numerous sustainability and innovation awards, as well as raising £15m in a Series A funding round in 2022. Gideon, 33, has previously served as a researcher for Intel’s WISP (Wireless Identification and Sensing Platform) at the Georgia Tech Research Institute, and developed and tested SQUIDS (Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices) at the Weizmann Institute in Israel. Raphael, also 33, has worked as an engineer at Mellanox Technologies, specialising in high-speed interconnect for supercomputers, and as a researcher at the Weizmann Institute analysing sensor data from telescopes.

Sam Franklin, 37, Senior Manager/Leader

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sam founded the Innovation Consulting team at Atos/Eviden and works with customers across the UK on their biggest business  challenges.

The 37 year old is battling cancer again for the fourth time, all while raising two young children and as the former Chair of Borehamwood and Elstree Synagogue.

Sam has been recognised by the company as a technology leader and has graduated their prestigious GOLD programme. He is their youngest Associate Partner and is a trail blazer at work, championing a four day work week to balance family time, which he confesses is his secret to his laser focus and drive for success.

Sam embodies the #DareToTry mindset of Eviden. His deep technical knowledge with years of consulting experience means he is able to bring the most innovative solutions to customers, leveraging AI, data, automation, cloud and cyber security. Sam works across UK public and private sector and is developing innovative solutions to have meaningful impact now and for generations to come.

Sam has recently taken to instagram @the_melanoman to raise awareness about his rare cancer ocular melanoma.

Almog Golani, 28, Advertising/Marketing/Communications

Almog is quickly establishing herself as a rising star within the advertising industry. After completing her degree in creative advertising at the University of the Arts London, the 28-year-old honed her craft at Watford Ad School specialising in copywriting and art direction. Since 2018, Almog has worked as a ‘creative’ at VCCP London, a prestigious global integrated communications agency whose major clients include O2, easyJet, Cadbury, T-Mobile for Business, and Virgin Media. VCCP has quickly grown into a major player, including in AI, and recently won gold as Campaign’s Integrated Agency of the Year.

The Israeli-born former Immanuel College pupil has been praised for building “great relationships with the people she works with”, while being “very driven and treating everyone with respect”. With numerous of her adverts driving engagement from thousands of consumers, Almog is undoubtedly one to watch.

Ben Grabiner, 34, Entrepreneur

Venture Capital tech supremo Ben has an ability to drive every project into success. He is currently a partner at Side Stage Ventures, a recently-formed Venture Capital firm in Australia, which will write $500,000 cheques to early-stage start-ups within their $30m fund.

His firm has already backed three fast-growing start-ups in health, generative AI and HR, including online pain management platform More Good Days and alcohol-free beer maker Heaps Normal. The 34-year-old previously launched Platoon, a platform to support emerging musicians with tools, services and capital. In its first two years, Platoon helped to launch the global careers of Billie Eilish, Jorja Smith and Stefflon Don among others, before being acquired by Apple in 2018. Praised for “changing what it looks like to be a young VC”, in 2019 Ben was named in the 30 under 30 Europe list by Forbes.

Tash Grossman, 28, & Eddy Herman 29, Entrepreneur

After failing to return a pair of trousers without a physical receipt, Tash was determined to build a more effective, online solution. Alongside her business partner Eddy, the 28-year-old channelled her frustrations into co-founding Slip, a digital receipt and data solution-focused app that recently raised £2.5m in seed funding. Users can store their digital receipts in one place, access exclusive offers and receive personalised content based on their buying habits.

 

 

Slip also supports retailers by providing powerful data and insights around consumer trends, all while bolstering their sustainability credentials. Tash previously worked for auditing and advisory firm KPMG and the business consultancy company Gate One, honing her business and financial services skills. Eddy, 29, is the company’s CTO, having previously worked at The Hut Group and Darktrace as a senior software engineer. Since co-founding Slip, Tash has won multiple awards. She has been recognised in TechRound’s 29 under 29, been a finalist in Verizon’s Young Entrepreneur Competition and was recognised in Dell’s Women in Tech contest.

Gali Karmi, 39, Senior Manager/Leader

Former JFS student Gali has made a name for himself in the cyber security landscape. The 39-year-old is an expert in digital intelligence and advises a range of blue-chip clients on their digital platforms and cyber security requirements. He is currently the sales manager, EMEA, at Foxit, a leading provider of innovative PDF and eSignature products and services with more than 700 million users. Gali previously headed up business development in the UK as the senior sales director for the Estonian-based start-up Binalyze, a modern digital forensics and incident response platform. He was tasked with establishing the first sales function in the UK and growing the business from scratch. Among his extensive experience, Gali has overseen the business IPO for the Israeli tech firm Cellebrite, and worked as a business development manager at British Transport Police, where he successfully initiated their first international commercial unit.

Ari Kayser, 37, Senior Manager/Leader

Few have taken Jewish education to new heights quite like Ari. As director of online education, the Aish UK rabbi has channelled his passion for online learning to reach millions of users. The 37-year-old leads a talented team of creatives, who produce numerous short inspirational videos, podcast series and online courses. Notably, their famous Ashkenazi vs Sephardi food fight went viral with more than one million views across all platforms.

In 2020, Ari initiated Maven, the online courses of Aish UK – covering topics including fundamentals in Judaism, antisemitism, mental health, food and spirituality. To date, Maven has had 1,500 enrolments in the UK and is now being trialled across campuses in the USA and worldwide. Ari is also the editor-in-chief of Perspectives magazine, which has a quarterly circulation of 10,000 print copies. Praised as a “powerhouse of energy”, Ari continues to relish the challenge of translating authentic Jewish teachings into the language of the 21st century.

Sam Koch, 32, Entrepreneur

Sam has built an impressive career over the past decade as a tech entrepreneur and product manager. The 32-year-old is the director of Samdroid, a personal start-up consultancy founded in 2016 that offers a range of services, including product design and development, tech development (mobile apps, servers and databases) and business planning. His impressive roster of clients includes Gameway, which uses AI to recommend mobile games to a user-base of more than 100,000, and  The Zensory, a popular mindfulness app on the Google Play store. Sam has also partnered with major tech providers, including cloud platform Akamai, and T-Mobile, to deliver major technical integrations in his role as technical partner manager at Mobolize. His experience also includes building an augmented reality mobile app that solved indoor GPS location issues – all while studying at university – and stints in software engineering at Facebook.

Aron Lewis, 28, Entrepreneur

Aron is a talented marketeer who is deeply committed to his Jewish identity and community service. In his professional life, he is the growth and marketing lead at Peckwater Brands, Europe’s largest virtual food brand operator, which runs a highly innovative delivery franchise for kitchen operators. With the 28-year-old’s support, the Series A tech start-up has experienced tremendous success, expanding into more than 11 markets and achieving a valuation of £65 million.

Aron’s eye for innovation was honed while working with Flock Associates on transformative marketing projects for global clients across various industries, including Asda and global real estate firm JLL. Beyond his professional achievements, Brighton-born Aron served as vice chair of the Jewish Society while studying at King’s College London. He has also dedicated himself to mental health charity Jami, serving as a valued member of its Young Professionals Committee and using his marketing skills to promote mental health awareness and organise successful fundraising events.

Gabi Lewis, 26, Senior Manager/Leader

Gabi has built a reputation in the technology/start-up ecosystem while supporting numerous communal causes. The 26-year-old has recently co-founded Radiela, a deep technology business looking to unlock artificial general intelligence to drive scientific discoveries. Gabi was formerly Chief of Staff at Bibliu, a learning enablement platform that empowers higher education institutions to streamline their workflows to achieve greater student outcomes, affordability and social mobility. In her role, Gabi headed up strategy, investor relations, HR and operations while also sitting on the business’s executive committee.

She has already been recognised with several industry awards, including Computer Weekly’s 2022 Most Influential Women in Tech. Highly passionate about Jewish philanthropy, Gabi chaired Jami’s young professionals’ charity committee, raising £100,000 over a five-year period. In addition, she initiated the first cross-communal young professionals’ event, raising £10,000 for numerous charities. Already a leading communal figure, Gabi undoubtedly has a very bright future
ahead of her.

Gilad Livnat, 38, Entrepreneur

With his unwavering passion for innovation, Gilad has forged an inspiring path in the tech sector. Drawing upon a customer-centric approach, the 38-year-old played a pivotal role in leading the development of an app that soared to the top 10 on both Google and Apple charts, showcasing his expertise in creating products that resonate with users.

A former senior air traffic controller and ground control interceptor with the Israeli Air Force, in 2016, Gilad founded iSpace, an aero-tech innovation hub, that brought together talented minds and cutting-edge technologies to drive advancements in the aviation world. Constantly guided by a commitment to giving back, the Tel Aviv University alumni is also a product management mentor for Google for Startups EU, supporting emerging entrepreneurs as they navigate their own path to success. Praised for his “purposeful innovation” mindset, Gilad leaves a lasting impact on the industries, business and lives he has touched on his journey.

Dan Mackenzie, 31, Senior Manager/Leader

Dan is a purpose-driven leader in the tech space. The 31-year-old is currently a product manager in Google’s Android Health team, working to improve health outcomes for millions of users around the world. His team supports users with enhancing the access, control and shareability of their data relating to health, fitness and wellness. His career also includes the co-founding of Altruistiq, an innovative venture in the climate-tech space that raised £15 million in seed funding from the venture capital community.

Dan led the product side of the business to help customers manage and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, while driving initiatives to improve the sustainability of their businesses. An engineer by training, Dan’s earliest roles included operating as a Formula One engineer at Mercedes – alongside star drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg – before consulting on emerging technologies such as Blockchain. The latter even led to a position on the UK Government’s All-Party Parliamentary Group for AI & Blockchain.

Adam Meisels, 38, Legal

Adam is a corporate lawyer specialising in venture capital and mergers and acquisitions involving major technology companies. Recently promoted to partner at prestigious international law firm Bird & Bird, the 38-year-old specialises in supporting high-growth companies throughout their life cycles, alongside VC funds, corporate venture capital funds and other institutional investors seeking advice on disruptive tech firms. His numerous clients, whom he advises, include health-tech platform GetHarley, as it undertook a $52m Series B financing round, and Job&Talent, a recruitment tech platform that undertook a $500m Series E financing round. Adam also heads up the firm’s Israel Group, having previously lived in Tel Aviv and worked for Meitar, one of Israel’s largest law firms.

Adam has a strong interest in Israel’s renowned tech ecosystem, with deep expertise in advising Israeli companies looking to expand abroad, as well as working with multinational corporates on their business activities in Israel.

Jack Mendel, 31, Multimedia

Jack is one of Britain’s leading digital journalists with a remarkable knack for driving online engagement.

The 31-year-old is currently the assistant digital editor at the business-focused newspaper City AM, where he manages its daily digital offering, including writing and editing content, supporting a team of reporters, sending newsletters and collating the homepage. Prior to that, Jack was the online editor of Jewish News, where, for seven years, he led the paper’s digital strategy, including utilising social media and video to drive traffic to the site, and managed the day-to-day running of the organisation’s commercial digital partnerships.

While at Jewish News, Jack built a sterling reputation for developing and nurturing strong relationships with political and community leaders, including the Mayor of London, whom he interviewed on numerous occasions. Praised for being a “dedicated digital media specialist who adds huge value to the teams he has been part of, be it Jewish News or now City AM”, Jack undoubtedly has a bright future ahead of him within multimedia journalism.

Joseph Moses, 33, Advertising/ Marketing/Communications, 

Joseph’s tenacity and masterful storytelling has brought the latest generation of Israeli high-tech start-ups into the public consciousness. The 33-year-old has built a stellar reputation as one of the Israeli tech ecosystem’s leading practitioners of English-language PR. He is the CEO and founder of Campaign PR, which supports several early-stage companies, including NT-Tao (Israel’s first nuclear fusion company), BloomX (innovator of AI-driven biomimicking technology to transform agriculture) and Bria AI (pioneers of ethical and responsible visual Gen AI solutions).

His clients have been featured within influential global publications such as the BBC, CNBC, TechCrunch, The Wall Street Journal and Forbes, among others. Prior to his current role, Joseph established a UK office for Headline Media, Israel’s largest tech PR agency. In his earlier career, he led the Board of Deputies’ foreign policy work as the organisation’s public affairs officer, during which time he secured election commitments from the prime minister and other senior political leaders.

Emmanuel Nataf, 34, Entrepreneur

Emmanuel is the co-founder and CEO of Reedsy, a tech marketplace that connects authors and publishers with leading editors, designers and marketers. Over the past decade, Reedsy has curated an impressive membership of three million authors and freelance publishing professions. The company helps to bring more than 15,000 books to market each year, including some that have landed on The New York Times’ bestseller list.

A passionate environmentalist, Emmanuel is also an investor at Raspberry, a syndicate of founders and execs investing in ClimateTech (investments so far include: shipzero, Lenz Labs, BettaFish, GlassPoint and HelixNano) with a focus on Europe and Africa, and a member of Leaders for Climate Action, an entrepreneurial community that drives climate action. Outside of work, the 34-year-old is an organiser at TechBikers, which supports children’s education throughout the developing world by raising funds through cycling. In his spare time, Emmanuel is a street photographer whose passion has led him to travel extensively throughout Europe, South America and Southeast Asia.

Dan Osrin, 33, Senior Manager/Leader

Despite his grounded personality, Dan is one of the UK’s leading experts in the space space. The 33-year-old is a strategy consulting senior manager at PwC Strategy&, focusing on supporting public and private organisations across the transformational space domain. He has worked collaboratively with UK clients on a range of space topics including PNT (positioning, navigation & timing), earth observation, space sector investment, defence capabilities, operating models and digital operations.

Dan authored PwC’s report Expanding frontiers: The down to earth guide to investing in space and is leading the delivery of the UK Space Agency’s programme ‘Unlocking Space for Business’. The initiative seeks to raise awareness and take-up of innovative satellite data and services in the UK private sector, including in financial services and transport. A regular speaker on webinars and at conferences, Dan’s career has well and truly taken off.

Steven Phillips, 30, Senior Manager/Leader

Steven is an inspiring leader, responsible for founding and implementing Amazon’s Jewish employee network. Despite numerous roadblocks, he persevered with infectious energy and positivity, growing a 2,000+ person community and developing educational events and meaningful opportunities to connect.

As co-president of Jewish Affinity, Steven was responsible for managing the board, communications and interfacing with senior Amazon leaders. This was all on top of his day-to-day role working within the vulnerability management team, balancing high-visibility and time-intensive projects while mentoring team-mates. Steven’s numerous achievements included running large-scale security programmes and re-inventing the onboarding process for thousands of new employees during the Covid-19 pandemic. Having left Amazon last year, the 30-year-old is currently working as an IT security manager at CFC, a specialist insurance provider. Praised for his ability to “inspire and connect” with colleagues, Steven also balances work with being a senior JLGB volunteer.

Sam Popeck, 35, Senior Manager/Leader

Sam is at the forefront of training some of the best technicians across the entertainment sector. He is currently a lead trainer at DNEG, one of the world’s leading visual effects and animation studios for feature film and television, which has won seven BAFTA and seven Academy Awards for ‘Best VFX’ in recent years. Its impressive showreel includes Inception, Interstellar, Ex Machina and Blade Runner 2049, as well as The Flash and Fast X films, on which Sam has worked directly. The 35-year-old identifies and develops training programmes for DNEG colleagues across technical VFX support, emerging talent programmes and non-artist teams.

 

 

 

Sam has also worked for major tech companies, including Apple, cloud company Rackspace and the major creative production company, Hogarth Worldwide. Praised as a “clear leader”, the former BBYO camp co-ordinator’s bright future within the technical training sector looks well assured.

Sophie Ruddock, 32, Senior Manager/Leader

Sophie is a leader who has spearheaded edtech start-up Multiverse’s growth into a billion-dollar business. Multiverse matches talented individuals with careers and delivers world-class training in a wide range of qualifications in leadership, digital and technology. The 32-year-old joined the founding team in 2017 and has steered Multiverse into becoming a series D company with more than 1,000 staffers supporting nearly 20,000 apprentices, and ultimately reaching a $1.7bn valuation.

As COO, Sophie was responsible for global operations, improving gross margin and productive capacity significantly, and previously also launched Multiverse in the US. Prior to joining Multiverse, Sophie was an early pioneer of impact investment at Social Finance, bringing together business, investors and the government to generate meaningful social change and capital returns. She is passionate about social justice reform and sits on the board of the prison coaching non-profit, Spark Inside, and the Public Theater in New York.

Moses Seitler, 29, Entrepreneur

Moses is driven by a charitable purpose in seeking to end refugee digital exclusion in Britain. The 29-year-old is the CEO and founder of Screen Share, which collects, refurbishes and distributes technological devices to refugees and asylum seekers. This varies from laptops that require high processing power for displaced software engineers to iPads for young children on which to watch cartoons.

Since January 2021, Screen Share, now a team of six, has supported 2,000 people and initiated  successful communal collaborations with Mitzvah Day, the Board of Deputies, Limmud and René Cassin. An “inspiring young leader co-ordinating a solution to a difficult social problem”, Moses’ initiative combines the best of green activism (saving old laptops from landfill) with the ultimate form of chesed (loving-kindness), enabling young refugees to set themselves up in society.

Ciara Shalome, 25, Senior Manager/Leader

Ciara has utilised the power of social media to educate thousands about Mizrahi traditions.

The 25-year-old, whose father has Yemeni and Iraqi roots, started her channel Chaidentity with the aim of raising the profile of her Mizrahi heritage. What started in September 2022 as a few posts about Iraqi-Jewish culture, traditions and foods has ballooned into a highly successful page with a sizeable following of predominantly Arab Muslims. Ciara has 92,000 followers on TikTok and nearly 50,000 on Instagram and estimates that 80 percent of them originate from Baghdad, Cairo and other parts of the Middle East.

Ciara is praised for bringing “love and attention to Mizrahi and Sephardi communities” and her followers are so engaged that they even send her photographs of old houses that once belonged to Jewish people. The content creator currently works as a freelance social media manager, having secured experience at the award-winning agency, 8original, as a social media executive.

Charlotte Simmons, 34, Advertising/ Marketing/Communications

Charlotte works at the cutting edge of marketing, specialising in artificial intelligence and Web3. For more than a decade, the 34-year-old has worked with emerging technology businesses, growing their communities through strategic marketing campaigns. Charlotte has worked on multiple business accelerators and watched companies grow from two to 1,000 employees.

An expert in AI, virtual reality and augmented reality, Charlotte has conducted numerous workshops to educate businesses on gaining a competitive advantage by embracing emerging technologies. She also specialises in ‘breathwork’ and coaches start-up and Web3 business owners into using this transformative practice in high-stress environments. When she was 23 and prior to working as a freelancer, Charlotte launched her own successful start-up, raising money through crowdfunding and working with large clients in the automotive space. Charlotte was recently a committee member of JHive’s Jews in Tech, an international hub for Jews who work in technology, innovation or venture capital.

David Soffer, 31, Entrepreneur

David is a major influencing voice across the UK’s burgeoning start-up and tech scene. Since founding TechRound in 2016, his small team of five have expanded the online platform into the UK’s fastest-growing publication and platform for start-ups, securing between 200,000 and 250,000 readers per month. TechRound is now a well-established medium and the go-to authority on start-ups and technology in the UK and, increasingly, Europe and further afield. The site works with huge names including Peloton, Amazon and Uber, as well as small companies taking their first steps.

A campaigner for start-ups in his own right, David has interviewed Nigel Farage on GB News following a scoop by his editorial team on banks closing down the accounts of small business owners for political reasons. A busy entrepreneur, the 31-year-old also previously co-founded GlobMed, a company offering an alternative to private and public healthcare, and DSR Digital, an SEO consultancy specialising in digital marketing and online reputation management.

Aaron Solomon, 33, Entrepreneur

Essex entrepreneur Aaron is on a mission to tackle the elusive ‘no-shows’ and last-minute cancellations that cause lost revenues within the hospitality sector. His app, Ambl, helps diners find an eleventh-hour reservation at more than 1,300 London-based venues – which is often a challenge in the post-pandemic environment that has given rise to a pre-booking culture. In 2022, the 32-year-old raised £2.3m in seed funding using skills honed during a decade as a financial sales and team manager within the business, investment and development sectors.

The business has since featured in numerous leading news outlets, including the Evening Standard and City AM. Going from strength to strength, Ambl recently won the London region in the UK awards for Hospitality and Events Startup of the Year and Aaron has his eyes firmly fixated on future expansion into New York and beyond.

Zoe Steel, 36, Advertising/Marketing/Communications

Zoe cut her teeth in the commercial world before turning her attention to bringing robust digital infrastructure to not-for-profits. The 36-year-old was, until recently, the head of digital for World Jewish Relief, utilising her extensive digital marketing expertise to support the charity in the two years following the pandemic.

Zoe also worked for nearly five years at JW3, where she led on the organisation’s digital strategy during lockdown. Within 24 hours of the building closing to the public, events including art, language and culture classes were available online and advertised nationwide. She also launched a communal website on which all organisations could list their online events, which received more than 10,000 visits in the first 48 hours and provided a critical communal resource during a challenging period. Currently head of marketing at the Harley Street Fertility Clinic, Zoe continues to use her expertise gleaned from running campaigns for major brands such as Microsoft, BMW and Sky.

Daniel Tannenbaum, 33 , Advertising/Marketing/Communications

An award-winning digital entrepreneur and SEO specialist, Daniel has enjoyed business success while also driving Holocaust education on a pro-bono basis. Over the past decade, Daniel has worked with more than 1,000 clients and his expertise has been sought by a British prime minister, Lord Alan Sugar, restaurant chains McDonald’s and Nandos and multiple tech unicorns, including Groupon.

The 33-year-old created the website holocaustmatters.org, which is the UK’s most-visited website for Holocaust education, driving millions of visitors each year through SEO. Daniel also sits on the board of two charities: one bringing together children through sport and one for children with disabilities. He was also recently named the youngest governor of Immanuel College in the school’s history, and has helped dozens of pupils gain work experience and full-time jobs through his connections. Always “extremely professional and personable”, Daniel is truly a role model of which the community can be proud.

Kevin Touati, 38, Entrepreneur

 

Already a well-regarded corporate lawyer, Kevin has honed his skill set towards becoming a successful tech entrepreneur.

For more than 15 years, the 38-year-old advised on the legalities of some of the world’s most complex and high-profile transactions within top-rated international law firms, including Linklater and Herbert Smith Freehills. This included representing prominent global players, including energy giant BP, on structuring, negotiation, financing and development of large-scale energy and infrastructure projects in more than 30 countries around the world. It was within this field that Kevin became obsessed with how information was displayed on screen/paper and – being an autodidact with a passion for flawless design – consequently launched Script, a text editor for digitally interconnected documents. Widely praised for its innovative approach as a time-saver, script has even received the backing of Innovative UK as one of its top one percent most promising technologies.

Joanna Trup, 38, Advertising/Marketing/Communications

Joanna has built a reputation for delivering one of the financial industry’s best performing livestreams. With a background in investment banking, the 38-year-old is currently director, head of Sparklive & head of operations, issuer services at the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG). Sparklive is the LSEG’s fully integrated online events platform, which enables companies to broadcast their financial results presentations, AGMs, capital market days, roadshows, client/investor events and more to millions of retail and institutional investors.

Joanna has built a sterling team at the LSEG who support a broad range of companies – from top FTSE 100 to small cap firms, international companies and non-listed clients. Prior to joining the LSEG, she spent more than a decade at Société Générale Investment Bank, where she headed the UK Corporate Access team with responsibility for executing major conferences across numerous jurisdictions. Joanna is also a board member at the London Women’s Forum.

Amos Wittenberg, 31, Tech for Good

Amos is the CEO and co-founder of Unwritten, a tech start-up focused on empowering the financial sector to invest in the climate transition. His firm, formerly known as Dovetail Finance, has built a climate risk modelling toolkit, which helps to identify and quantify risks and opportunities as the climate changes. Its software employs big data techniques to model the complex interactions between regions, sectors, policies and technologies. Investors are already flocking to the company, which earlier this year raised $3.5 million in seed funding and counts Aviva, KDX and Connect among its investors.

The 31-year-old’s expertise was honed working at big data firm Palantir Technologies, where, as a deployment strategist, he specialised in sustainability and ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance). He has also previously served as the editor-in-chief at KYC360.com, an insight and training platform for financial risk and compliance professionals.

Victoria White, 35, Senior Manager/Leader

Victoria is passionate about supporting more women into analytics management roles. With a background in aeronautical engineering and investment banking, the 35-year-old is highly numerate and commercially minded. Currently the group director of loyalty at global travel firm Tui, Victoria has previously led teams at Virgin Atlantic for seven years in finance, strategy, commercial, customer and data, most recently as head of customer loyalty and then as head of data science.

She has also worked as head of customer audience strategy at ASOS, being responsible for maximising ‘customer lifetime value’ through personalisation and retention. Victoria’s passion for supporting women looking to retrain into the data and analytics field resulted in her working with Work Avenue to initiate a network between job seekers and industry leaders eager to support them. She has also founded boot camps and conversion courses, as well as providing mentoring.