Trendlines' staff has depth and breadth of experience in a wide number of fields including sales and marketing, finance, computer science, microbiology, electronics, management, accounting, civil engineering, public relations, and communications. Their extensive experience in diverse markets enables them to bring a broad perspective to their work.
D.
Todd Dollinger, Chairman, The Trendlines Group
CEO, T.I.F. Ventures
Todd Dollinger, Trendlines International Ltd. founding partner, launched Trendlines, Inc., a Kansas City-based company providing sales, marketing, consulting and product development services for the American market in 1978. Todd served as president of the Company until 1990 when he and his family relocated to Israel.
In 1991 Todd joined the marketing department of SRD Medical. He later became president and chief executive officer of the company. At SRD Todd managed private equity placements and all aspects of electronic products development and marketing. Todd left SRD in late 1993, forming Trendlines International with Steve Rhodes. Todd majored in psychology at the University of Missouri.
Todd consults to the senior executives and boards of directors of numerous companies.
Steve
Rhodes, Chairman, The Trendlines Group
CEO, Misgav Venture Accelerator
Steve Rhodes, Trendlines International Ltd. founding partner, began his career with the Chicago branch of Bank Leumi le-Israel in 1979. He advanced through a number of financial marketing positions including director of marketing, and continued with Leumi when he and his family moved to Israel in 1985. At Bank Leumi in Israel, Steve rose to the position of deputy manager of the Bank's International Division.
In 1988 Steve joined SRD Medical as the company's chief financial officer. He held several positions in SRD's marketing department, becoming vice president of sales and marketing. He left the company in 1993, forming Trendlines International with Todd.
Steve earned a B.A. degree from Harvard
University and his M.B.A. from the University
of Chicago. He is a certified public
accountant in the state of Illinois.
Steve is a member of the boards of directors of the Misgav-Karmiel Technology
Center and the Galilee Educational Foundation.
Tina Ornstein, Managing
Director
Tina Ornstein began her career more than two decades ago as one of the founders
of In Other WORDS Ltd., a communications company providing key services to the
high-tech sector. After nearly 10 years of establishing that company's reputation
as the leading agency of its kind in Israel, she spent three years in her hometown
of Montreal, Canada, as a shlicha (representative) of the Jewish Agency.
Upon her return to Israel in 1996, she continued her career at e-Sim Ltd., where
she headed a state-of-the-art Web content project for which she built and managed
a team of 20 professionals in Israel and 40 more in India. In 2000, she became
vice president of professional services at AppSwing Ltd. She built the company's
customer and partner relationship infrastructures from the bottom up, including
technical sales support and project management.
Tina returned to In Other WORDS in 2003 as vice president of business development.
She was instrumental in significantly extending the scope and depth of the company's
business activities throughout Israel. She joined Trendlines in 2005.
Tina earned a B.A. degree in history from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Mark J. Dollinger, Ph.D., President, Trendlines America
For more than 25 years with Trendlines Inc., Mark J. Dollinger has realized extensive business experience in a variety of industries.
Mark has identified international market opportunities for U.S. businesses, introduced Israeli corporate executives to their U.S. counterparts, conducted scientific and business research and developed marketing strategies for companies in a variety of sectors. Additionally, Mark has led businesses through complicated negotiations, helping to draft agreements and bridging cross-cultural differences. Throughout his career, Mark has hired, trained and managed sales teams, coordinated field representation and activities, provided on-site training and exhibited at regional and national industry-related shows, seminars and conferences.
Coupled with his extensive business expertise, Mark has had an illustrious academic career. After receiving his undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois, Mark earned his Ph.D. in the neurosciences from the University of Connecticut. He capped his academic career teaching and doing post-doctoral research at Princeton University. During those years, he published numerous articles in professional and scientific journals, authored a number of developmental psychobiology book chapters and presented talks at academic conferences.
Naomi Alper, Assistant Managing Director
Naomi Alper began her career in England as a laboratory technologist. Later she
worked in Canada as a public health inspector. In 1981 she moved with her family
to Israel. In the early 1990s, Naomi set up and developed a facility for breeding
tropical fish for export to Europe. In 1996 she returned to her academic roots,
joining Logal Educational Software and Systems as a researcher and writer. Naomi
joined Trendlines in 1997.
Naomi is a graduate of the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne where she earned
her B.Sc. degree in microbiology and botany. She holds a certificate of Public
Health Inspection (Canada).
Naomi's personal focus is on projects that relate to biotechnology, medical devices
and applications. As the senior project manager, Naomi coordinates project management
for the entire staff.
Anita Baker, Administrator
South African-born Anita Baker worked
as a legal secretary before immigrating to Israel in 1986. Anita has
lived and worked on Moshav Manof since her arrival in Israel. She managed
the Moshav's co-op and has a long history of volunteer work. Anita joined
Trendlines in 1999.
Andi Chai, Senior Consultant
Andi Chai has marketed a diverse variety
of products, from dairy products to women's undergarments, tools to marine
paints. Starting in the import department at Nahariya Dairy Strauss Ltd.,
she was responsible for product support and identifying new suppliers.
Pursuing her interest in marketing, Andi joined Tefron Ltd., a manufacturer
and exporter of women's undergarments and later moved on to Tomak Dies
and Tools where she researched and compiled data on foreign competition.
Andi comes to Trendlines from Tambour Ltd., Israel's largest paint manufacturer,
where she oversaw exports to the Eastern Mediterranean Region, Far East,
and South Africa.
Andi has an undergraduate degree in business administration from George Washington University. She earned her M.B.A. in banking, finance, and marketing from the Hebrew University. Andi has lived in Israel since 1982.
Melanie Davids, Accounts
After immigrating to Israel from South Africa in 1982, Melanie Davids started her bookkeeping career while living on Kibbutz Tuval in the Galilee. She worked in Tuval's accounting department for four years. Since leaving the kibbutz in 1996, Melanie has worked in an accounting office and at an Israeli export company as head bookkeeper responsible for all import/export-related matters.
Melanie has studied accounting at Ort Braude College in Karmiel and is a qualified Type 3 bookkeeper. She joined Trendlines in 2001.
Karen
Kozek, Senior Marketing Communications Consultant
After moving to Israel with her family
in 1990, Karen Kozek joined the staff
of In Other Words, an Israeli technical
writing firm. At educational software
publisher, LOGAL, Karen edited
print, CD, and Internet materials.
When LOGAL was purchased by Riverdeep
Interactive Learning in 1999, Karen's
efforts focused on writing original feature
articles for the company's Web portal.
She was the "voice" on the company's interactive multimedia physics products.
Karen holds a B.A. in English from the
University of Missouri-Kansas City. Her
marketing communications experience includes
writing websites, brochures, product
sheets, newsletters, and scripts,
and narrating voice-overs for industrial
and educational products.
As well, she is an experienced presenter.
She joined Trendlines in 2001.
Ron
Lachman, Venture Partner
Chicago- and Silicon Valley-based Internet guru, angel investor and Trendlines' minority shareholder
Ron Lachman
played a leading role in the development of the UNIX TCP/IP communications
protocol (the de facto standard for transmitting data over networks). Ron sold
his consulting group, Lachman Associates, to Eastman Kodak's Interactive
Systems subsidiary in 1989.
Following the sale of Lachman
Associates to Kodak, he served as executive vice president at Interactive Systems Corporation. He subsequently co-founded Praxsys, selling the company to Sun Microsystems in 1992. Ron founded Lachman Technology to pursue new product ideas in networking products, data archival and storage management. Lachman Technology/Associates licensed millions of copies of networking protocols (mostly in the UNIX OEM marketplace), and was a technology leader in hierarchical storage management. The company was acquired by Legent Corporation in 1994. Ron served as vice president for Open Systems before leaving in 1995 to co-found, co-fund and build the management team of a number of networking and software related companies.
A networking and systems
software entrepreneur and expert in OEM/ISV software licensing business models, Ron currently serves in a senior advisor/board member capacity to technology companies in the realm of distributed computing and Internet commerce.
Maura Rosenfeld, Business Development
Maura Rosenfeld began her career in corporate legal practice in the
United States and continued in private practice after moving to Israel
in 1994. In 1997, Maura joined RiT Technologies (Nasdaq: RITT) as
general counsel and served as a member of company management. After
leaving RiT in 2004, Maura became an independent consultant, working
with companies in the United States and Israel. Maura joined Trendlines
in 2006.
Maura earned an M.B.A. from Manchester University in Israel. She holds
a J.D. degree from the University of Pittsburgh, and a B.A.
in economics from the University of Michigan. She is a member of the
Israel and Pennsylvania bars.
Saul Rurka, Senior Consultant,
Media & IT
Saul Rurka is a serial entrepreneur focused
on early to mid-stage companies, specifically those involved in IT, the
Internet, and telecommunications. Over the past 12 years, Saul has founded
a number of IT start-ups and served in executive and management positions
at his own companies and others. He brings great strength in understanding
IT, sales, management, and business development. He also served as a
strategic consultant to an international financial group. Saul studied
law and English linguistics at Bar-Ilan University.
Gabriel (Gabe) Siegel, Consultant
Prior to joining Trendlines in 2008, Gabriel
Siegel worked as a consultant in the
Financial Services Division at KPMG Tel Aviv.
His work at KPMG focused on mergers and acquisitions, venture capital
funding, and due diligence. As a brand manager at Spiral Solutions,
Gabriel gained extensive experience in online media
and Internet marketing.
He received his MBA from the University of Haifa, with a specialty in international marketing and finance.
He has a B.A. in marketing and accounting from DePaul University in Chicago. A native of Chicago, Gabe moved to Israel
in 2003. He joined Trendlines in 2008.
Tomer Sofinzon, Business Development Manager
Over the past eight years,
Tomer Sofinzon founded a
number of start-up companies,
led several successful fund-raising
projects, and oversaw many
business development and
channel/sales management
activities in Europe (both
at executive positions at
his own companies and as
a consultant). He brings
substantial experience,
an extensive network,
and in-depth understanding
of the European marketplace
and its leading industry
players.
Tomer graduated from the Ecole Supérieur Libre des Sciences
Commerciales Appliquées (ESLSCA) in Paris, and participated
in an extensive exchange program with the University of
California at Berkeley. He will soon begin his MBA studies
at Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts. Tomer spent
most of his life in Europe. He is fluent in English, French,
and Hebrew, with an excellent level of Spanish. He joined
Trendlines in 2008.
Debbie
Yerushalmy, Senior Consultant
A native of Richmond, Virginia, Debbie Yerushalmy began her professional career as a social worker for the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control. After moving to Israel with her family in 1982, Debbie entered the field of bookkeeping, working in the medical electronics and plastics sectors. She also set up and managed the accounting department of Gintec Active Safety, Ltd., a high-tech electronics company producing transportation safety equipment.
In 2000, Debbie started her career as a technical communicator at e-Sim, Ltd.,
a company specializing in online, interactive user manuals. Debbie holds a B.A.
from Oberlin College and an M.S.W. from the University of Michigan. She also
has a certificate for bookkeeping from the Israeli Department of Labor. Debbie
joined Trendlines in 2001.
Zohar Zommer, Consultant
Zohar Zommer has worked as a director
of the non-profit organization "Hakol
Chai," which is dedicated to helping
animals in Israel, but has spent most
of her career practicing law, including
tort, real estate, and banking law.
She received her LL.B. from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
and an MBA from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology.
As part of her MBA program, Zohar led a team
that developed a market strategy for a Trendlines client.
