About Us

Rachel Marks Feinman

Executive Director

Rachel is an experienced business attorney with a strong background in corporate and intellectual property matters. Rachel began her career in New York City working for two international law firms. Most recently, Rachel was a Partner at the Tampa law firm of Hill Ward Henderson, where she served as a trusted advisor to a multitude of private equity, venture capital and other strategic investors, as well as to companies of all sizes, stages and industries. The most rewarding aspect of Rachel’s career as an attorney was the opportunity to advise her clients with respect to their strategic direction and broader business goals.

An alum of the Young Judaea movement, Rachel developed an affinity for Israel from a young age. Rachel had an opportunity to live in Israel during a semester spent studying at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. She has also been active in the local Jewish community for most of her childhood and as an adult, since moving back to Tampa nearly 10 years ago.

Rachel is also a proven leader, having served in high-level positions for local nonprofits, on government committees and for local and national bar associations. Most recently, Rachel served as President of Tampa’s Gasparilla International Film Festival. A Tampa native who has also worked in other major cities, Rachel brings a unique perspective, deep local ties and a passion for supporting and improving her hometown.

Rachel attended the University of Florida where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. She earned her Juris Doctor, cum laude, from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University in New York City.

Rakefet Bachur

Executive Director of Marketing

Rakefet is the Executive Director of Marketing and the American-Israeli liaison for FIBA. Rakefet has 15 years of creative and strategic marketing experience in Israel, Europe and the U.S.

Most recently she worked at BayCare Health System, the largest healthcare provider in the Tampa Bay Area with 24,000 employees. She led the marketing of women’s and children’s health services across 14 hospitals and multiple outpatient centers. Among her accomplishments, during her tenure at BayCare is an award-winning campaign for breast cancer awareness, a one of a kind game app for the children’s hospital, and the opening of a brand new hospital generating overwhelming volume numbers since day one.

Prior to her corporate experience, Rakefet worked with start-ups in the medical device, design and non-profits industries. She launched Midot, a social start-up ranking non-profits in Israel, she relocated to Tampa to open the U.S. Office of Talia Technology, an Israeli start-up developing medical equipment for optometrists, and she managed the largest international account for Tamooz Exhibitions, a design company that entered the European market.

Rakefet earned her MS in Marketing with honors from the University of Tampa and her BA in Media & Management from the College of Management in Tel-Aviv.

Dan McGonegle

Director of Business Development

Dan McGonegle is Director of Business Development for Florida Israel Business Accelerator. Dan has spent his career in the corporate training sector with a focus on educational technology, serving in roles such as General Manager, Consultant, Sales Leader and Product Manager with extensive experience throughout the US, Canada and Asia. He has established a track record of innovation and results in B2B SaaS products, consulting and training solutions, AEC (Architecture, Engineering and Construction) and a range of Industrial markets, especially in the area of workplace safety for highly hazardous industries. Dan has helped lead the growth, eventual sale and integration of two EdTech companies from $20 to $60 Million each and he spent 5 years in the leadership development program at DuPont. Most recently Dan served as Vice President at Vector Solutions in Tampa, where his responsibility ranged from launching a Key Accounts Group within the Vector sales organization to heading up Product Management, including the development of a Competency Assessment Tool that won the Brandon Hall Award for “Best Advance in Learning Management Technology.”

Pam Miniati

Cohort Manager Ms. Pamela Dockser Miniati is the Cohort Manager for FIBA. Ms. Miniati has 15 years experience directing complex organizations and programs in the technology, healthcare and non-profit industries. She worked for 6 years at San Jose, California-based Neoforma, Inc., a leading provider of supply chain management solutions for hospitals and their suppliers. At Neoforma, she managed all aspects of the alliance relationship with their largest customer and shareholder. She also served as Director of Product Management and Product Marketing and successfully orchestrated the launch of four major software releases for their supply chain e-commerce platform. Prior to her technology start-up experience, Ms. Miniati was a Manager at Ernst & Young Health Care Consulting where she developed the business case and was involved in the initial implementation of building a first-of-its-kind shared services organization to deliver non-clinical services to a 48-hospital system in three states. She started her professional career on Capitol Hill, serving as a legislative correspondent for both a US Congressman and US Senator. Ms. Miniati is actively involved in her local community and has recently served as President in both the Elementary School PTA and HOA for her neighborhood. She earned her BA in American Studies from Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts and her MBA in Finance, Marketing and Policy Studies from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Christina Belchere

Marketing Coordinator Christina is the Marketing Coordinator for FIBA and is new to the Tampa Bay area from New York City. She has over 6 years experience in marketing, PR and social media. In New York City she started her career interning at Interview Magazine and later went on to join Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessey as their PR Coordinator at Thomas Pink. She later went to work at an NYC and Shanghai based start-up called Black Lapel that specialized in made-to-measure clothing. Most recently she was an Account Executive at Elevate, Inc. which is a local PR, marketing and business advising firm in Tampa. Prior to her corporate experience, Christina helped up-and-coming NYC based designers build their social media presence from the ground up, design brand logos and company websites, and secure placements in top tier publications through fostering relationships with editors. Christina spent her early life in Southeast Asia, spending 18 years in Jakarta, Indonesia, Singapore and Hong Kong, until she attended Elon University in North Carolina in 2008. She graduated with a degree in Strategic Communications and a minor in Digital Art in 2012.

Cindy Lucas

Office Manager/Executive Assistant Cindy is the Office Manager and Executive Assistant for FIBA; originally from Vancouver, Canada. Cindy has happily settled into the Tampa Bay area after moving from Santa Monica, California. With over 20 years of administrative and managerial experience Cindy has provided support as a key player alongside many executive teams. More recently Cindy was an instrumental contributor in assisting with the inception and filings of a startup real estate investment trust firm as they went public in 2014 on the NYSE. Over the past 15 years Cindy has been an Office Manager and Executive Assistant for businesses in the private equity, commercial real estate and leasing industries. Her experience in strategic planning, board organization, event management and contract negotiations are just a few of the many attributes Cindy possesses. Cindy studied at BCIT and Douglas College and holds certifications in Business Communications, Administration and Accounting.

Ron Kimhi

Company Sourcing and Program Consultant for FIBA Ron is an experienced business development manager with a strong background in venture development programs. Ron was part of the founding team and had various venture development roles at Our Generation Speaks, a fellowship program and incubator based in Boston where emerging Israeli and Palestinian entrepreneurs create high impact ventures. One of the most rewarding aspects of Ron’s career was the opportunity to mentor young entrepreneurs with social-business goals to make a better infrastructure for hope in the Israeli region. In the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), Ron served as a combat officer in the paratroopers’ brigade. During his military service, Ron had the opportunity to serve in most of Israel’s borders as an executive company commander and as a platoon commander of a special urban warfare unit. Ron is also a graduate of the Zell Entrepreneurship Program, one of Israel’s leading incubating programs. He Co-Founded ‘Agently’, a software company that provides a simple digital platform for real estate agents to communicate comprehensive info about their assets with ease. Ron holds a B.A degree, majoring in economics, business, and entrepreneurship from IDC Herzliya.

Eric Williams

Principal – E2 Innovation Group

Until January 2012, Eric Williams served as Catalina Marketing’s (CMC) executive vice president and chief information officer responsible for directing strategic technology, research and development, and new applications. Williams also served as the Chief Privacy Officer (CPO) for Catalina Marketing and was responsible for the overall consumer privacy activity for the company.

While officially retired, Williams remains active in the industry as the Principal of E2 Innovation Group assisting key friends and colleagues with technology selection & implementation, large data base selection & utilization, as well as the use of consumer analytics in the retail space. His focus includes some key areas such as mobile solutions, electronic payments, and loyalty executions.

During his tenure with CMC, Williams led the development of Catalina’s multi-petabyte data warehouse (still one of the largest transaction-level databases in the world). In addition, Williams was instrumental in the development of the first “Internet-delivered” loyalty marketing solution for basket-level data management. This solution is utilized as the Frequent Shopper data management application by some of the largest supermarket retailers in both the US, Europe and far-east markets.

Previously, Williams served as the vice president of research and development for Catalina Marketing and vice president of retail for Catalina’s SuperMarkets Online division (one of the first Internet couponing solutions started over 10 years ago). Williams brings more than 35 years of experience including management, sales, marketing, systems design and development, and operations positions with retailers, software development, and information technology companies. Prior to joining CMC, he served as the vice president of retail operations for Catalina Information Resources (CIR), where he developed and implemented leading-edge technologies needed to supply daily scanning data for inventory control and logistics management to top CPG (consumer package goods) companies and retailers throughout the US.

Williams previously served in the senior management of Retail Management Systems, a company that developed the first commercially available DEX/UCS (Direct Exchange/Uniform Communications Standards) DSD (Direct Store Delivery) systems. Williams started his career in the late 1970s with Datachecker Systems (formerly National Semiconductor Corporation), where he worked as an account executive, marketing manager, systems analyst, and a field operations manager implementing some of the first scanning technology in the world. During his tenure, Williams assisted in the development and implementation of many “first use” technologies in the supermarket arena including automated time and attendance systems, automated cash control applications, automated inventory replenishment systems, and radio-frequency in-aisle price verification applications.

Williams is an accomplished inventor with 5 US and 3 international patents to his credit. In 2007, the Tampa Bay Technology Forum named him CIO of the year and in 2011, Information Week ranked Catalina Marketing as one of the top five most innovative technology organizations in the nation according to their Information Week 500 study.

Williams has been a promoted speaker at a number of industry events, including Information Week, Gartner, FMI (Food Marketing Institute), NRF (National Retail Federation), and many other national Retail venues. He was also one of Information Week’s featured CIOs in 2011 and he and Catalina were the focus of the cover article on Big Data that same year.

While retired, Williams remains active in the retail industry and speaks regularly on the topic of Big Data and how the retail arena can be transformed using consumer information and predictive analytics to more accurately understand the needs and desires of their consumers. Williams also is very active in the nonprofit world, assisting the visually-impaired community through his work with Southeastern Guide Dogs, supporting returning military personal afflicted with PTSD through a program called Paws for Patriots, and serving as a Board member of the Florida Orchestra.

Kim Linker Stebbings

Kim has over 35 years of U.S. medical device sales, marketing and operational experience in multi-national and start-up companies. She spent 16 years with Boehringer Mannheim/Roche Diagnostics where she held multiple positions in sales and marketing including P&L responsibility for a $100 million diabetes care diagnostics business. The balance of her career has been dedicated to leading start-up medical device organizations with game-changing medical technologies including BioStar, Inc., a diagnostics company sold to Thermo Electron (NYSE:TMO), Medingo, Ltd, an Israeli insulin patch pump company acquired by Roche Holdings AG (ROG.VX), Anodyne Therapy, an infrared light therapy pain management company, and as President for GlycoMark, Inc., a start-up diabetes subsidiary of Toyota Tsusho America and DYSIS Medical, a UK-based women’s health company.

Kim has been Director of Mentoring for the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association and in 2015, earned recognition as the Tampa Bay Businesswoman of the Year in the Health and Wellness category. She currently serves as an advisor to a number of start-ups at FIBA, the Tampa Bay WaVE and University of Tampa to develop strategies around sales, marketing, regulatory compliance, clinical study and KOL strategy, insurance reimbursement and distribution to all healthcare markets including hospitals, integrated delivery networks, physician office, home health care, long term care, physical therapy, retail/OTC and managed care/payers. She holds a B.S. in Biology, where she graduated summa cum laude from from St. Lawrence University.

Tom Crawford

A seasoned executive in B2B, high-growth technology companies, my focus is on growing sales and profitability. I have 20+ years of operating experience in various firms, 5+ years of business consulting and 5 years in venture capital investing in startups. All this experience emphasized the functional areas of business development, sales and marketing.

My product area expertise is broad and includes software, hardware, services and intellectual property. I also have deep industry experience in telecom, mobile, commercial software and other markets.

In addition to experience and expertise I bring a perspective of operating scale from my senior roles in four high-growth startups as well as two Fortune 500 companies. In growing sales and profitability I have the experience, expertise and perspective to know what to do, the scale to apply, and how to get it done.

Specialties: Business-to-business markets; technology products (hardware, software, integrated); telecommunications; mobile hardware and software; value identification and monetization; licensing; pricing (products, software, SaaS, services and IP); direct and channel sales (including OEM); market and customer segmentation; sales execution, sales infrastructure and process; developing business in new markets; account development and management; contract negotiations; new market planning; go-to-market planning and execution.

Daniel D. Greco

Managing Partner

Daniel D. Greco II is a highly proficient Senior Executive, C-Suite Officer, Entrepreneur, Consultant, and Board Member with over 20 years of success across supply chain, logistics, manufacturing, higher education, pharmaceuticals, entertainment, insurance, and private equity. Leveraging extensive experience in operations management and organizational development, he is a valuable asset for innovative companies looking for leadership vision; strategic planning; process improvement; and growth. His broad areas of expertise include business strategy; financial analysis, forecasts, planning, and management; risk management; negotiation; Six Sigma; scaling; and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) integration.

Prior to joining Ark Applications, Dan served as Chief Operating Officer & General Manager of a lighting company based in Tampa, FL. Other experiences include working in high-profile operational assignments for world-class organizations such as BASF Corporation, Novartis Pharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson, and The Walt Disney Company.

Dan earned his BS in Consumer Studies from Syracuse University and a MBA in Supply Chain & Innovation Management from Syracuse University’s Whitman School of Management. Dan and his wife reside in Tampa, FL with their three children.

Education • SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY MBA, 2009 • SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY B.S., CONSUMER STUDIES, 1998 Activities & Affiliations • Big Brothers Big Sisters of Tampa Bay • Meals on Wheels • Startup Weekend Mentor • Synapse Board Member • University of Tampa Entrepreneur in Residence • Syracuse University Martin J. Whitman Mentorship Program

Ilya Movshovich

Ilya Movshovich is well known for his work in founding, mentoring, and consulting for a variety of Silicon Valley startup companies, fortune 500 companies, and venture capital funds. Throughout his professional career, Ilya has gained extensive experience in many industries and business tactics.

As an enthusiastic and goal driven entrepreneurial professional, he has leveraged his innovative business development and problem solving skills to guide fortune 500 companies to innovation, startup companies, and their founders to great success and growth.

Ilya is able to use his skills and experience in a customized way that matches the values, goals, and ideology of each company he works with. Ilya finds this to be an exciting and challenging career path that he loves more and more each day.

Ed Amato

Project Manager Colonel (Retired) Edward J. Amato graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1989, and was commissioned in the Infantry. Initially assigned with the 9th Infantry Division at Ft. Lewis, Washington, he served as a Rifle Platoon Leader, Scout Platoon Leader, Headquarters Company Executive Officer, and Company Commander. Following graduation from the Special Forces Qualification Course, Ed served with the 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne) in Thailand, Indonesia, and throughout Southeast Asia and the Pacific Rim. Following 9/11, Ed was assigned to the 1st Special Warfare Training Group (Airborne) at Fort Bragg, North Carolina as S-3 of 1st Battalion and Camp Mackall, the Operations Officer for all Army Special Forces field training for the Special Forces Qualification Course (“Q” Course.) During 2005 and 2006 in Afghanistan, Ed served in various assignments with both 3rd and 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne), and later assisted the CJSOTF-A Commander with the first U.S. demobilization of guerrilla forces since the Second World War. At Fort Bragg, he then served as the Deputy Chief of Staff, United States Army Special Operations Command (Airborne). From 2007 to 2009, Ed commanded Base Support Battalion-North Kuwait, responsible for the base operations support of our Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) reception and staging camps during the 2007 “Troop Surge.” Following command, he served as the Deputy Commander for Area Support Group-Kuwait and Garrison Commander for Camp Arifjan, and oversaw all installation support activities in Kuwait during the OIF-Drawdown period in 2010. After graduation from the U.S. Army War College in 2011, Ed assumed Garrison Command of Soto Cano Air Base, Honduras, home to Joint Task Force – Bravo. Prior to retiring, he was assigned to U.S. Special Operations Command in May 2013, serving for three years as Assessment Director for the J8. Ed holds a Master of Science in Strategic Studies from the U.S. Army War College, the Master of Science in Defense Analysis from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School, and the Master of Military Art and Science in Military History from the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College.

Jack Ross

Senior Advisor & Co-founder

Jack Ross is one of the co-founders of the Florida-Israel Business Accelerator (FIBA) and served as its first Executive Director. He now holds the position of V.P. North America for StemRad, Inc., a FIBA portfolio company with U.S. subsidiary headquarters based in Tampa, Florida.

Previously Jack served as the Executive Director of the Tampa Jewish Community Centers [JCCs] in Tampa, Florida, as well as the Project Director for development of the Bryan Glazer Family Jewish Community Center; a $30 million-dollar state-of-the art community, athletic, aquatics, cultural arts and early childhood education complex which opened December 2016.

Jack has also been an Entrepreneur involved with developing businesses in both the United States and in the State of Israel. In addition, Jack is currently a partner within a commercial real estate company in Trenton, New Jersey, which owns and operates commercial properties.

Jack is an Attorney licensed in the States of Florida and Maryland, and the District of Columbia. He was previously employed as an Associate Attorney with the law firm of Cohen & Foster, P.A. in Tampa, Florida, with the law firm of Shulman, Rogers, Gandal, Pordy & Ecker, P.A., in Rockville, Maryland, and as a Special Assistant State’s Attorney in Montgomery County, Maryland.

Jack has lived in both the United States and in the State of Israel. In 1989, he immigrated to Israel and later served an abbreviated military service for new immigrants in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Accounts of his service are referenced in the book, Prisoners: A Story of Friendship and Terror (Knopf Press) by Jeffrey Goldberg, National Correspondent for the Atlantic.

From 1993-1996, Jack served as Academic Liaison under Ambassador Itamar Rabinovich at the Embassy of Israel in Washington, DC. In the summer of 1998, Jack served as a Volunteer Foreign Law Clerk to the President of the Supreme Court for the State of Israel in Jerusalem, Justice Aharon Barak.

Jack has also served in various other capacities within Tampa Bay area community organizations including as the former Tampa Co-Chair and member of the National Executive Committee for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee [AIPAC]; as a former Member of the Board and Vice President of the Tampa Jewish Community Center & Federation; as the former Tampa Chair for Israel Bonds and current member of its advisory board; as a current member of the advisory board of the Tampa area Jewish National Fund [JNF]; and as the current Chair of the Tampa-Ashdod Committee on the board for Tampa Sister Cities Committee, Inc.

Jack earned a Bachelor of Arts in Communications and a Master of Arts in International Relations with a geographic concentration in Middle East affairs from the American University School of International Service in Washington, DC, as well as a Juris Doctor, cum laude, from the Washington College of Law at the American University in Washington, DC.