Chairman, Cybertech Conferences, Israel
Mr. Vardi is One of Israel’s early entrepreneurs, having co-founded, led, funded, and contributed to the development of more than 80 high-tech, energy, natural resources, and clean-tech companies. Many of these ventures, including Tekem, Alon Energy, and Granite Hacarmel, among others, went public. As the founding investor of Mirabilis Ltd. – the creator of iCQ – Vardi co-pioneered instant messaging.
Vardi served as chairman of the board of trustees of Jerusalem Foundation, Weitzman Institute; Hebrew University; the Open University; and the Technion. He also served as an advisor to the World Bank and the United Nations Development Program, as well as advising CEOs of Amazon, AOL, Siemens Albis, and Allied–signal. Additionally, he has been a member of the World Economic Forum and co-chairman of the EU-Israel business dialogue.
Vardi’s public service roles include serving as the director general of the Ministry of Development and the Ministry of Energy, as well as chairman of Israel National Oil Company and Israel Chemicals. He also participated in peace talks with Egypt, the Palestinians, Jordan, and Syria.
