September 19, 2016
The MIDC was established in 1992 as a “public private partnership” between the Maryland Department of Commerce, Israel’s Ministry of Economy, and The Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore and will be celebrating its 25th Anniversary in the Spring 2017. Alvin Katz, Co-Founder and Director, KatzAbosch, CPAs, is chairing the 25th anniversary celebration committee and has assembled a blue ribbon state-wide committee to plan the 25th Anniversary event.
The motivation to form the MIDC came from business executives Hanan “Bean” Sibel, the late Marvin Schapiro, Roger Lipitz and Marty Waxman, Vice-President of the Associated. All were active in the Associated and wanted to help create jobs in Israel as a result of high unemployment spurred by mass immigration of Russian Jewry after the fall of the Soviet Union in the late 1980s. Knowing it could be beneficial to Maryland as well, they initiated the collaboration between Governor William Donald Schaefer and Israel’s Ambassador to the US, Moshe Arad, to help Israel’s high tech companies enter the U.S. market through Maryland, both through collaborations with Maryland companies as well as setting up their US offices in the state. The original Maryland/Israel Declaration of Cooperation was signed by Governor Schaefer and Ambassador Arad in 1988.
25th Anniversary Steering Committee members are: Alvin Katz, Chair; Dan Bader, Scott Blackman, Jason Blavatt, Dr. Henry Brem, Dr. Rachel Brem, Dr. Steve Brooks, Mary Burkholder, Olga Cherches, Lisa Cines, Mark Davis, Steve Dubin, Jeff Elkin, Sam Feigin, Howard Feldman, Irv Flax, Yair Flicker, Michael Friedman, Rob Frier, Ron Glancz, Beth Goldsmith, Ron Halber, Eyal Hen, Linda Hurwitz, Dan Klein, Sheldon Klein, David Kuntz, Stuart Kurlander, Neil Meltzer, Mark Neumann, Avner Parnes, Beth Perlman, Abba Poliakoff, Robert Pollokoff, Jay Radov, J.M. Schapiro, Mark Schapiro, Hanan Sibel, Lynn Snyder, Dr. Sol Snyder, Howard Sollins, Ed Tolchin, Marty Waxman and Jack Zager.
For more information, contact Nancy Boguslaw.