American-Israel Chamber of Commerce

AICC offers an exclusive sponsorship for each e-Newsletter. For information on sponsoring future e-Newsletters, contact Shelley Samach, aiccse@aiccse.org.

truvle develops and markets customized e-mail itineraries and confirmations for travel professionals including agents, hoteliers, tour operators and airlines.  The pioneering software replaces the traditional, unbranded e-doc that travel management companies receive for their clients.  In its place comes an engaging, Web-empowered itinerary/trip planner.  Designed to convey the excitement of travel, the truvle itinerary features a bright contemporary design, branding, targeted ads and links to the travel company’s products and services.

“Atlanta is well-known as a hub for both travel and technology, and our company has an aggressive growth plan. With its talented and diverse workforce, business-friendly environment and direct flights to any place in the world we need to go — including Israel, Atlanta puts us close to key clients and allows us to extend our reach in new markets,” said Alon Zaibert, truvle’s founder and CEO.

truvle counts among its clients some of the world’s largest travel service organizations including AAA and SkyBird Travel.  Through partnerships with organizations such as Open Table and Ticketmaster, the breakthrough itinerary gives travelers immediate access to a full gamut of useful trip information — restaurants, shopping, entertainment, tours, events, flights, hotels, weather, maps, directions and more.  Travelers can make dinner reservations, book tee times, buy tickets to a show, get driving directions, check in for flights, and more directly from this colorful, interactive itinerary and planner.

As part of its growth strategy, truvle appointed sales and travel industry veteran Darren Dunn as vice president of business development.  Most recently, Dunn served as director of sales at WorldMate, a global leader in mobile travel applications that was also founded in Israel.

“We look forward to welcoming truvle to our growing family of Israeli companies in the Southeast.  With their outstanding management and exciting technology offering, along with the support they can expect from AICC, we are confident of their very bright future in our community,” said Tom Glaser, president of the American-Israel Chamber of Commerce, Southeast Region, who noted that the Atlanta area is now home to over 40 Israeli companies for their US or regional headquarters.

Israel Makov (c) joins AICC President Tom Glaser (l) and MAC Vice President David Hartnett (r) at August 9th luncheon in his honor.

The American-Israel Chamber of Commerce and Metro Atlanta Chamber joined forces last week to welcome to Atlanta one of Israel’s most prominent bioscience industry leaders.  Israel Makov, former Teva Pharmaceutical CEO, was visiting the city to attend a board meeting of Given Imaging, the very successful medical device company based in Yokneam, whose board of directors he chairs.  The company’s North American headquarters is in Atlanta.  The two economic development groups organized a luncheon in his honor at MAC’s downtown Atlanta headquarters as a way for him to meet the community’s life science industry leaders and learn about the area’s attractiveness to Israeli companies.

The initiative was inspired by AICC’s new Strategic Plan that prescribes this kind of proactive marketing through its Israeli Presence and Co-opetition themes.  “This was a perfect example of how we can take advantage of the fact that very influential Israelis come through Atlanta on a regular basis, to roll out the red carpet with partner organizations.  It gave us the chance to showcase the resources of our Southeast community, build relationships with industry leaders here, and encourage a very positive impression that can be communicated to other Israeli companies looking to get established in the US market,” said Nancy Sousa (Sousa Associates) who chairs AICC’s Medical Committee.

Makov was impressed.  “I enjoyed the luncheon very much, and it was interesting to learn about the industry from your end.  I look forward to being in touch, and please feel free to contact me if you should need any assistance,” he wrote in his letter of thanks to the two chambers.

Thanks to Cisco Systems, members of AICC’s Software Committee and TAG FinTech had a very productive face-to-face meeting on July 27th with leaders of Israel FinTech.  But the two sides were physically separated by several thousand miles and seven time zones, as the Israeli participants sat in Cisco’s Netanya facility while the US participants gathered at Cisco’s Atlanta headquarters.  They were amazed at how the Cisco TelePresence system made it seem as if the bi-country meeting were taking place at the same conference table.

“What an incredible experience it was to have this level of interaction with colleagues in Israel from such a distance.  Without this technology, it would have been very difficult to achieve consensus around a very promising new industry cluster that will benefit both Israel and the Southeast,” said Software Committee chairman Lorin Coles (Alliancesphere).

The Software Committee has targeted Financial Software–”FinTech”–as the next focus for its I-3 series.  Atlanta is one of the top three centers in the US for this technology industry sector, boasting such major companies as NCR, Equifax, First Data, and Global Payments.  Partner organizations were identified in Georgia and Israel, and the planning of an event for this fall is now underway.

Coles pointed out that using Technology to expand AICC’s geographic footprint is one of the key themes of the Chamber’s new Strategic Plan.  “Thanks to our Executive Committee member Murray Bookman (Cisco Systems), we were able to bring together all the players in a very productive session.  We’re very encouraged that videoconferencing tools can play a big role in achieving our goals in the coming weeks, months, and years.”

AICC President Tom Glaser (center) joins fellow panelists Sami Shaheen (center) and Uriel Lynn (right) at the August 5th session in Milwaukee.

Over one thousand chamber of commerce executives travelled to Milwaukee in early August for the annual convention of the American Chamber of Commerce Executives Association (ACCE), and those who attended its International Issue Forum learned why their cities and regions should look to Israel for economic development.  At their premier event for the professional leaders of chambers from cities through North America, ACCE this year chose Israel, and asked long time member Tom Glaser to coordinate the program.  With over thirty years chamber of commerce management experience and almost nineteen years since founding and serving as president of the Atlanta-based American-Israel Chamber of Commerce, Southeast Region, Glaser was chosen by the convention planning committee to assemble a panel highlighting Israel as an international economic development target.

In addition to Glaser, the Israel panel included Uriel Lynn, president of the Federation of Israeli Chambers of Commerce which represents the chambers of commerce of Israel’s six largest cities, and Sami Shaheen, president of the Nazareth Chamber of Commerce, home to Israel’s largest Arab community.  Over forty-five chamber executives attended the session.

Glaser emphasized that chambers should pinpoint clusters of economic strength in their local communities as a way to generate relationships with Israeli companies that could be natural partners for investment, strategic partnerships, and customers.  In Atlanta, for example, the logical sectors have been in Healthcare IT, New Media, and Cable Broadband, and AICC is now looking at Financial Software.  “I am hopeful that my colleagues will look to Israel for innovation solutions when considering international targets, as this will be of strategic importance to their respective chambers, their members, and the communities in which they live and work,” he said.