Advisory Board

Raphael Semiat is a professor in the Chemical Engineering Department, Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel. He holds the Yitzhak Rabin Memorial Chair in science, engineering and management. He is currently the director of the Grand Water Research Institute and in charge of the Rabin Desalination Laboratory within the GWRI. He obtained his B.Sc. degree in Chemical Engineering from the Technion in 1973 and obtained his D.Sc. dissertation on MED Desalination in 1978 at the Technion.

Prof. Semiat is an expert in separation processes with industrial experience in IMI(TAMI), a subsidiary of Israel Chemicals Ltd, where he served as a senior research engineer and as the head of the Heat and Mass Transfer Engineering Research Department.

Prof. Semiat joined the Chemical Engineering Department, Technion, in 1990. His main research interests are: Process Development; Separation Processes with emphasis on Desalination. Of particular relevance are the research subjects associated with membranes processes and membrane fouling prevention. He has published more than one hundred papers in scientific journals and similar number in conference proceedings. Most of his current research subjects are associated with the Israeli industry.

Professor Avner Adin (Feb. 3, 1943) is an internationally known environmental engineer who combines teaching, research, innovation, and engineering practice in the field of water treatment, wastewater reuse in irrigation and industry and Water Security and Safety. His special focus is filtration, electroflocculation, membrane pretreat. &related processes in particle separation tech.

Prof. Adin received his B.Sc, M.Sc and D.Sc. degrees from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology (Haifa), and did post-doctoral work at the Univesrity of Iowa (USA).  Appointed to the Hebrew University’s Lunenfeld-Kunin Chair of Environmental Sciences, Prof. Adin has taught at a number of other leading institutes and universities including Iowa State University, University of Houston, University of Cincinnati (USA); McMaster University (Canada); Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (Mexico); Hokkaido University (Japan) and Ocean University of China. Management Team member of  SWITCH – an EU huge international project on Integrated Water Management of Future Cities. He has also provided expert engineering assistance and performed applied research for a variety of national and international organizations including The World Bank, WHO, USAID, USEPA, WRC (Canada), CSRI (South Africa), EU and a number of private sector clients including Culligan, International Harvester, Coca-Cola and Intel.  He serves as the Chairman of the national Drinking Water Standards Committee of Israel. In addition to his regular teaching, research and consulting duties, Prof. Adin is the founder and Chief Scientist of Treatec21 Industries, Ltd., a developer of innovative water and wastewater treatment processes.

Prof. Adin has published hundreds of scientific and technical articles in the areas of water treatment and reuse, clogging prevention in drip irrigation systems and environmental pollution control. Prof. Adin is the Founder and Past-President of the Israeli Water Association, a Board Member and a founder of Waterfronts-Israeli Water Union, and board member of Water Environment Federation (WEF) and of the  International Water Association (IWA) where he also serves on the Specialist Group on Particle Separation Committee.  He was also an active member of the prestigious International Consortium of Filtration Groups (INCOFILT) and Member of the American Water Works Association (AWWA).

Shimon Tal has over 35 years of experience in professional and executive duties in the water resources management, water supply and sanitation sector of Israel. He has extensive experience in national and international water issues and bilateral and multilateral water agreements.

Between 2000 and 2006 Shimon Tal served as the Water Commissioner of Israel, the senior ranking cabinet nominated official, responsible for the overall management (planning and regulation) of the National water sector and water resources.

On his last duty he was the Co-Chairman of the Joint Israel-Jordan and Israeli-Palestinian Water Committees.
Today he is the founder and CEO of a private company "Tal Content – Consulting & Enterprise Ltd ".  The company is involved in Water Sanitation and Energy and integrated climate change adaptation activities, promotion of water technologies, and the dissemination of sustainable approaches for water sector management.

In 2007 he was elected and nominated to be the President of the Israeli Water Association.
Before that Simon Tal executed extensive activities in Mekorot, from professional and engineering field positions through managerial positions, including Vice President of Engineering and Member of the Executive Board.

Shimon Tal holds B.SC and M.Sc in Soil & Water Sciences from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology.

Professor Bear has been the Dean of the School of Engineering at the Kinneret College on the Sea of Galilee since 2003. He is a Professor Emeritus in the Dept. of Civil Engineering of the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel – where he has served as Vice President for Academic Affairs (1972-1976), Dean of Graduate School (1984-1986), and Dean of Civil Engineering (1995-1997). He was awarded Honorary Doctorates in Technological Sciences both by the Delft Univ. of Technology, Delft (1978), The Netherlands, and by E.T.H., Zurich, Switzerland (1988). He is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union, and was awarded the 1990 K. Hubbert Award by the National Ground Water Assoc. (USA). In 1998, he was awarded the Rothschild Prize in Engineering (Israel). In 2003 he was awarded the Excellence in Education Medal by the American Geophysical Union (AGU).

His consulting, teaching and research at many universities around the world cover the areas of groundwater hydrology and hydraulics, management of water resources, subsurface contamination and remediation, and the general theory of transport phenomena in porous media. On these subjects, Professor Bear has written 5 books and over 200 publications in scientific journals and edited volumes, and is the Chief Editor of the international Journal: TRANSPORT IN POROUS MEDIA.

Roy Amitzur is a seasoned entrepreneur and senior manager. Since 2003, Roy has invested in, raised funds for, and managed a number of private Cleantech companies located in the US, Europe and Israel, all of which have successfully completed their R&D stages and have begun generating revenues.

Prior to that, Roy was a member of the senior management team at Comverse Technologies. Among his positions at Comverse, he served as the General Manager of the Professional Services Division, General Manager of the Mobile Internet Division, and COO of EMEA.

Previously, he served as CEO of Tzina Investment, a privately owned venture capital firm with $80 million under management.

He also served as Managing Partner at Coni, a private company specializing in trade with Eastern Europe and representation of major US companies in Israel.

Roy started his professional career at the Israeli Embassy in Washington DC, where he managed relations among the Israeli US defense industries, the US government and the US defense industries.

Roy earned his B.Sc. in Computer Science and studied toward an MBA at the University of Maryland

Mr. Frenkel Joined Aqwise as CEO in August 2007, bringing vast experience in technology oriented ventures, management, global sales and operations in diverse markets and industries, as well as marketing,  business development and M&A background.

Prior to Aqwise, Mr. Frenkel served as Director of Business Development at Elron Electronic Industries (NASDAQ: ELRN), a leading Israeli-based holding group and the technology investment arm of Israel’s largest conglomerate, the IDB group. During his tenure with Elron, Mr. Frenkel served on the Board of Directors of several of the group’s companies in various fields, such as medical devices, industrial applications and water technologies.
Mr. Frenkel was also one of the leaders of the group’s penetration, through several signifcant invetsments, to the clean technology arena.

Prior to his position at Elron, Mr. Frenkel served in a few Business Development, Marketing and Market Analysis positions at Paradigm B.V., a leading international software and services provider serving the Oil and Gas industry, and at Nice Systems (NASDAQ: NICE), one of Israel's largest high-tech companies, focusing on the global homeland and security markets.

Mr. Frenkel (ranked as Major in Reserves) served in the Central Military Intelligence unit of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). 

Mr. Frenkel is a member of the Israeli Legal Bar Association, and graduated magna cum laude from the Tel Aviv University Law Faculty. He also holds a B.A degree in Economics from the Tel Aviv University.

Mrs. Tamar Morag-Sela is a Patent Attorney and Partner at the Reinhold Cohn Group (RCG) with a M.Sc degree in Organic Chemistry from the Weizmann Institute of Science.  At her position in RCG, Tamar practices Intellectual Property Law, including drafting patent specifications; preparing opinions both regarding patentability and Freedom-to-Operate (FTO); and providing her clients with guidance relating to patent strategy and  evaluation in order to build up  her clients’ Intellectual property portfolio into a valuable business asset.  Tamar is mainly involved in projects in the field of drug delivery and Cleantech-related technologies, mainly concerning water, sludge and waste treatment, recycling and other environmental-protecting technologies.

Ilan is a 20 year veteran in the water industry, starting his career as an application engineer while still in university. He has since built his experience in water and wastewater treatment through engineering and sales positions for companies such as Hydranautics and Orlite. He held executive positions for global leaders such as Infilco Degremont and Tetra Tech, where he created value through growing business in the municipal and desalination markets.

Ilan's understanding of the industry is also born of the rare advantage of having been literally raised in the field.  His father, Mark Wilf, is an internationally renowned expert in membrane water treatment.

In 2006, Ilan joined Atlantium Technologies Inc as Chief Executive Officer.  Atlantium designs, manufactures and markets innovative Ultraviolet disinfection solutions globally.  Currently Ilan is an advisor to the chairman of Atlantium and is directly responsible for penetrating the municipal, pool and desalination markets for the company.

Ilan holds a B.Sc. in Chemistry from the University of California, Santa Barbara and an M.B.A. in Technology Management from the University of Phoenix.

Yossi is an 11 veteran in the water industry, starting his career as a marketing director and project manager at EMS Mekorot Projects, a subsidiary of Mekorot the national water company. He has gathered his experience in water and wastewater treatment, desalination, pumping equipment, pipe works, water supply systems through engineering and sales. Yossi has vast experience in the performance of large order of magnitude water supply projects in Israel.

In January 2010, Yossi joined Mekorot as Director of WaTechTM Division. WaTech - the Entrepreneurship & Partnership Center for Water Technologies is a unique program which supports new innovative water technologies solutions which are relevant to the daily operation of the Mekorot.

Yossi served in the central military intelligence unit of Israeli Defense Forces (IDF)

Yossi holds a B.Sc in Chemical Engineering and M.B.A from Ben-Gurion University  of the Negev, Israel.