Team
Amir Hessel
Founding Partner
Prior to founding Arbel with Gabriel Low, Amir was Deputy CEO and the Chief Investment Officer of Harel Insurance and Finance, Israel's largest insurance group, for 16.5 years. Amir founded the investment division in the year 2000, and under his leadership the division personnel grew from 5 employees to 85 with Asset Under Management from 12 billion NIS to 145 billion. Over the same period the investment portfolio, which was originally constituted exclusively of Israeli listed bonds and shares, developed to contain some 40% Foreign assets and over 30% alternative assets including inter alia private domestic business credit set up to compete with the corporate divisions at the domestic banks, income producing real estate portfolio in the USA, Europe and Israel, and both Infrastructure and Private Equity investments in hundreds of projects, companies and funds. In his tenure Harel's investment portfolio achieved a return of 8% leading the entire insurance and pension fund industry. Prior to joining Harel, Amir served as an Analyst, Deputy CEO and Head of Research and Betuha, at the time Israel's largest brokerage firm.
Amir holds a Bachelor and Masters degrees in Business and Economics from Tel Aviv University, both with honors.
Gabriel Low
Founding Partner
Prior to founding Arbel with Amir Hessel, Gabi has been a Managing Partner at the Manof KCPS Fund, a Private Debt and Private Equity fund established with the Israeli Ministry of Finance as core investor as a response to the 2008 Financial Crisis. Manof KCPS raised over 1.2 billion NIS and is expected to generate an IRR of 15% and money multiple of 1.7x. Previously Gabi has been a Managing Director at Citigroup Corporate and Investment Bank Fixed Income Division in London where he led the Special Situation group for EMEA and previously the ABS Trading Desk. He was previously a Mortgage Bond trader with Salomon Bothers in New York where he joined in the training class of 1991.
Gabi holds a B.Sc degree in Industrial Engineering from Tel Aviv University and is an R.J. Miller Scholar with an MBA degree of the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University.
Vered Karin
Managing Partner
Prior to joining Arbel at the Mrs. Karin has been Head of Direct Lending and Illiquid Credit at Psagot, Israel's largest Investment House. She has personally led large scale corporate credit, mezzanine and private equity investments. She previously held a similar position at Altshuler Shaham, another leading Israeli Investment House.
Earlier Vered was an investment manager at Pelnus Mezzanine LLP, a private debt fund at the Viola Group; an investment manager at the Migdal Insurance Company; and similarly, at Infinity Investment house.
Vered is a Finance Lecturer at the College of Management and at the
Academic Institute of Kiryat Ono.
She holds an MBA degree with a Real Estate Major from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, an MBA degree with a Finance Major from the Academic Institute of Kiryat Ono and a B.A. In Economics and Management from Tel Aviv University.
Dave Gal, CPA
Managing Partner
In the year 2009 thru to 2017 Mr. Gal has been a Managing Partner at Origo Manof Fund, a Private Debt and Private Equity fund established with the Israeli Ministry of Finance as core investor as a response to the 2008 Financial Crisis and a “sibling” fund and competitor to the Manof KCPS Fund. Origo raised over 1.2 billion NIS and has generated an IRR of 12.5% and money multiple of 1.5x. Previously Mr. Gal was a partner at CPA firm Trabelsi and Partners, focusing on corporate restructuring, turnaround and crisis management. Earlier he was a team leader at Deloitte Touch Consultants.
Dave has earned a Bachelor Degree in Economics and Accounting with Distinction and a Master Degree in Economics, both from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem
Elad Chen, CPA
Chief Financial Officer, Partner
Mr. Chen has been a finance director and head of Asset Funding Administration at Alto Real Estate Investment Fund over the last 3 years prior to joining Arbel early 2017. He was in charge of corporate financial reporting, tax reporting, budgeting and LP capital management and interactions. Previously he was an audit team leader at Ernest & Young Israel for 6 years.
He holds a Bachelor degree in Economics and Accounting from the Rupin College.
Tom joined Arbel during 2020 . Prior to joining Arbel and between 2018-2019, Tom worked as an Investment Banker at GSE financial advisory and investment banking firm, and accompanied M&A deals an well as debt restructuring processes. Between 2017-2018, Tom worked as an Economic advisor at the OECD headquarters in Paris and represented the Israeli Ministry of Finance at the organization's Economic and Development Review Committee. Prior to that, and between 2013-2015, Tom worked at Gornitzky & Co law firm, and represented large Israeli corporations in complex financial litigation cases.
Tom holds an L.L.B in Law and a BA in Economics (Both Magna Cum Laude) from Tel Aviv University and an MSc in Finance (with Merit) from The London School of Economics (LSE).
Tom Binkowicz, Adv.
Investment Manager
Tamar Soroka
Head of Office and Communications with Investors
Tamar has been a senior administrator, office manager and personal assistant in various companies in Israel since 2005. She joined Arbel at the end of 2017.
Shirley served as an audit team manager at the KPMG CPA office, Somech Chaikin between 2020-2022. Shirley has a bachelor's degree in busines
administration and specialization in accounting from the college's academic track.Shirley joined the Arbel Foundation in mid-2022.
Shirly Shamsian CPA
accountant
Ron Kovalski
CEO of Arbel Real Estate
Prior to joining Arbel Real Estate in 2023, Ron was a Managing Director at CIM Group in London overseeing its European real estate investments, a 1st Vice President and Global Head of real estate investments at Harel Insurance and Finance Group in Tel Aviv, and a tax lawyer at Skadden Arps in New York.
Ron earned a Bachelor of Economics degree and a Bachelor of Laws degree from University of Haifa, a Master of Business Administration degree from Tel Aviv University, and a Maser of Laws degree from New York University.
Investment Committee
Shlomo Zohar
Member of the Investment Committee
Mr. Zohar is currently the CEO of ADO Group and an Executive Vice Chairman of ADO Properties SA, a Berlin centered Multifamily Real Estate owner and operator with 24,500 units under management, a company listed on the Deutsche Bourse. He has been the Chairman of Israel Discount bank, Israel’s third largest bank, during the years 2006-2009, and previously a Founding Managing Partner of Zohar, Zohar & Co. CPA (today part of Deloitte Israel). He is also a member of the BOD at a number of private and publicly listed Israeli companies.
Mr. Zohar earned a BA degree in Economics & Accounting from Bar Ilan University in Israel, and is a licensed CPA. He later earned the MBA degree from McGill University in Montreal, Canada.
David Baruch
Member of the Investment Committee
Mr. Baruch is currently the Chairman of the Yesodot Fund, a Private Debt fund financing residential construction projects in Israel. He has been the CEO of Excellence Investment House during the years 2008-2012 and previously CEO of Bank Jerusalem for nine years. He has served before in various senior roles at the Ministry of Finance the most recent being as the Deputy Controller and head of the Investment Center. He is also a member of the BOD at a number of private and
publicly listed companies.
Mr. Baruch earned a BA degree in Economics and an MBA, both at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.