The Portland Trust is committed to promoting peace and stability between Palestinians and Israelis through economic development. |
Senior ManagementSir Ronald CohenSir Ronald Cohen is Chairman of The Portland Trust, Portland Capital LLPand Bridges Ventures. He was the founding partner and former chairman of Apax Partners. Founded in 1972, Apax Partners is one of the world’s leading private equity investment groups, operating in nine countries across Europe, the USA, Israel and Japan. Apax advises and manages funds of over $20 billion. Sir Ronald is currently chairman of the Social Investment Task Force and the Commission on Unclaimed Assets. He serves as a Trustee of the British Museum and is a member of the Executive Committee of the International Institute for Strategic Studies. Sir Ronald is the Vice-Chairman of Ben Gurion University of the Negev. He is also a member of the Harvard Board of Overseers. Sir Ronald has been chairman of the DTI “Tech Stars” Steering Committee and a member of the DTI UK Competitiveness Committee. He was a founder and former Vice-Chairman of EASDAQ and former director of NASDAQ Europe. He was a founder director and past chairman of the British Venture Capital Association, a founder director of the European Venture Capital Association and the Quoted Companies Alliance (formerly CISCO). He has recently published “The Second Bounce of the Ball – Turning Risk into Opportunity” about entrepreneurship. He is a graduate of Oxford University, where he was president of the Oxford Union, an Honorary Fellow of Exeter College, and has an MBA from Harvard Business School, to which he was awarded a Henry Fellowship.
Sir Harry SolomonSir Harry is a founder and Vice Chairman of The Portland Trust. He qualified as a solicitor in March 1960 and practised law until 1974 when he co-founded and became Chairman and Chief Executive of Hillsdown Holdings plc. Hillsdown became one of the largest food producers in Europe with a turnover of over £3 billion and employing over 50,000 people. The company had operations throughout Europe, Canada and America and was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1984. Since Sir Harry resigned as Chairman of Hillsdown Holdings he has been involved in many businesses and charitable organisations both in England and overseas. He was the Chairman of the Appeals Committee for the Royal College of Physicians and is an Honorary Fellow of the College. He is also a Trustee of the National Life Story Collection. He was awarded his Knighthood 1991 for services to the food industry. David FreudDavid Freud has been the chief executive of The Portland Trust since late 2005. In January 2008 he was also appointed adviser to the UK Government on reforming the welfare system, following his report in March 2007: “Reducing Dependency; Increasing Opportunity”. He was the former Vice Chairman of Investment Banking for UBS where he ran the global franchises for transport, leisure and business services. In the late 1980s he played a key role in transforming the merchant banking culture and organisation of S.G. Warburg for the investment banking arena. He was responsible for two complex restructurings: Nats in 2003 and the Channel Tunnel Rail Link in 1998. His deal experience spans the world, with keynote transactions including floats of Deutsche Post, Autostrade, Eurotunnel, Qantas, easyJet and the Hong Kong metro. His book “Freud in the City”, an insider account of the post-Big Bang revolution in London’s finance industry, was published in May 2006. Prior to his banking career, David worked at the Financial Times for eight years, four of which were spent writing the Lex column. Brig. Gen (res.) Eival GiladyEival Gilady is the Managing Director of The Portland Trust in Tel Aviv. A Brigadier General in the IDF, Gilady had a distinguished military career spanning three decades – commanding field units for twenty years, and serving an additional ten years at the General Staff. From 2001 to 2004 he served as Head of the Israel Defense Force’s Strategic Planning Division, and in 2005 he was appointed Head of Coordination and Strategy at the Office of Prime Minister Sharon. Gilady is also the Chairman of the Western Galilee College, Chairman of KIEDF, and the Honorary Consul of Slovenia in Tel Aviv. He earned his Bachelor’s and three Master’s degrees from Haifa University, National Defense University and George Washington University, in the areas of Resources Management, Policy Analysis, National Security Strategy, and Public Finance. From 1999 to 2001 he was assigned as a research fellow at the Hoover Institution and the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University. Samir Hulileh Samir Hulileh is Managing Director of The Portland Trust in Ramallah. He is on the Board of Directors of the Palestinian Banking Corporation and is a Board Member of the Applied Research Institute (ARIJ) in Bethlehem and of Arab Thought Forum in Jerusalem. Samir stepped down as Cabinet Secretary to the Palestinian Authority after the January 2006 elections. He was the former Assistant Under Secretary for the Ministry of the Economy and Trade between 1994–1997. He was the Chairman of the Board of the Palestine Trade Organisation (PalTRADE), representing Palestinian businesses and economic development across the Middle East and beyond. He has held different management positions in the private sector. Samir graduated from the American University of Beirut with a Masters Degree in Economics in 1983. He worked as an educator in Birzeit University. |
British registered charity no: 1106429
