Dan Shure Elected AICC President,
Richard Kaplan Elected 1st Vice President
at December 10, 2009 Annual Meeting

At the December 10, 2009 Annual Board of Directors and Membership Meeting of the America-Israel Chamber of Commerce Chicago (AICC), Daniel B. Shure of BeShure LLC was elected to a two-year term as President. Mr. Shure succeeds Debra S. Rade of Rade Law LLC.  (Daniel and Debra are pictured at left).

In accepting his new role, Shure told attendees that despite the economic downturn, AICC's membership had grown under Ms. Rade's leadership, and that he saw the challenges ahead as opportunities to be leveraged.

Richard A. Kaplan (right) of Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione was elected First Vice President, succeeding Shure in that role.  Daniel H. Lichtenstein of Grant Thornton International Ltd., Shanna Shapiro of CareFusion, and Michael A. Traison of Miller Canfield were elected to Vice President positions.

Newcomers elected to the AICC's Board as Directors were Boaz Blumovitz of Bank Leumi USA, Shlomo Danieli of Blooming of Beloit, Leonard Ferber of Katten Muchin Rosenman, Ilan Shahar of Charcon Law Offices (Tel Aviv), Daniel Stern of Stern Investment Advisors, Ilya Trakhtenberg of LEK Consultants, and Elizabeth Walder of Immigration Law Associates, P.C.

For a complete listing of the AICC's leadership, click here

AICC Honors Milton Levenfeld & Barry Levenfeld at 2009 Gala.
Alan Sklar Receives Sandler Award.

2009 Highlights

More than 100 Attend Networking Evening  With AICC and Polish American Chamber

In July, we held our first joint networking reception with the Polish American Chamber of Commerce (PACC), sponsored by Miller Canfield's Michael Traison. We have already booked another networking evening for July 14, 2010 with PACC.

We welcome your suggestions of other binational chambers and interest groups with which you'd like to network!

Illinois Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, International Trade Commissioners, Water & SIT
 
In January 2009 Illinois State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias addressed our members. We provided our members and Internal Trade Commissioners with tours of and discussions at Israel-owned companies with facilities in Ilinois, and we held our first workshop for Illinois exporters in Rockford during April. In July, Assaf Barnea of Israel's Kinrot Ventures discusesd Israel's water technologies in a program sponsored by AICC member Tal Israeli and Arnstein & Lehr.

Recognizing that services are the next wave of Israeli exports, we introduced Israel's SIT (Systematic Inventive Thinking) to our membership in a program sponsored by AICC member Richard Kaplan and  Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione in November.

AICC Life Sciences Practice Group Drives Programming in the U.S. and in Israel

The AICC Life Sciences Practice Group,chaired by Michael Rosen of Forest City Science + Technology Group and David Gulley of the University of Illinois at Chicago, presented four major programs in 2009:

1)  Introducing Israel's Oramed Pharmaceuticals' new approach to treating diabetes in January;

2)  Collaborating with the Government of Israel on April 3 to present the first U.S.- Israel Healthcare Information Systems  Business Exchange at the University of Illinois at Chicago;

3) Presenting our annual BioTech Roundtable and Gala Reception in Tel Aviv during Israel's annual ILSI-BioMed and International Stem Cell Conference in June; and

4) Presenting the November "What Makes a Life Science Partnership Kosher" panel discussion, featuring Teva Innovative Ventures, University of Illinois at Chicago, and the BIRD Foundation.

Instant Messaging Creator Keynotes AICC Annual Meeting

Capping off the year, Yair Goldfinger (left), credited with creating Instant Messaging, and Co-Founder & CTO of Chicago-based Dotomi, delivered the keynote address at our Annual Board of Directors and Membership Meeting on December 10.

The  program also introduced the AICC's new Information Technology Group, Co-Chaired by Katten Muchin Rosenman's Leonard Ferber, and Grant Thornton's Jan Hertzberg.

The meeting was hosted and sponsored Katten Muchin Rosenman.

For a complete list of 2009 programs, click here.

NEW JOBS POSTED:

Newedge Bank (AICC member Michael Benillouche) Now Hiring.  Click here for openings. 

International Trade Position Offered by the Government of Israel Economic Mission to the Midwest

The Israel Project Seeks National Leadership Director

iBIO_® (Illinois Biotechnology Industry Organization)

University of Illinois Careers and Employment

Members Helping Members
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Bank of Israel's Macroeconomic Forecast for 2010

The macroeconomic forecast for 2010 has been revised upwards as a result of positive information regarding economic activity in the second half of 2009, both globally and in Israel, and in light of improved forecasts of global growth and world trade in 2010. GDP is expected to grow by 3.5% in 2010 (compared with 2.5% in the previous forecast.

The unemployment rate is expected to drop to 7.1% on average, consistent with a level of less that 7% at the end of 2010. Growth is being led by an increase in the demand for exports resulting from the recovery in the global economy.

Domestic uses are increasing more slowly than exports, except for investment and the consumption of durables which are rising rapidly.

The buoyant increase in the consumption of durables and in investment in machinery, equipment and transportation vehicles brings in its wake a surge in imports, so that the surplus in the current account is expected to contract.

The main risk in the forecast is that of a slower recovery in the global economy than that on which the forecast is based.

Main Economic Indicators, Forecasts for 2009 and 2010 (and previous forecast)

	2009 CBS estimate 31.12.09	2010 estimate (previous estimate in parentheses)*
Main results (rates of change, percent, unless stated otherwise)
1.  GDP	0.5	3.5 (2.5)
2.  Business sector product	- 0.4	4.1 (2.8)
3.  Exports (excluding diamonds)	- 11.0	8.6 (6.2)
4.  Private consumption	1.1	4.8 (1.1)
4.a. of which excluding durables	2.2	3.1 (2.2)
5.  Gross domestic investment	- 9.4	9.3 (1.9)
5.a. of which fixed investment	- 6.7	4.9 (2.0)
6.  Civilian imports (excluding diamonds)	- 13.4	11.4 (7.3)
7.  Current account ($ billion)	7.2	3.0 (4.9)
8.  Unemployment rate (percent)	7.7	7.1 (8.3)
* The previous estimate was published on 1 September 2009

Main Assumptions Underlying Forecast for 2010 (previous assumptions in parentheses)

World trade - an increase of 7 % (4.4 %)
Terms of trade - a deterioration of 2.1 % (3.0  %)
Public expenditure - an increase of 0.6 % (1.8 %)
Public consumption - an increase of 1.0 % (1.0 %)
Per capita transfer payments - an increase of 1.8 % (1.3 % )
VAT - 6 % (16.5 %); Corporate tax - 25 % (25 %)

GDP Growth Path during the Year

Las Vegas BIG and Top 10 Israeli Wines of 2009 Online at www.buyisraelgoods.org
and more news from Buy Israel Goods - a program of the America-Israel Chamber of Commerce Chicago originated and sponsored by Howard I. Bernstein

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Are You a Retailer?  Do You Provide Consumer Services?  Join AICC as a member and explore how the AICC can help promote your sales and services.  We are never too busy to meet with you to learn more about your business!  Click here to let us know you are interested and we will contact you.