John May, Managing Partner of New Vantage Group, has been an innovator in mobilizing private equity capital.  He is the Co-manager of four regional angel groups, and a fifth now forming.  Mr. May has extensive experience with venture funds as well. 

A co-author of Every Business Needs an Angel (Crown Business: 2001), May has become a national authority on "angel" investments.  Mr. May is also the part-time director of the University of Virginia's (Batten Institute) initiative in Northern Virginia.

The following is an interview with John May about the Active Angel Investment Program to be held in Virginia on February 8-10, 2005 which will highlight four preselected Israeli companies:

Q: Four Israeli companies will be selected to make presentations to your investors.  Usually these type of events have twenty Israeli companies presenting.  Why only four?
A: Our model is designed to give investors and entrepreneurs the opportunity to network and fully review a business.  By limiting the number of companies, we believe the entrepreneurs and investors have more time to engage in quality discussions and business review.  As such, our event will give each company ample time for a presentation including questions from the investors and more detailed investor review during the networking part of the event. 

Q: Israeli companies are used to VC/Angel events.  What makes this event special and different? 
A: Active Angel Investors is one of the most prominent angel networks in the United States.  We will have over 60 approved investors from our angel network on hand to participate in the event.  These investors are all seasoned early stage investors with backgrounds in operations and management who are looking to invest and participate in a company's growth.  In addition, we will offer each presenting company the chance to participate in coaching session managed by our staff and, after the event, follow up meetings with specific industry contacts in the Washington D.C. area. 

Three Virginia representatives will interview about 60 companies in Israel as part of the Phase 1 evaluation for inclusion in the Active Angel Investment Program that will take place in Fairfax, Virginia on September 8-10, 2005.
 
Each comes with a wide range of experience.  Mr. Elliott Weiss was the former Associate Dean of the MBA program at the prestigious University of Virginia, whose Tayloe Murphy Center has a Northern Virginia Initiative.  One of the Center’s main objectives is to support entrepreneurial and economic growth in Virginia through outreach both locally and internationally.
 
The interview panel also includes Ronen Kenan, the Director of Fairfax County Economic Development Authority’s office in Israel.  Fairfax County, has the fastest growing concentration of homeland security related companies in addition to it’s reputation as a US center for IT and government related funding activities. 
 
Ralph Robbins, the Executive Director of the Virginia Israel Advisory Board, will also participate in the panel.  Ralph has over twenty years of business development experience in Israel and international business development in the US.

The Homeland Security Symposium held in Washington DC on October 28-29, attracted over 60 Israeli companies and 100 more US participants than expected.   Sponsored by the Israeli Export Institute in cooperation with the American Business Development Group (ABDG), the Symposium is proving to be the jumping off point for many Israeli companies.
 
Over 300 face to face business meetings took place between U.S. organizations and the Israeli companies including meetings with venture capitalists, giant U.S. contractors, and representative of the Department of Homeland Security and its Customs and boarder Patrol, Advanced Research Projects Agency and Transportation Security Administration. 
 
One of the highlights was the address by Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Security, The Honorable Paul McHale.   Mr. McHale stressed that many answers to homeland security are still unanswered and that the US government is very open to ideas from Israel who he referred to as a strong ally that has some of the most advanced technologies.