ALEXANDER, KOBI

ALEXANDER, KOBI (1952– ), Israeli high-tech entrepreneur. Alexander was born in Tel Aviv. He served as an intelligence officer in the army. In 1977 he graduated in economics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and in 1980 he received an M.B.A. degree from New York University. In 1980–81 he worked as an economic consultant for several international corporations. In 1982 he and his two partners, Boaz Misholi and Yehiam Yemini, established Efrat Future Technology Inc. in 1984, after the development of the firm's first product, Tadiran joined the partnership and later on a group of American investors joined as well. In 1986 Comverse USA was established, the mother company of Efrat. In 1987 Efrat took big losses, its stock failed, and Yemini retired. In 1988 Alexander moved to New York and succeeded in stabilizing the firm and bringing it back to profitability. Efrat employed 1,500 workers with a turnover of $300 million dollars a year and is a leading firm in the field of software and systems enabling network-based multimedia enhanced communication services. Alexander is the chairman, president, and CEO of Efrat. In 1997 Comverse and Boston Technologies were merged, and Alexander became the head of a firm with revenues of over $1 billion a year He also served as a director of the venture fund established by Comverse and George Soros. (Dan Gerstenfeld (2nd ed.)