Mr. David Blumenthal — President and CEO of the Lion Brand Yarn Company, a fifth generation family-owned company that produces hand-knitting yarns — the steering committee chairman of the David and & Barbara Blumenthal Israel Center for Innovation and Research in Textiles (CIRTex Shenkar).
In the past he served as the president of the Hand Knitting Yarn Association and as chairman of the Craft Yarn Council, both of which are involved in promoting use and awareness of craft yarns. He was previously president of Warm Up America!, a nonprofit industry foundation. He is a recipient of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in the “family business” category, and is a board member of Enactus, a nonprofit international organization that promotes empowerment through student participation in entrepreneurial projects.
Blumenthal has served as a member of the Shenkar Board of Governors for seven years, and as vice president of the American Committee for Shenkar College, which has awarded him an honorary fellowship. He is married to Barbara Jolson Blumenthal, and they have three children and four grandchildren.
Prof. Alva Peled, Scientific Director: Member of Ben-Gurion University’s Structural Engineering Department, she holds a Ph.D. in civil engineering from the Technion, an M.Sc. in chemistry of polymers and textiles from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a B.Sc. in textile technology from Shenkar. She was visiting faculty at the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department of Arizona State University and at the Civil Engineering Department of Purdue University in Indiana. She was also a post-doctoral fellow at Northwestern University’s Center for Advanced Cement Based Materials, in Illinois. Professor Peled’s main research area is high-performance cement and concrete composite materials, particularly textile-reinforced concrete (TRC). She has published more than 100 papers for leading journals and conferences.
Dr. Elizabeth Amir, Director: An expert in developing new functional polymers for electro-optic and biological uses, and member of the academic faculty of the Department of Polymer Materials Engineering. Dr. Amir graduated with honors from her doctoral studies in organic chemistry from Tel Aviv University in 2007, for which she studied unique oxygen transfer reactions through the use of the HOF CN2 CN complex. Upon completion of her studies, she transferred to the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she worked on preparation, characterization and use of conducting polymers and on preparation and characterization of polymer coatings for biomedical uses.
The David & Barbara Blumenthal Israel Center for Innovation and Research in Textiles Steering Committee:
- David Blumenthal // Steering Committee Chairman
- Prof. Alva Peled // Scientific Director
- Dr. Elizabeth Amir // Director
- Prof. Sheizaf Rafaeli // President of Shenkar
- Prof. Shmuel Kenig // Vice President and Head of the Authority for Creativity, Research and Development
- Ms. Hadass Himmelschein // Head of the Department of Textile Design
- Mr. Robert Bash // Steering Committee Member