Irwin Katsof, Lady Margaret Thatcher and Tom Brokaw. Former Attorney General of the United States John Ashcroft, Former Prime Minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland The Right Honorable Sir John Major, KG, CH and Irwin Katsof. Former President Bill Clinton with Irwin Katsof. Michael Douglas, President Mikhail Gorbachev, Raisa Gorbachev and Barbara Walters.
 


IRWIN KATSOF
Managing Director



Irwin G. Katsof, businessman, entrepreneur, educator, and author, is a dynamic and driven individual.

Katsof is the Managing Director of Doheny Global Group (www.dohenygroup.com) and is responsible for the overall direction of the firm. He makes use of his vast numbers of relationships with chairmen and chief executive officers of public and private companies, philanthropists, investment bankers and institutional and private investors to benefit the clientele of the firm. Irwin Katsof might best be described as an outstanding successful serial entrepreneur. In 1982 he moved from Jerusalem's Old City to Los Angeles to establish what became a world-class model for dynamic Jewish adult educational programs. He initiated the cutting-edge "Twenty Something" seminar which was featured on the front-page of the Los Angeles Times View section and which has been copied around the globe.

Katsof founded Global Capital Associates, a networking and consulting firm dedicated to initiating international partnerships, creating strategic alliances, and bolstering investment, in 2005 and currently serves as President and CEO. Global Capital Associates assists Israeli start ups in finding US investors and strategic partners, and develops investment banking relationships by capitalizing on an elite, worldwide contact network spanning a diverse range of industries, from defense to high tech and the life sciences to finance. Katsof arranged for AOL Investments to make their first strategic investments in Israeli companies. As a result, AOL Investments took an equity position in Dealtime.com which later went public as Shopping.com, and Gurunet.com which became Answers.com and also had a recent successful IPO.

In 2006, Katsof was appointed to the Advisory Board of XTF, an investment firm dedicated to helping investors harness the power of Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs).

Katsof also sits on the Board of Criterion Strategies Inc, a premiere provider of specialized terrorism prevention and emergency management services, and was a member of the Board of IDT Entertainment, a subsidiary of IDT Telecom, a NYSE company, from its formation in 2001 until its successful sale to Liberty Media in 2006.

Katsof’s current ventures all stem from a series of great strides made over the past 25 years. In 1982, he moved from Jerusalem's Old City to Los Angeles, with his bride of 10 days, Judy, to establish what became a world-class model for dynamic Jewish adult educational programs. He initiated the cutting-edge "TwentySomething" seminar which was featured on the front-page of the Los Angeles Times View section and which has been copied around the globe.

In 1994, Katsof initiated the largest-ever international satellite broadcast in the Jewish world called "Let My People Know," on the fate of Jews in the former Soviet Union. Vice President Al Gore, Simon Wiesenthal, Sumner Redstone and Jeffrey Katzenberg took part in the broadcast, which reached 10 countries on four continents.

In 1995, Katsof founded the Jerusalem Fund of Aish HaTorah, and relocated to Manhattan in 1996, with his wife Judy and eight children in tow. He served as Executive Vice President until mid-2004 and currently as a Board Member. Katsof recruited countless senior mission participants for his high-level Jerusalem Fund executive missions to Israel and Jordan between 1996 and 2004, including Senators Orrin Hatch, John Kerry and Joe Biden, Secretary Tom Ridge, former New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman, past House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former Senator Rudy Boschwitz, Lady Margaret Thatcher, former Secretary of Housing Henry Cisneros and Ambassador Jeanne Kirkpatrick, as well as numerous top business leaders, among them National Semiconductors' Brian Halla, Chairman of Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Barry Sternlicht, Starbucks' Chairman Howard Schultz, and Coors Brewery Chairman Pete Coors. His creative, soft-spoken approach attracted many entertainment celebrities and business leaders to explore their Jewish roots. CNN's Larry King; actors Kirk Douglas, Elliot Gould, Jason Alexander, Rod Steiger and William Shatner; and business magnates Metromedia Executive Vice President Stuart Subotnick, AOL Time Warner Investments President Len Leader and Dean and DeLuca Chairman Les Rudd are among the many that Irwin Katsof inspired to get involved in Jerusalem Fund programs.

Indefatigable, Katsof assisted in the organization and founding in 2001 of HonestReporting.com, a fast-action, interactive website which alerts, informs and mobilizes grassroots activists via email to respond to unbalanced reporting on Israel and the Middle East. To date, there are 140,000 subscribers, in English, Spanish, Italian and Russian.

That year, Katsof also launched Words Can Heal, a nationwide campaign to strengthen America through the power of words. As Executive Director, Katsof oversaw the fastest and highest profile media launch of a non-profit organization ever. Words Can Heal was featured on over 100 national TV shows, including Oprah as well as on Fox, CBS and ABC primetime news; in 150 leading media outlets – among them the New York Times, Washington Post, and USA Today; and, in an exclusive National Press Club event hosted by Goldie Hawn and broadcast live on C-Span and NPR. Not only did he recruit a remarkable Board of Directors—including America's senior political leadership, Wall Street pacesetters and Hollywood celebrities – but both Houses of Congress passed a joint resolution designating November 23, 2002, National Words Can Heal Day.

In 2004, Katsof founded the Global Foundation for Democracy, an independent, non-denominational, and non-partisan organization whose primary purpose is to educate the public about the benefits to society of promoting democracy worldwide as a means to achieving global peace and cooperation. In 2006, Katsof resigned from his position as Chairman and President. In 2007, Katsof founded the World Congress of Christians, Jews and Muslims, an organization with a mission to harness the spiritual power and religious wisdom of these faiths in the service of universal peace and tolerance.

On top of all of these accomplishments, Katsof authored three books between 1998 and 2001, and is currently working on a fourth book to be called Rabbi in Search of Self: In Search of My Soul. In 1998, he coauthored with Larry King, , which was ranked the tenth best-selling religious book of the year according to Publishers Weekly. His second book, How to Get Your Prayers Answered , was published in 2000 and republished in 2002. The Words Can Heal Handbook - How Changing Your Words Can Change Your Life, his third, was released in 2001 and is being used by thousands of students across America as part of the Words Can Heal Character Education Program.