Nuestro Equipo

Since 1991 Dafna Gonen held a variety of Operations, Development and Management positions in Pioneer International Group, mainly focusing on Pioneer Latin America and South Africa regions.

A decade ago Dafna led a new and successful initiative in Pioneer – transforming the company’s business model to a conflict free firm.

Since 2011 Dafna acts as the CEO of Pioneer Wealth Management and devotes her time to maintain & develop our long term quality relationships with our clients, service providers, consultants & employees.

Born in Israel, Dafna graduated from Haifa University with a BA in English Language and History. She also studied for a Business Administration diploma from The College of Management. As a mother of four children Dafna maintains a balance between her career and her family. She is also an enthusiast runner.

Contact information
Telephone (in Israel): +972-9-9611301

Mike Ellis, CFA CA (SA) MBA, is Chairman of the Investment Advisory Board and responsible for the entire investment process of Pioneer Wealth Management.

Originally from South Africa, Mike joined Pioneer in March 2000 after working in the Private Banking & Trust industry in the UK.  Mike has 20 years experience in dealing with private clients and investment selection, merging analytical, accounting and taxation experience to help investors look after their wealth.

Mike is a Chartered Accountant, a CFA charter holder and received his MBA from Tel Aviv University & Kellogg Business School. Mike is also an Oxford University Alumni having participated in the Said Business School's Global Investment Risk Management Program. In addition, Mike is a licensed Portfolio Manager by the Israel Securities Authority.

Mike serves pro bono on a number of charity’s Investment Boards and is a member of the Raanana Volunteer Search and Rescue Unit.

Omer Galin holds a B.Sc. in Industrial Engineering from the Technion Academic Institute in Haifa, an MBA majoring in finance, from the Leon Recanati Business School and an MA in Security Diplomacy studies fromTel Aviv University.
Omer has held leading roles in well-known hi-tech companies including Head of Research and Development managing $500 million value projects, Director of Marketing and Product Development in Europe and the Far East, and Project Manager in an engineering consulting firm to high-tech companies in Israel, Europe, the Far East and the U.S.
Omer was one of Pioneer's founders in 1986 and succeeded in building an international organization serving clients all over the world: South Africa, Israel, the Middle East and Latin America.
As a Director in Pioneer Omer leads the company toward its strategic goals as well as sharing his time and energy to meet with clients and employees, and share with them his accumulated knowledge.

Having lived in both Latin America and North America for many years, Avi Nahum has in-depth, multi-cultural experience and understanding ofthe needs of  Latin American, North American and Israeli families.

Avi has been one of the first Independent Financial Planners in the group. Throughout the years he spearheaded Business Development for Latin America, and today also coaches and supports other Independent Wealth Planners in the group.

Instrumental in the group’s growth in Latin America, as well as initiating joint-venture projects with local investment institutions in several countries, Avi functions as the Managing Partner of Pioneer Family Office, which is a Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) licensed in the USA, based in Florida. In addition, Avi serves as an Executive Director and member of the group’s Steering Committee and Investment Committee.

Avi attended the MBA program on Wealth Management at Carnegie Mellon and continues his professional development through numerous prestigious investments and wealth management programs at Harvard, Stanford and University of California at Berkeley.

Contact information:
Telephone (in Israel): +972-9-9611300
Cell phone (abroad): +1-786-282-1888

Ruthie Bacal, nacida en Colombia, hace parte del equipo de LATAM (Latino America) con sede en Miami.

Es la directora de Operaciones y Servicios al Cliente, responsable de brindar la mejor atención a nuestros clientes para garantizar que nuestra  cultura empresarial llegue con nuestros  excelentes servicios a todas nuestras familias.

Ruthie tiene un título en Administración de Empresas de la Universidad de Boston y adicionalmente una Maestría en Administración de Empresas (Cum Laude) de la Universidad Nova Southeastern.

Contact information:
Tel.: +1 305 935 5502

Shaul Sharhabani is the Head of Pioneers Institutional Division. Among the division's clients are large companies, Kibbutzes, leading Pension Institutions, and hospitals.

Over the past 16 years Shaul served in various financial and investment roles. Since 2002 he has been offering personal, professional and high quality assistance to wealthy families and individual clients.

Shaul was the CEO of the publicly traded company Lito Offset Ziv, the CFO of Dor Berger Investment House and an accountant at Deloitte Brightman Almagor Zohar.

Shaul is a Certified Accountant and a Financial Planner licensed by the Israel Securities Authority. In 2018, Shaul was appointed as a director in the International Board of the Weizmann Institute. In addition, Shaul volunteers as an observer in committees of the Weizmann Institute.

Liat Fund-Schwartz began her career at Pioneer in 2000 as the company's Human Resources and Training division. In 2004 she was promoted to the position of Sales & Business Development Manager and helped develop and grow the company's Israeli market. In 2008 she was appointed the company's VP with responsibility for Compliance and Business Development.

Liat holds a BA in psychology and an M.Sc. in Organizational Behavior from the Leon Recanati Business School in Tel Aviv University. In addition, Liat is a financial planner licensed by the Israel Securities Authority and a certified pension agent by the Ministry of Finance.

Miriam Briz-Kohn qualified as an accountant with PWC in London in 1999 and joined the Pioneer finance team in 2004 initially in charge of the commissions department and subsequently was appointed as the IT and Finance manager in 2007.

In her role, Miriam is responsible for the global financial management of the Pioneer Group. In addition, in her IT manager capacity, Miriam is responsible for the company wide IT infrastructure and has led the development and implementation of an advanced information and reporting system which meets Pioneer’s growing and changing needs.

Pearla Alexander-Heller hasjoined Pioneer in 1998 amd has filled various functions and roles, the most recent of which is Chief Operations Officer.

Pearla has accumulated a wealth of experience in working with international service providers including Swiss and other European banks, trust companies and fund managers, thus enabling our clients the opportunity to enjoy high quality service.

Pearla holds a B.A. in Political Science from Tel Aviv University.

Baruch has devoted more than 20 years to the service and financial planning to individual clients in Latin America. In 1989 he joined Pioneer International Group as an International Financial Planner. For 4 years he was the General Manager of Pioneer representation in Venezuela.
From 1993 to 2010 he had worked in the Private Banking departments of several leading banks and institutes, such as: Brazilian group Safdie representative at the Commercial Bank of NY and Multi-Commercial Bank of Geneva Switzerland in Venezuela, the Multi-Commercial Bank in London and in Switzerland, and IDB Swiss Bank as the Latin America Private Banking manager.

Since March 2010, Baruch has returned to Pioneer International Group as a Senior Wealth Manager focusing on the Latin market. Baruch serves qualified and/or international clients at Pioneer International services Ltd.

Baruch Kfir graduated in Community Social work in Haifa University.

Contact information
Telephone (in Israel): +972-9-96113365
Cell (in Israel): +972-54-6372056

Dan Touitou joined Pioneer Wealth Management in 2015 as senior financial analyst to the international team, specializing in global Fixed Income and front office tools development. In addition, Dan offers Private Wealth Management services to high-net-worth clients and families in Israel and Europe.

He began his career in 2004 at Edmond de Rothschild Multi Management as a financial analyst focused on strategies dedicated to energy, natural resources and emerging economies.

In 2006, Dan joined Credit Agricole Asset Management and worked on various operational projects with the Institutional client servicing desk. In addition, he managed a web-based trading platform project, allowing foreign exchange operations and physical delivery of currencies to Mastercard prepaid cards.

From 2010 to 2014, he worked at Bank Leumi as an Investment Advisor for the European private banking desk, and was responsible for high-net-worth clients' portfolios.

Dan holds a Bachelor’s degree in Applied Mathematics and Social Science (MASS) and a Master’s degree in Banking and Finance from University of Paris XII.

Dan passed the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) certified examination, and is a certified Portfolio Manager by the Israel Securities Authority (ISA).

Contact information:
Telephone: +972-9-9611-327
Mobile: +972-54-9806253

Shmuel Ben Arie joined Pioneer in 2009 as a Senior Financial Planner and shortly after, due to his exceptional analytical abilities, he was promoted as Head of the Local Market (Israel) Investment Research Division. In 2012 Shmuel led the development and implementation of Pioneer’s Shekel Wealth Management service, which provides our Israeli clients with local holistic solutions based on Pioneer’s diversification and asset allocation principles. Today Shmuel is the CIO for the Israeli market, the head of Shekel Wealth Management Service, and a Member of the Israeli Investment Committee.

In the past Shmuel has worked as an energy market speculator and was responsible for many Oil & Gas future contracts transactions.

Shmuel holds a BA in Finance and Management from Ben Gurion University, an MBA from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and is a Financial Planner licensed by the Israel Securities Authority.

Mr. Monty Hilkowitz has over 52 years of experience in the financial industry.

Born in South Africa, he qualified as an actuary from the Institute of Actuaries in 1966 and completed his Advanced Management Program at Stanford University, California. He became the Managing Director of Liberty Life in South Africa in 1978. In 1986 He was appointed as the CEO of Westpac Life in Australia. He has been self-employed since 1989.

Currently, Mr. Hilkowitz is involved in investment management, financial services and insurance interests in several countries. He is a director of The Dublin Network and Acuvest, specialist financial services companies in Ireland. In addition, he has been a non-executive director of Discovery Health and Discovery Life in South Africa since 2002 and a Non-Executive Chairperson of Discovery Holdings Limited, since January 1, 2008.

Monty serves as the chairman of Pioneer International Group and an Investment Committee Board Member.