By Marshall Weiss, The Dayton Jewish Observer

Dayton, Montgomery County, and the Dayton Development Coalition have contracted Hadas Bar-Or of Tel Aviv to serve as business development director for the Dayton Region Israel Trade Alliance office.

Bar-Or, formerly the trade representative to Israel for Massachusetts, has signed a contract to represent the Dayton region through the end of 2015.

An economist, Bar-Or has worked for Israel’s Chief Scientist’s Office, the Bank of Israel, and has lectured at Tel Aviv University. She coordinated the Dayton Region Israel Trade Alliance’s business development mission in October 2013.

“We spent the week with Hadas,” said Dayton Development Coalition Aerospace and Defense Executive Vice President Maurice McDonald, who took part on the mission. “She is very well connected with numerous companies in Israel that we have some interest in. She will be a great addition to our team in helping us bridge communications to Israeli companies.”

Dayton, Montgomery County, and the Development Coalition have invested $234,000 in Bar-Or and office expenses in Tel Aviv over the next two years, with each entity providing a third of the funding.

She takes over the trade office from Uri Attir, who served in Israel as the region’s first trade representative, in Haifa, from 2010 to March 2013. Funding to establish the office originally came from private donors.

“We believe there’s enough potential for the public return on investment that it’s worth the county’s time and the city’s time and the coalition’s time and money to invest in this,” said Montgomery County Commissioner Dan Foley.

“As opposed to having private dollars invested in the contract, we would like those private dollars invested in business transactions and business collaborations between folks here locally and Israeli companies,” added Montgomery County Administrator Joe Tuss.

To read the complete March 2014 Dayton Jewish Observer, click here.