Dr. Orna Berry has spent over 30 years in Israel’s science and technology industries, as an academic researcher, entrepreneur, policy maker and most recently, venture capitalist. Orna joined Gemini as its first Venture Partner in June 2000.  In her role at Gemini, Dr. Berry applies her expertise in the high-tech arena to assist and advise Gemini portfolio companies.   She has been an active Board member on a number of Gemini companies and is currently Chairperson of Prime Sense.

Orna is the outgoing Chief Scientist and Director of the Industrial R&D Administration of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Government of Israel. In this capacity she was responsible for implementing government policy regarding support and encouragement of industrial research and development.   In 1993, Orna co-founded ORNET Data Communication Technologies Ltd.  Her duties included raising venture capital, building the company’s worldwide infrastructure and managing the sale of ORNET to Siemens.   Dr. Berry also made significant technological contributions to the local area network (LAN) industry. She served as the Chief Scientist of Fibronics, where her design and implementation work became international standards (IEEE 802.1, 802.5).  She also served as a senior research engineer in companies such as IBM and UNISYS, and a consultant to Intel.   She sits on the Boards of a number of private and public companies, including: Adamind Ltd. (AIM:ADA), Aladdin Knowledge Systems Ltd (NASDAQ:ALDN), a leader in digital security for software commerce and Internet; Compugen Ltd (NASDAQ:CGEN), a drug and diagnostic discovery company; and Poalim Capital Markets, the investment banking arm of Bank Hapoalim, Israel’s largest bank.

Dr Berry is a member of several industry bodies, and is a frequent international lecturer on the knowledge-based economy and industrial collaboration in the context of globalization.   She received a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Southern California and M.A. and B.A. degrees in Statistics and Mathematics from Tel Aviv and Haifa Universities.