The American-Israel Chamber of Commerce, Southeast Region will celebrate the 12th annual Eagle Star Awards Gala on Thursday, May 30, 2013, 6:00 - 9:00 PM. The event will be held at the HP Graphic Arts Experience Center in Alpharetta, Georgia.

The Eagle Star Gala is AICC's community flagship event honoring the people and companies who have contributed most to the Southeast-Israel business relationship. Long-time AICC President Tom Glaser will be recognized with the Founders Award. Glaser recently announced plans to retire following his 21 years of service to the organization. The South Carolina Research Authority will be presented with the Community Partner Award in recognition of its extraordinary role in the success of the South Carolina-Israel Collaboration.

Hewlett-Packard (HP) is considered the second largest investor in Israeli information technology after Intel. Israel is one of the few countries where HP has a massive presence with almost 6,000 employees, and Alpharetta, Georgia is the Americas headquarters for their products developed in Israel under the Indigo and Scitex Vision brands. "It is altogether fitting that HP host this year's Gala, given their huge investments in Israel and the importance of the Southeast to the sales and distribution of their Israel-made products," said event chairman Barry Sobel (Deutsche Bank Alex.Brown).

The event will also honor the Israeli Company of the Year and Deal of the Year, and three finalists will compete for each award with the winners to be selected by an expert panel of judges. Nominations are encouraged, and criteria and forms can be downloaded by clicking here.

Sponsorships are also being accepted. For further information, contact Barry Swartz (barry@aiccse.org) or (404) 843-9426.

Sponsors-to-date include Deutsche Bank Alex.Brown, The InterTech Group, The Coca-Cola Company, GlobalAtlanta, AM1690 /Newstalk1160, Atlanta Jewish Times, Smith Gambrell & Russell, Habif Arogeti & Wynne, Israel Economic Office to the US Southern Region, Nelson Mullins, and Consulate General of Israel to the Southeast.

Greensboro, North Carolina-based Gilbarco Veeder-Root and Tel Aviv-based Odysii have announced an exclusive global partnership to create a new generation of highly intelligent and automated tools to enable convenience stores to increase sales. Building on Odysii's software, the new Impulse platform integrates with Gilbarco Passport or any other point of sale systems to deliver targeted recommendations via an additional touch screen at the point of sale. Retailers using the system report 3-5% increases in average basket size and gains in targeted categories such as private label products.

Franklin, Tennessee-based MAPCO, a US subsidiary of Israel-based Delek, has adopted the Impulse in-store solution, and will soon launch a new forecourt merchandising extension called Purchase@Pump. "The Impulse upselling platform is a valuable addition to our long commitment to retailer profitability through merchandising applications," said Martin Gafinowitz, President of Gilbarco Veeder-Root.

MAPCO Express President Igal Zamir said, "We challenged Gilbarco and Odysii to work with us on an industry first - to give our forecourt customers real-time access to promotions and the ability to purchase in-store merchandise while refueling. This project, scheduled to begin testing soon, should help us deliver on our objectives to increase store traffic, make it easy for loyal customers to buy their routine items, and gain opportunities to win the loyalty of customers that visit primarily for fueling."

Gilbarco Veeder-Root is a worldwide technology leader for retail and commercial fueling operations, offering a broad range of integrated solutions from the forecourt to the convenience store and head office for almost 150 years and helping manage the business and maximize the bottom lines for 19 of the top 20 convenience store operators in the US. "They are the perfect partner to bring our intelligent upselling solution to market," added Odysii CEO Adi Eyal.

Odyssi has been member of the American-Israel Chamber of Commerce since 2008, and was first showcased by AICC at the "Store of the Future" event the following year. In 2010, they were the winner of the Eagle Star "Deal of the Year" award.

Almost 50 members and guests were treated to presentations by 3 of Israel's most exciting companies at the Iᵌ (Israel Innovation Impact) quarterly event on March 7^th, hosted by IBM. Presenting were Covertix, Dome9, and Trustware whose CEOs shared innovative solutions to the growing cyber threats faced today by enterprises, governments, and individuals. Organized by AICC's Hi-Tech Committee, the program also featured a keynote by Jim Brennan, executive with IBM Security Systems. 

"Israel is leading in this field that threatens our personal and professional lives. These three companies exemplify their outstanding technologies and how we can assist them in reaching out to customers and partners in the Southeast," said Adam Coffsky (Gartner), chairman of the Hi-Tech Committee who moderated the program. 

In addition to IBM, sponsors for the event included Alston + Bird, Frontline Selling, AM1690 /Newstalk1160, and Habif Arogeti & Wynne. Thanks also to our organizational co-sponsors: Consulate General of Israel, Metro Atlanta Chamber, TAG, Gwinnett Chamber, ATP, and Israel Economic Office to the US Southern Region.

As a result of December's South Carolina Business and Research Mission to Israel, Levin Consulting Group (LCG) with its Israel offices in Kiryat Yam and Tel Aviv, visited South Carolina the week of February 11^th, and full days were scheduled for them in each region of the state.

LCG is an IP management and business development firm that manages a clientele of Israeli companies and supports them in accessing the US market. LCG's purpose was to introduce their client companies, HDH, Dali Medical, Medivur, Vigor, Agor, NGS, RoniPal, StampEE, and Dog TV, to potential investors and collaborators in the state. According to LCG's Eyal Blank, "The tour was substantial for our clients. Relationships were built, network foundations laid, and new opportunities raised from the connections that were made during this visit. We look forward to the next trip to introduce potential South Carolina clients to our unique IP management model and our existing clients to new and prospective Southern US markets."

New Carolina Executive Director Emeritus George Fletcher reported that the Greenville visit he coordinated went very well. His focus was to introduce them to local economic developers and distribution companies such as CTD that already represents Surf, an Israeli videoconferencing technology company. LCG also presented to a Clemson University MBA group.

The Columbia leg of the visit included meetings with the South Carolina Research Authority and USC's Faber Center for Entrepreneurship at the Darla Moore School of Business; with international trade and small business assistance representatives from the South Carolina Department of Commerce; and with the leadership of the USC-Columbia Technology Incubator and the Center for Entrepreneurship and Technological Innovation (CETi) which is USC's Start-Up Assistance Center. LCG also presented and enjoyed dinner with students from the University of South Carolina. "Our aim was to introduce LCG to all of the resources in our area that their companies may need to successfully move to the next stage of business growth," said Ann Marie Stieritz, Director of Business Solutions with Innovista at USC."

The Low Country activities were arranged by the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce and the World Trade Center Charleston. They hosted a luncheon with community and business leaders and organizations including CRDA and Charleston Angel Partners, followed by a visit and tour of two incubators in the Charleston Digital Corridor. "The Charleston region remains very interested in developing strong business and trading ties with Israel. The small but impactful trade mission held with the Levin Group really showcased the quality of and entrepreneurialism exhibited by Israel companies. We look forward to building off these new connections," said Jeff Cain, Director, World Trade Center Charleston.

The visit of Levin Consulting Group was an educational component of the South Carolina-Israel Collaboration, organized and managed by the American-Israel Chamber of Commerce, SE Region. This 2-year old initiative is chaired by Jonathan Zucker (The InterTech Group).

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