As the Managing Partner of Bridge Investment Fund, Michael Goldberg WG '98 spends most of his days focused on investing in Israeli medical device companies with strong synergies with the leading health care institutions and industries in Cleveland.  With offices in Cleveland and Tel Aviv, his firm is specifically focused on Israeli medical device companies that have completed their initial clinical trials and are looking to the US market for further clinical validation and to establish a US sales marketing organization. 

This month we recognize Michael not for one of his business achievements through Bridge Investment Fund, but for the recent announcement of his appointment as the Chairman of the Board for the Citizen's Academy school in Cleveland.  Citizens Academy of Cleveland is one of the top performing urban schools in the state, and since 1999 has developed a national reputation for its commitment to academic excellence and responsible citizenship.  The school currently serves nearly 400 students at the K-5 level, and plans to add a preschool in 2010/11 and a middle school in 2011/12.  Ninety-seven percent of Citizens Academy's students are African-American and 80% are economically disadvantaged.  Congratulations to Michael on this appointment.  If you have a few minutes, please watch this exciting video on the school and its accomplishments:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xtd7cQbUq74&feature=related

More about Michael Goldberg, WG '98:

Earlier in his career, Michael spent several years in South Africa working for the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) designing and implementing voter education programs for South Africa's historic first democratic national election in 1994 and local government elections in 1995. He also founded a pilot program for WorldTeach to send American volunteer teachers to rural black schools in South Africa and served for a year as the first teaching volunteer in a rural black community in the Western Cape. 

A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Michael earned a BA from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, an MA in International Relations from the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University and an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.  Michael is also an Adjunct Professor of Banking and Finance at Case Western Reserve University Weatherhead School of Management where he teaches courses on entrepreneurial finance.