Shai Agassi
| Shai Agassi | |
|---|---|
Agassi in 2008
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| Born |
April 19, 1968 Ramat-Gan, Israel |
| Residence | Kfar Shmaryahu, Israel |
| Nationality | Israeli |
| Education | Technion, BA, 1990 |
| Occupation | Founder of Better Place |
| Spouse(s) | Nili Brand |
| Children | 2 |
Shai Agassi (Hebrew: שי אגסי, born April 19, 1968) is an Israeli entrepreneur. He is the founder and former CEO of Better Place, which had developed a model and infrastructure for employing electric cars as an alternative to fossil fuel technology. The company went bankrupt in 2013, having spent over $850 million while deploying less than 1000 cars.
Prior to founding Better Place, Agassi was President of the Products and Technology Group (PTG) at SAP AG until 2007. In 2003, at the age of 36, Agassi was named one of the top 20 'Global Influentials for 2003' by CNN-Time magazine. In 2009, Agassi was included in TIME magazine's 100 most influential people list. In 2010, Foreign Policy magazine included Agassi on its annual list of the 100 most influential global thinkers.
Throughout the 90s, Agassi started and successfully sold a number of technology startups, in the areas of enterprise software, internet technology, multimedia and small business administration. Agassi has a bachelor's degree in computer science and has been awarded a large number of patents in software, automotive and energy infrastructure.
After graduating from Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Agassi set out as a software entrepreneur. He founded TopTier Software (originally called Quicksoft Development) in Israel in 1992 and later moved the company's headquarters to California. Agassi served the company in various capacities including chairman, chief technology officer, and then CEO. He was directly involved in all critical phases of the company's development, including its strategic plan, technical direction and financing, management of two acquisitions, and negotiation of OEM agreements with companies such as SAP, Baan, and Microsoft. TopTier was a leading enterprise portal vendor when SAP acquired the company in April 2001 at a price of $400 million USD.
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