Personnel
YA'AKOV ALMOR
Managing Director
Public Relations and Business Development
Public Relations and Business Development
Having founded MarketDirect Business Communications Ltd with Steven Benson in 1998, Ya'akov today serves as the company's co-managing director, with overall responsibility for public relations services and MarketDirect's own business development. Born in the Netherlands, Ya'akov immigrated into Israel in 1982, becoming a public information and development officer at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. In 1988 he became director of public relations for the Israel Precious Stones and Diamonds Exchange and the Israel Emerald Cutters Association, and two years later joined the joined the private sector as marketing and sales director of a gemstone company. Ya'akov holds a bachelor's and master's degree from the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, and completed post-graduate studies at the University of Tel Aviv.
STEVEN BENSON
Managing Director
Production and Strategic Planning
Production and Strategic Planning
Setting up MarketDirect Business Communications Ltd. in 1998 together with Ya'akov Almor, Steven today is co-managing director, with overall responsibility for all production and strategic planning services. South African-born, he immigrated to Israel in 1978. He began his career in communications in the United States in 1986 as a radio correspondent, and in the years that followed worked as a news writer, editor and production manager in the printed and electronic media in Israel and the United States. From 1994 to 1998, he served as editor-in-chief of a series of professional magazines serving the diamond, colored gemstone and jewelry sectors. Steven holds a bachelor's degree from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a master's degree in mass communications from the University of Denver in the United States.
ALBERT ROBINSON
Managing Editor
Albert joined the staff of Market Direct Business Communication in 2005 from IDEX Online S.A., where he served as deputy editor of IDEX Magazine, editor of Thamina, a quarterly magazine dealing with the diamond jewelry market in the Arabian Gulf, and as a senior writer for the company's online news website. He began his career as a journalist in the United Kingdom in the 1980s on the weekly Banbury Guardian, moving on to the Stoke-on-Trent Evening Sentinel. He then moved to the Hitchin Comet as deputy editor, and then to the Jewish Chronicle where he served as section editor. After moving to Israel, he joined the staff of International Diamond Publications. He then served as Tel Aviv bureau chief of BridgeNews, and following that as senior financial correspondent of the Reuters bureau in Tel Aviv.
LAURIE BEN-HAIM
Marketing Associate
Laurie joined MarketDirect Business Communications in 2009. American born, Laurie began her career in retail then entered the world of communications when she joined BBDO New York, one of the world’s leading ad agencies. During her eight year tenure at BBDO, Laurie honed her skills in corporate communications while serving as the day-today contact for nine BBDO offices throughout North America. After relocating to Tel Aviv, Israel in 2008, Laurie joined Agora Gallery as a public relations coordinator, in which capacity she was responsible for the branding strategy of the gallery in New York City and abroad. She assisted in organization of exhibitions and the campaign to attract and promote emerging artists.
MARTIN J. GIDRON
Copy Editor, Senior Writer
Based in Silver Spring, Maryland, USA, Martin joined the staff of the MarketDirect Business Communications in 2004. He is a professional trade magazine editor with several years of experience writing about the diamond, precious stones and jewelry industry, in both Israel and the United States. He has also written extensively about other fields of business, including four years as managing editor of a newsletter on the telecommunications industry. His novel "The Severed Wing" (Livingston Press, 2002) was named co-recipient of the 2002 Sidewise Award for Alternate History at the International Science Fiction Convention in Toronto in August 2003. Martin was awarded a bachelor's degree in English Language and Literature by the University of Chicago in June 1991 and was named a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society.