Mr. Arie Gutman grew up in the Soviet Union in the late 60th and early 70th. In 1972, at age 18, with great difficulty and risk (as a student of Moscow Institute of Fine Chemical Technology) he applied to leave the Soviet Union. Mr. Gutman was put through 9 months of hell at the hands of the Komsomol and the Institute’s communist party officials, but on August 1st 1973, was permitted to immigrate to Israel. Between 1973 and 1981, he completed his studies for B.Sc. at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, served in the IDF, won the only Rotary International Foundation Fellowship to study for a Ph.D. degree at Cambridge University.
During his studies in Cambridge he was the “Israeli Ambassador” of Good Will at Rotary Clubs in England and made speeches and presentations about Israel and its many achievements in science, agriculture, immigration absorption, etc. During this time also initiated (with the help of the Information Department of the Jewish Agency) a “Speakers Office” which was placing speakers on Israeli topics at various Universities in Britain. In 1981, after completing his Ph.D. at Cambridge, came back to Israel and quickly rose to the rank of Professor of Chemistry at the Technion. In 1990, when it became clear that Israel is going to be blessed with a huge wave of immigration from the Soviet Union, and that one of the important challenges will be creating jobs for the thousands of scientist, he started (together with the Technion) FineTech Ltd., a chemical pharmaceutical company. The Company employed over the 20 year period (and is continuing to employ) well over a hundred Scientists, former immigrants from the Soviet Union. FineTech is now a fully fledged Pharmaceutical company approved by the FDA and exporting Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients to the USA, Canada and Europe. Mr. Gutman serves as Chairman and CEO of FineTech Pharmaceutical Ltd.
He is a Committee Member since October 2010.