Rebecka Belldegrun (born 1950), is a Finnish-born

Israeli-American , native_name_lang = , image = , caption = , population = 110,000–150,000 , popplace = New York metropolitan area, Los Angeles metropolitan area, Miami metropolitan area, and other large metropolitan ar ...

ophthalmologist, billionaire businesswoman and investor.

Early life and education

Belldegrun was born in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...

, Finland to Pola and Shlomo Zabludowicz. Her younger brother is

Poju Zabludowicz Chaim "Poju" Zabludowicz (born 6 April 1953) is a Finnish-born British billionaire businessman, art collector and philanthropist.Midgley, Dominic (5 March 2010)"FINN CITY..." ''Highbeam Business'' (London). Retrieved 23 June 2013. Early life a ...

. She received her medical degree from the Sackler School of Medicine at

Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) ( he, אוּנִיבֶרְסִיטַת תֵּל אָבִיב, ''Universitat Tel Aviv'') is a public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Locate ...

, and later completed her Ophthalmic Surgery

residency Residency may refer to: * Domicile (law), the act of establishing or maintaining a residence in a given place ** Permanent residency, indefinite residence within a country despite not having citizenship * Residency (medicine), a stage of postgra ...

in Israel, and her

fellowship A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

corneal The cornea is the transparent front part of the eye that covers the iris, pupil, and anterior chamber. Along with the anterior chamber and lens, the cornea refracts light, accounting for approximately two-thirds of the eye's total optical powe ...

surgery at

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...

."LACMA Announces The Appointment Of Two New Trustees"
''American Towns''. 7 April 2009. Retrieved 25 June 2013.

Career

In 1986, Belldegrun founded Intertech Corporation, a New York-based real estate company specializing in

real estate development Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re-lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw land and the sale of developed land or parcels to other ...

, investments, and acquisitions. She expanded Intertech's businesses and holdings to include interests in high-tech,

biotechnology Biotechnology is the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ''biotechnology'' was first used ...

, hotel management and industrial manufacturing in the United States, England, Scandinavia, Eastern Europe and Israel. She served as the

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

of the company until 2003."Rebecka Belldegrun M.D."
''Businessweek''. Retrieved on 25 June 2013. Belldegrun is the CEO and president o
Bellco Capital
a Los Angeles-based venture capital firm which she founded in 2003. Bellco Capital focuses on finding

seed investment Seed money, sometimes known as seed funding or seed capital, is a form of securities offering in which an investor invests capital in a startup company in exchange for an equity stake or convertible note stake in the company. The term ''seed'' su ...

s and experienced management to early-stage and start-up companies, as well as on leveraged acquisitions of, and growth equity investments in leading middle-market enterprises. The company's business transactions include international private equity investments in retail, high-tech, biotechnology and real estate.

Board memberships

Belldegrun is a member of a number of boards, including: *

BabyFirstTV BabyFirst (stylized in all lowercase since 2019) is an American TV channel that produces and distributes content for babies from 0–3 years and their parents through television, the internet, and mobile applications. The channel is owned by F ...

– director * Brentwood School – chairman emeritus of the board of trustees *

California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

– trustee *

LACMA The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Page Museum). LACMA was founded in 196 ...

– trustee *''Institute for Strategic Threat Analysis and Response'' at the University of Pennsylvania – member of the external advisory board *LSM at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

– member of the advisory board * Kronos Bio – director * Breakthrough Properties – director In the past, Belldegrun was a member of the following boards: *

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

– member of the board of visitors *

Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya Reichman University ( he, אוניברסיטת רייכמן) is Israel's only private university, located in Herzliya, Tel Aviv District. It was founded in 1994 as the IDC Herzliya private college, before being rebranded in 2021. It receives no ...

– member of the board of trustees * RAND Corporation – member of the board of advisors *

USC Center on Public Diplomacy The USC Center on Public Diplomacy (CPD) was established in 2003 as a partnership between the USC Annenberg School for Communication and the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences' School of International Relations at the Universit ...

– member of the advisory board

Personal life

Belldegrun is married to Arie Belldegrun and together they have four children. They reside in Bel Air, an affluent neighborhood in Los Angeles. In 2021, in its annual ranking of the wealthiest people in Israel, ''Forbes Israel'' ranked Rebecka and Arie Belldegrun 36th with a personal net worth of $1.75 billion. They have donated over $1 million to the

University of Pennsylvania School of Arts and Sciences The University of Pennsylvania School of Arts and Sciences (also known as SAS) is the academic institution encompassing the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences at the University of Pennsylvania. Formerly known as the Faculty of A ...

, and have donated a $5 million sculpture to

."Tony Smith's monumental sculpture 'Smoke' will not disappear from LACMA; multimillion-dollar purchase finalized"
''Los Angeles Times''. 18 June 2010. Retrieved 17 June 2016.

References

External links

''Rebecka Belldegrun on Businessweek''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Belldegrun, Rebecka 1950 births Living people American billionaires American health care businesspeople American investors American ophthalmologists American people of Finnish-Jewish descent American people of Polish-Jewish descent American real estate businesspeople American venture capitalists American women chief executives Businesspeople from Los Angeles Businesspeople in the pharmaceutical industry Columbia University people Finnish emigrants to the United States Finnish people of Polish-Jewish descent Reichman University Jewish physicians People from Bel Air, Los Angeles Businesspeople from Helsinki Physicians from California RAND Corporation people Tel Aviv University alumni University of Pennsylvania people University of Southern California people Women ophthalmologists 21st-century American businesswomen 21st-century American businesspeople 21st-century American women physicians 21st-century American physicians 21st-century Israeli Jews American women investors 21st-century American Jews Jewish women in business Finnish Jews