about dissigno: team

Gary Zieff

gary@dissigno.com

Gary Zieff has been guiding dissigno in project development for more than three years. Gary directs the development process, identifying communities, appropriate technology and potential investment partners. He leads dissigno's World Bank funded Tanzanian project as well as developing other projects in East Africa. He has been instrumental in developing relationships with NGO's, technology developers and product designers. His business and marketing plan for a RE refrigerator was a finalist in the Global Social Venture Competition, William James Foundation Business Plan Competition and Business In Development Network Business Plan Competition. Prior to dissigno, Gary spent five years as a consultant project manager leading Shell Oil's Groundwater Team at the Martinez, CA facility.

Prior to work at Shell Oil, Gary produced corporate marketing media, television commercials, and documentaries. He produced national commercials for such clients as SBC, Cisco, PeopleSoft and Levi Strauss. In addition, Gary produced and directed a documentary on the Yosemite Search and Rescue Team, which garnered recognition in film festivals worldwide including the Torello Film Festival in Torello, Spain, International Mountain and Adventure Film Festival in Graz, Austria, and the International Film and Video Festival in Los Angeles, California. Gary's outside interests include rock climbing, mountaineering and mountain biking.

David R Socher

david@dissigno.com

David Socher is general consul for dissigno. Beyond his work with dissigno his practice focuses primarily on business and litigation matters that involve foreign entities or trade. Recent litigation experience includes commercial business agricultural disputes, breach of contract and fraud. From 1997 to 2004 David lived and worked in Tokyo practicing law in both domestic Japanese law firms and a firm co-founded with Japanese attorneys. In Japan, he developed a client base representing foreign and Japanese clients on matters of U.S. and Japanese law. David maintains ongoing consulting relationships with and acts as General Counsel to several client companies involved in a wide variety of international businesses and transactions, and has been certified in Import/Export Management. Prior to living in Japan, David worked for a Bay Area insurance defense law firm where he was responsible for defending a variety of liability claims. He enjoys traveling extensively and besides having lived in the Japan, he has also lived in the United Kingdom, Israel and Kenya.