Giora Bardea

Giora Bardea was born in 1953 in Tel Aviv

Giora Bardea was born in Tel Aviv in 1953 and grew up in Ramat Gan. His parents were partners in a café and pastry shop at the old central bus station. He was a member of the Scouts youth movement.

He joined the IDF in a Scouts Nahal group to Kfar Haruv and served in the Nahal paratroopers, finishing as a company commander. He earned a bachelor's degree in human resources management from Tel Aviv University in 1984 and later completed an executive program at Harvard University.

He headed human resources at Tadiran from 1981 to 1991, then went on a mission for the Jewish Agency. He ran the Maccabiah Village from 1993 to 1996. He then joined an Israeli food company in 1996, became its CEO in 2001, and in 2003 led its merger with Strauss Group.

From 2007 he headed Strauss North America in the United States, worked on the partnership with PepsiCo and set up Obela in 2012. He became CEO and president of Strauss Group in September 2018. He was fined over the purchase of Meshek Weiler and left the post on 1 December 2022 amid a salmonella outbreak at a company plant.

He chaired the board of the ERAN association from 2016 to 2023 and chairs the trustees of Sapir College. In January 2024 he became board chairman of Rav-Bariach. He is married to Anat, has 3 children and lives in Beit Yehoshua.