Roberto and Renata Ruhman are devoted friends and long-term supporters of the Chen laboratory and the Weizmann Institute of Science. Since March 2014, the Chen laboratory is proudly carrying the Ruhman family name and is formally called “The Ruhman Family Laboratory for Research on the Neurobiology of Stress”.
Mr. Roberto Ruhman was born in Brazil and has a distinguished career of more than 30 years in finance, both as a banking executive and as an entrepreneur. He received a degree in finance from the Escola de Administração de Empresas de São Paulo, Fundação Getúlio Vargas in Brazil in 1979.
Mrs. Renata Ruhman, also born in Brasil, has an economics degree from the University of São Paulo, a post graduation in economics in Italy and a Master’s degree in finance from Columbia University in the US.
The Ruhmans live in London and have five children.
Bruno Licht was born in Brazil and lives in London. Both Bruno and his wife Simone received their undergraduate degrees in engineering and an academic extension at Harvard Business School. Both are lovers of science, and the Licht family’s philanthropic activity has a focus on education and science.
Bruno has a successful career in the Brazilian financial market. He became a partner at Garantia, a leading investment banking firm in the 1990s. In the early 2000, the firm was sold to Credit Suisse Bank where he continued to work as a senior executive. As a board member of the Brazilian Stock Exchange, he contributed for many years to the development and improvement of the country’s financial market. In 2004, he became the founding partner of Asif Asset Management.
Simone is an entrepreneur and was the CEO of her family’s business, Conbras, which was founded in 1960 to participate and help the Brazilian government to transfer the capital from Rio de Janeiro to Brasilia. Conbras was later sold to a UK corporation in 2013, when Simone and Bruno moved to London.
Simone and Bruno are enthusiastic about the Weizmann Institute of Science for two main reasons: its mission and its values. They are especially supportive of the Institute’s emphasis on hiring the best people: great minds and great teams working together can produce more and multiply the results. These are the same values that Simone and Bruno strive to implement in their businesses, in their lives, and in all the initiatives they are involved in.
Bruno has been a supporter of the Association of the Brazilian Friends of the Weizmann Institute. He and Simone are parents of three children.