Business executive and philanthropist Ira J. Wagner has been elected to the board of directors of American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (AABGU). Ira is the president of European Capital Financial Services, a subsidiary of American Capital, Ltd., where he’s worked since 1997. He has been a supporter of Ben-Gurion for many years, contributing to scholarships for women scientists, diabetes research, the Lillian and Larry Goodman Open Apartments Program and the Ben-Gurion Research Institute for the Study of Israel and Zionism.
Ira has also helped Israeli students and recently discharged soldiers prepare for university education, and in the U.S. he serves on the boards of Southern Vermont College (his alma mater) and Central Scholarship, a Baltimore organization that gives loans and scholarships to financially stressed students. He received an M.B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1985, and resides in Bethesda with his wife Marcia.
