Howard Jonas

Howard S. Jonas (born 2 June 1956) is the founder of IDT Corp.^[1] and Genie Energy.^[2]

Biography

Jonas received a B.A. in economics from Harvard University in 1978.^[3] Although not raised an Orthodox Jew, he funds a range of Orthodox as well as other Jewish causes across the ideological spectrum, and has made major investments in Israel as well. It is estimated that 25 percent to 40 percent of the 5,000 employees at IDT are Orthodox.

Career

In August 1990, Jonas founded IDT Corp. and has served as Chairman of the Board since its inception. He served as CEO of the company from December 1991 until July 2001, as president from December 1991 through September 1996 and as treasurer from inception through 2002.

Jonas has also served as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of IDT Telecom, Inc. since December 1999 and as a director of IDT Capital, Inc. since September 2004. He served as co-chairman of the Board of Directors of IDT Entertainment, Inc. from November 2004 until August 2006. Since August 2006, Jonas has been a director of Starz Media Holdings, LLC, Starz Media, LLC and Starz Foreign Holdings, LLC, each of which is an affiliate of the company. Jonas is also the founder and has been president of Jonas Publishing since its inception in 1979. He was the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Net2Phone from October 2001 to October 2004, the Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Net2Phone from October 2004 to June 2006 and has served as the Chairman since June 2006.

Personal life

In 2006, Jonas published his second book: I'm Not the Bos, I Just Work Here.^[3] An article by Jonas entitled "But Will Good Character Pay My Bills?" appeared in an anthology of articles compiled and edited by Moshe Kaplan in 2008 entitled Be a Mensch, Gefen Publishing House, ISBN 978-965-229-433-3. He also wrote another book called "On a Roll."

References