Howard Ash

Howard Ash is an accomplished executive with extensive experience in business and finance, who served as CEO, COO and CFO to a variety of high profile, international companies. Mr. Ash continues to serve as Chairman of Claridge Management since 2000. Mr. Ash was a director of Net Element, Inc., (NASDAQ-NETE) from June 13, 2016 through July 13, 2020 serving as Chairman of both the Audit and Compensation committees, as well as the Nominating and Governance Committees during his tenure. He served as Chief Operating Officer of BioCard Corporation from 1997 to 2007. He served as Chief Operating Officer of CITA Americas, Inc. from 1996 to 1997. Mr. Ash served as Chief Executive Officer of IEDC Marketing, Inc. from 1992 to 1996. He held a CFO/Chief Strategist position at Abrams, Ash & Associates from 1990 to 1992. Mr. Ash currently serves on the Advisory Board of the UK based E2Exchange, the Institute of Entrepreneurs, since 2011, and is the only non-UK citizen holding that position. Mr. Ash served from 2009 to 2014 in a senior development and strategic capacity for One Laptop Per Child, a global NGO created to provide educational opportunities providing laptops to the world’s poorest children. Prior Chairmanships include the 2009 through 2012 term for the Sturge Weber Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to curing this rare but fatal syndrome affecting children. Previously, Mr. Ash was an Advisory Board Member to Edge Global Investment Limited which forged a strategic partnership with the Africa Forum, consisting of 37 former Heads of State and Government. Mr. Ash started an interest-free micro-loan society in 1987 that has provided more than $15 million in micro-loans throughout the United States and Israel. In 1999, Mr. Ash founded the Circle of Life Resource Center, Inc., a food bank in Miami, Florida that feeds several hundred families per week. Howard earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree, with Honors in Accounting and Law from the University of Witwatersrand (South Africa) in 1980.