Based in Miami, Benny Shabtai is a longtime luxury products company executive who leads companies such as Di Modolo International and Botanika Life. Founded in 2021, the latter firm delivers luxurious skincare and wellness products that incorporate organic CBD and promote pain relief and proper immune function. Benny Shabtai has formed distribution partnerships with leading global retailers, resorts, and spas, including Neiman Marcus, MGM, Saks, the Bellagio, and Aman.

Mr. Shabtai got his entrepreneurial start in the luxury Swiss watch segment. After completing a decorated career in the Israeli military and as an embassy security officer, he invested his life savings into the purchase of several hundred timepieces. Launching Raymond Weil USA in 1977, he focused on fulfilling an unmet market need for quality products that combined functionality and elegance. Placing watches with retailers such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Nordstroms, he launched one of the nation’s first luxury goods brand billboard campaigns.

Mr. Shabtai built up a business portfolio that included a majority stake in Viber. He then invested the profits from the 2014 sale of the digital communications brand to Japan’s Rakuten, expanding the Di Modolo luxury jewelry portfolio. Today, he actively supports Yale University’s Shabtai Jewish Global Membership Society. He contributed the funds to purchase its current residence in New Haven, Connecticut.

Benny Shabtai