Joseph "Yossi" Vardi (Hebrew: יוסי ורדי, born September 2, 1942) is an Israeli entrepreneur and investor.

He has been involved in the founding and development of over 85 high-tech companies across various fields, including software, energy, internet, mobile, electro-optics, and water technology, over a span of more than 47 years.

[1] Vardi began his entrepreneurial career in 1969, at the age of 26, as co-founder and first CEO of TEKEM (Hebrew: טכ"מ), an abbreviation of 'Technologia Mitkademet'.

In this role, he contributed to the establishment of the Israel-U.S. Binational Industrial Research and Development Foundation (BIRD-F) and served as an advisor to the Israeli mission to the U.N.

[9] According to Forbes: "...Overnight, a new phrase "the Mirabilis Effect," became popular as young Israeli entrepreneurs yearned to copy the company's success".

[10] After retiring from the civil service, Vardi served on the boards of Amdocs, Maariv, Elite, Scitex, Bezeq, Arkia, Elisra, Hamashbir Hamerkazi and others, and assisted Ormat Industries to identify and develop its geothermal activity.

He founded Kinnernet, an annual, three days gathering of creative people from all over the world at the shores of the Sea of Gallilee; he is the chairman of 4YFN (4 Years from Now), the startup event organized by Mobile World Capital Barcelona; together with Dr Hubert Burda he is co-chairing the annual DLD (Digital, Lifestyle, Design) conference in Munich; together with Sir Martin Sorrell he is co-chairing the annual Stream unconference in Greece, he also co-hosting ICUC – (Internet Cowboys UnConference) in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

In his capacity as the Director General of the Ministry of Energy, Vardi led the negotiations in regards to the oil part in the peace agreement with Egypt.

While in the private sector Vardi was asked to serve as special advisor to the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Finance, for regional cooperation, and to head the economic negotiations with Jordan.

[13] In 2013, Vardi was one of a group of Israeli and Palestinian business figures who launched Breaking the Impasse (BTI), a forum in favor of advancing a diplomatic solution.