The BIRD Foundation, which promotes collaborations between Israeli and American companies in a variety of technological fields, announced the appointment of Yaron Lotan to the position of general manager of the foundation. The foundation’s board of directors chose Luton to replace Dr. Eitan Yudilevich, who managed the foundation since 2006. The new appointment was approved by the foundation’s board of directors and will take effect on March 1, 2023.
The BIRD Foundation, which was established in 1977, is a veteran investor in collaborations between Israeli and American companies from the various fields of technology, for the benefit of the development of joint products. In addition to financial support with grants of up to 1.5 million dollars, the fund helps companies in locating potential strategic partners and in creating connections between the American industry and the Israeli industry.
Yaron Lotan brings with him to the BIRD fund extensive experience in senior key positions in a variety of technology companies. He currently serves as the vice chairman of the Aharon Institute for Economic Policy at Reichman University. Before that, he served as CEO of AVT, which was sold to Danaher, and before that he served as Senior Vice President for Business and Operations at Gilat Satellite Networks, and as CEO of Technomatics.
In the past he served as senior vice president for business and strategy at Orbotek and was a co-founder of the software company “Rash Systems Kushvot”. Yaron has a bachelor’s degree in economics and mathematics and a master’s degree in economics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Dr. Eitan Yudilevich, the retiring CEO of the BIRD Foundation: “It has been a great privilege for me to serve as the CEO of the foundation for 17 years. I wish Yaron and the wonderful team of the foundation great success in realizing the vision of the BIRD Foundation, and I thank the board of directors of the foundation for their support throughout the last two decades”.
Mojada Behar, director of innovation and industry at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in the US (NIST), and co-chair of the board of directors of the BIRD Foundation: “We thank Dr. Eitan Yudilevich for leading the foundation and expanding its activities and influence, through the development of BIRD energy programs and BIRD HLS (national security).”
Dr. Ami Applebaum, Chief Scientist, Chairman of the Israel Innovation Authority, and Co-Chairman of the Board of Directors of the BIRD Foundation, added: “I would like to thank Dr. Eitan Yudilevich for 17 years of managing and leading successful Israeli-American collaborations in the field The innovation.”