Gur Shomron
As active Chairman Mr. Shomron brings to the board over 30 years of experience in management of software companies and technology. Mr. Shomron has served as the chairman of Fidelis Diagnostics Inc. since 2004. Prior to that, Mr. Shomron served as the chairman and CEO of Mainsoft Corporation, as a venture partner at StageOne VC fund, the president of Foraz R&D Fund and VP Business development of Formula Group.
Mr. Shomron was co-founder of Quality Computers 77 Ltd., a company specializing in ERP solutions, which he took public on Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. Mr. Shomron is also a board member of Retalix Ltd. (RTLX) and investor and board member of several privately-held high technology companies.
Yaron Tchwella
Mr. Tchwella will join the board as an active Director pending his nomination by the board in August 2010. Tchwella joined BluePhoenix in August 2008 and held the position of the Chief Executive Officer until spring 2010. From 2007 to 2008 Mr. Tchwella served as the president of Comverse Inc., a world leader in providing value added services to more than 500 of the largest global telecommunication companies. In this role he had direct responsibility for defining and executing the company vision and strategy, and managing thousands of employees in all financial, operational, and organizational aspects.
Prior to this position and as part of his 11 years at Comverse, Mr. Tchwella served as president of the Messaging Division and a member of the executive management team at Comverse. Prior to joining Comverse, Mr. Tchwella held engineering and managerial positions over a 13-year period at Advanced Technologies Ltd., known today as Ness Technologies.
Michael Chill
Michael Chill has served as one of our independent directors and a member of our audit committee since July 2003, in accordance with the NASDAQ rules.
Recently, Mr. Chill was designated as the financial expert on our audit committee. From July 2003, Mr. Chill has served as investment manager at the hedge fund Iroquois Capital LOP. Prior to that, Mr. Chill was an independent advisor to various high technology companies and venture capital firms both in Israel and the United States. During 2002 and the first half of 2003, Mr. Chill served as the president and head of investment banking department at Jerusalem Global Ltd., a venture capital and investment banking firm. Prior to that, from 1999, Mr. Chill served as a managing director in the technology investment banking group at Gruntal and Co. Mr. Chill holds a BS in accounting from the Syms School of Business at Yeshiva University and an MBA from the Columbia Business School.
Amira Berkovitz-Amir
Ms. Berkovitz-Amir joined our board of directors as one of our independent directors in December 2004.
She serves as Vice President, Finance of Of-Tov Products (2001) Ltd. a manufacturer in the food industry and a member of Osem Industries Group. Previously, Ms. Berkovitz-Amir served as Vice President, Finance and Controller of Pri-Hagalil Industries, a manufacturer in the food industry. Ms. Berkovitz-Amir holds a BA degree in economics and accounting and an MA in business administration, both from the Hebrew University. Ms. Berkovitz-Amir is a certified public accountant in Israel.
Sam Somech
Sam Somech has served as a Chairman of the Board of Directors at Coralsense Inc., Dapper Inc., Action Base Inc., and Gigaspaces Inc., since 2007. Mr. Somech has also served as a director of Super Derivatives Inc., since 2004. In 2004, Mr. Somech co-founded Itemfield Inc., (which was later sold to Informatica Inc.) and served as its Chief Executive Officer from its inception until 2006. Previously, Mr. Somech served as President and Chief Technology Officer of Level 8 Inc., a public company traded on NASDAQ, which he co-founded in 1995. Prior to that, Mr. Somech founded and served as Chief Executive Officer of Data Voice Systems Inc.
Mr. Somech holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, an MS in Computer Science from Columbia University, and an MBA from Baruch College.