Yaron Tchwella - Chief Executive Officer
Mr. Tchwella joined BluePhoenix in August 2008. He brings to this position more than 25 years experience and leadership in the high technology industry and vast experience in leading and managing global organizations. With considerable experience and the ability to turn strategy and vision into quantifiable results, Mr. Tchwella is responsible for the overall activities of the company.
Mr. Tchwella most recently served from 2007 to 2008 as 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. He has also held various executive managerial positions within the product, delivery, and customer-facing organizations.
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.
Steven Dmiszewicki - Vice President and General Manager, Professional Services
Mr. Dmiszewicki joined BluePhoenix in 2007, as a result of the acquisition of BridgeQuest, where he was co-founder and CEO. Mr. Dmiszewicki has more than 25 years of experience in executive and financial management. Mr. Dmiszewicki is responsible for BluePhoenix’s professional services organization, which provides customers with added value services around modernization.
Prior to founding BridgeQuest in 2003, Mr. Dmiszewicki held positions as Managing Director of a management consulting firm and President and CEO at Level 8 systems. At Level 8, a leading supplier of business integration software, he directed the business strategy for the company and oversaw all of the company’s operations worldwide.
Mr. Dmiszewicki came to Level 8 as part of the acquisition of Seer Technologies, where he held the post of Co-President. In that position, he was instrumental in orchestrating the successful acquisition by Level 8. Mr. Dmiszewicki originally joined Seer in 1990 and had a series of senior management positions in the company, including Chief Financial Officer. Before Seer, Mr. Dmiszewicki held management positions with several UK-based investment banking firms.
Mr. Dmiszewicki is on the advisory board of several technology companies and is a graduate of Bucknell University.
Oren Gil-Or - Vice President Sales EMEA and APAC; Chief Marketing Officer
Mr. Gil-Or joined BluePhoenix in 2008 with more than 18 years of sales and marketing experience within the software industry. Mr. Gil-Or is responsible for sales in the UK, Middle East, Africa, and Asia Pacific. In addition to that, Mr. Gil-Or is leading the BluePhoenix marketing team as the company Chief Marketing Officer (CMO).
Prior to BluePhoenix, Mr. Gil-Or was the Senior Director of Marketing for BMC Software, where he managed the Asia Pacific Marketing, Business Planning, and Inside Sales teams and was a part of the BMC Asia Pacific Senior Leadership team.
Mr. Gil-Or previously served as the Marketing Director for the Application Management Business Unit within BMC Software as well as a Field Marketing Director within the worldwide marketing organization. Preceding BMC Software, Mr. Gil-Or served as the international sales director for New Dimension.
Mr. Gil-Or holds an MBA from Tel-Aviv University and a B.Sc. in Computers Science from Ben-Gurion University.
Javier Jimenez - Vice President Sales Americas
Mr. Jimenez joined BluePhoenix in 2008 with more than 25 years of experience within the software industry. Mr. Jimenez is responsible for sales in the Americas region.
Prior to BluePhoenix, Mr. Jimenez was the founder and CEO of Scientia Network Solutions, a technology and consulting company specializing in helping young technology companies to enter international markets. Prior to Scientia, Mr. Jimenez served as Vice President and General Manager of Comverse Latin America from 2003 to February 2008 where he had overall responsibility for sales and marketing of all Comverse products to wireline and wireless operators in Latin America. From 1994 to 2000 he held a variety of management positions within Comverse, including Sales, Program Management, and Channel Management.
From 2000 to 2002, Mr. Jimenez was Vice President of Sales Latin America for iWeb Technologies, a startup manufacturer of Internet messaging and ad delivery technology, and was responsible for the planning and execution of iWeb’s entry into the Latin American Telco and ISP markets.
From 1984 to 1994, Mr. Jimenez held a variety of Engineering Management positions for Lucas Aero Space, a Long Island New York Defense Contractor, specializing in avionic weapon systems and microwave communications.
Mr. Jimenez received a Bachelors of Science in Electrical Engineering through the United States Air Force, an MBA from the Dowling Institute in New York, and also completed the Global Leadership Program in Organizational Structure through the Technion Institute of Management in cooperation with MIT and Harvard Schools of Business.
Alex Plavnik - Vice President Sales Europe
Mr. Plavnik joined BluePhoenix in 2009 with more than 16 years of sales experience. Mr. Plavnik is responsible for sales throughout the European region. Prior to joining BluePhoenix, Mr. Plavnik worked for Comverse Inc., where he was the Vice President of Sales for the Central and South Eastern European region with responsibilities for all aspects of account management. Between 1993 and 2003, he held a variety of executive sales and marketing positions in a number of technology companies including Radvision, ECI Telecom, Scitex, and Xerox.
Mr. Plavnik holds an MBA from the University of Manchester and is a graduate of both the College of Business Management in Tel Aviv and ORT Technical College.
Len Erlikh - Chief Technology Officer
Mr. Erlikh joined the BluePhoenix organization as a result of the 2007 merger with BridgeQuest, where he was co-founder and CTO. He brings to the company a proven track record in developing commercially successful enterprise software products that spans over 25 years. Mr. Erlikh provides technical leadership throughout BluePhoenix as well as leading the company’s strategic R&D organization.
Prior to BridgeQuest, Mr. Erlikh served as CTO of Relativity Technologies, a supplier of application modernization and application portfolio management software, a Fortune magazine “Cool Company of the Year” in 2001. Before co-founding Relativity Technologies, Mr. Erlikh also helped establish Seer Technologies, where he served as Senior Vice President of Development and General Manager of the Technology division.
Mr. Erlikh is a frequent public speaker at international and domestic conferences and a prolific, published author. He is a holder of four high-impact US patents in model-based application development and legacy modernization. Mr. Erlikh holds a B.A.A in Computer Applications and Business from Baruch College, CUNY, an M.S in Advanced Technology from SUNY in Binghamton, and a Ph.D from St. Petersburg State University, Russia.
Varda Sagiv - Chief Financial Officer
Ms. Sagiv became the Chief Financial Officer of BluePhoenix in June 2007 and is currently responsible for the company’s finance organization. Between the years 1998-2007, Ms. Sagiv served as the CFO of Formula Ventures Funds, a venture capital funds company in the IT and communication arena. For different terms during 1997-2007, she also served as the CFO of several fast-growing subsidiaries of Formula Group such as Airports Intersystems Technologies Ltd., Clockwork Solutions Ltd., and Transtech Control Ltd.
In addition, Ms. Sagiv served as a CFO of Jewelex Ltd., an Israeli publicly-traded company, and as an auditor manager in the accounting firm Goldberg & Co.
Ms. Sagiv holds a BA degree in Accounting from Tel Aviv University and is a Certified Public Accountant in Israel.
Yael Peretz - General Counsel and Corporate Secretary
Ms. Peretz has been with BluePhoenix since 2000, and is responsible for all legal activities related to corporate transactions and ongoing business. Before joining BluePhoenix, Ms. Peretz worked as Associate Attorney at Shine, Hunter, Martin & Co., a global law firm.
Ms. Peretz holds an LLB degree from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from Tel Aviv University. Ms. Peretz is a member of the Israel Bar.