Shai Saul, Chairman
A Founder and Managing General Partner of Tamir Fishman Ventures, one of CopperGate's primary investors, Shai served as CopperGate’s Chairman of the board since 2000. He focuses on investments within the semiconductors and telecommunications industries. An IT industry veteran with extensive hands-on experience, Shai was formerly Executive Vice President of Aladdin Knowledge Systems (NASDAQ: ALDN), a leading provider of digital security solutions. Shai currently serves on the boards of Allot Communications (NASDAQ: ALLT) and Lanoptics (NASDAQ: LNOP). His past investments include Native Networks (acquired by Alcatel), Teleknowledge (acquired by MTS) and Wave Systems (NASDAQ: WAVX). Shai holds LL.B from Tel Aviv University.
 

Shlomo Dovrat
Shlomo is a General Partner and co-founder of Carmel Ventures. Shlomo has been a leading business figure in the Israeli high-tech industry for more than 20 years. In 1982, Shlomo co-founded Oshap as CEO and President. In 1985 Shlomo led Oshap to its IPO on NASDAQ. In the 1990s, Shlomo transformed Oshap into an active software investment company. In July 1999, SunGard acquired Oshap for $220 million. Shlomo was also the founder of Tecnomatix and served as its CEO and President from its inception in 1983 until 1995. At Tecnomatix, Shlomo was deeply involved in product development, market penetration and the establishment of a strong global sales and support organization. In 1993, Shlomo led Tecnomatix’ IPO on NASDAQ. He served as Chairman of Tecnomatix until December 2001 and then as director until the company was sold to UGS in 2005. Shlomo currently serves as Chairman of ECI Telecom (NASDAQ: ECIL) and of Unipier, as well as serving on the Board of Directors of Followap, Proficiency, Axerra and CopperGate.

Ori Bendori
Ori Bendori is a General Partner of Carmel Ventures. He is a seasoned senior executive with more than 18 years of management leadership in the high-tech industry. In 1992, Ori joined Lannet Data Communication and served in various R&D management positions. He served as Lannet’s CTO when Lannet was purchased by Lucent Technologies (NYSE: LU) in 1998. Ori became VP & General Manager of the LAN Systems Group at Lucent. He played a key role in the significant growth of Lucent’s LAN Switches business. In 2000, Lucent spun off its Enterprise business under Avaya Inc. (NYSE:AV). Ori was promoted to VP & General Manager, Enterprise Internetworking Systems Division of Avaya. He was responsible for several hundred millions of dollars in revenues for LAN and WAN switches, providing wireline and wireless solutions to the enterprise. Ori serves on the Board of Directors of Whole Optics, Imagine Communications and CopperGate.

Erez Lorber
Erez is an Executive Vice President at Challenge I and II and a member of the Fund’s Investment Committee. He is a highly accomplished executive with more than 15 years of domestic and international experience in operations, P&L management, multi-channel and direct product distribution, strategic positioning, technology development, and strategic planning with both private and public organizations. Prior to joining the Challenge Funds, Erez served as CEO & Director of BackWeb Technologies (NASDAQ: BWEB). In his tenure at BackWeb, Erez also served as head of International Sales, Business Development and Marketing. Earlier, he was President and CEO of HERMES Softlab USA, Inc., a leader in software development solutions. Erez was previously the founder and CEO of Deloitte & Touche Information Technology Israel, selecting and managing large scale deployment of enterprise software solutions. Erez is also the co-owner and Chairman of the Board of Madei Taas Industrial Controls Ltd., a leading instrumentation and control firm. Erez is a member of the Board of Directors of CopperGate, Avantry, Flash Networks and Telrad Connegy.

Moshe Levin
Managing General Partner of Tamir Fishman Ventures, one of CopperGate's primary investors. Moshe has 25 years of management experience in the Israeli high-tech industry. Prior to joining Tamir Fishman Ventures, Moshe was a partner at Pitango Venture Capital, a leading Israeli VC, and led investments with a focus on in the communications space. Before joining Pitango in late 1999, he was the President of ESC Medical Systems Inc., the world leader in aesthetic and medical laser systems. Prior to that, he served as President and CEO of Orbotech, Inc., the world leader in optical inspection systems for Printed Circuit Board and Flat Panel Display industries. He also served as the President of Fibronics International Inc., the first worldwide communications company to introduce FDDI high-speed fiber-optic networks to the marketplace. Moshe holds a B.Sc degree (Summa Cum Laude) in Computer Science from the Technion Institute of Technology in Israel. 

Gabi Hilevitz, Chief Executive Officer

Gabi is a 30-year veteran of the telecommunications and semiconductor industries, having spent 11 years with DSPC and Intel in a wide range of general management, sales, marketing and technical roles. At Intel he co-managed the Cellular Communications Division design engineering group, where he was responsible for all product development activities including chips, software and systems. Prior to that Gabi served as Executive Vice President and General Manager of DSPC Technologies, a developer of chipset solutions for the cellular handset industry that was acquired by Intel in 1999. Prior to joining DSPC, Gabi held a variety of engineering and engineering management positions at Tadiran Communication Group. Gabi holds a B.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering gained at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, in Haifa, Israel.

David Baum, Co-founder and VP Business Development North America

David has more than 14 years of experience in management and development of digital signal processing and data communications. Prior to founding CopperGate, David spent six years with Orckit Communications, a major developer of xDSL chips and solutions, as a senior SW and DSP engineer in the company’s VDSL and ADSL projects, overseeing interoperability tests with several ADSL vendors, and leading the software team of the DSL LITE / G.Lite modem. David holds a B.Sc. degree cum laude in Electrical Engineering from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beersheba, Israel.