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Management Team
Mr. Amihai Loven, CEO
Mr. Loven brings an exceptional mix of creativity, passion, entrepreneurial experience, as well as expertise in technology management and transfer between the business world and academic circles. Prior to co-founding Mantis Vision, he held several managerial positions at the Technion Institute of Technology, the Tel Aviv University and the IUCC Inter-University Computation Center. Within the framework of these positions, he initiated and managed vast research and infrastructure projects with industry giants IBM, Intel and Microsoft. Career highlights include managing the Interuniversity Israeli Academic Grid Project as part of the European Commission's EGEE Enabling Grids for E-science project, and serving as the COO of two of the Technion's companies, eYeSee Computer Vision Technologies and Agileye.
Mr. Gur Dror, VP Business Development
Mr. Dror leads the company's business development, guides its strategies and overlooks worldwide sales, bringing extensive experience in management, sales, business development and R&D in high-tech companies. Prior to joining Mantis Vision, Mr. Dror served as a Director of Products Management at Prime Sense, a company specializing in 3D products based on its proprietary technology. In this role, he oversaw market trends and product definitions including their transfer to market. Earlier in his career, Mr. Dror worked for more than 10 years at Texas Instruments in Israel and in Korea. During his assignment in Korea, he led a successful business penetration into the mobile phone market for Texas Instruments Bluetooth products. Mr. Dror also held program management positions and R&D project management positions at Texas Instruments. Mr. Dror holds a B.Sc. in Electronics Engineering from the Tel Aviv University.
Brian Holder, Director of Sales and Business Development
Mr. Holder has more than 15 years of technical business development and project management. Prior to joining Mantis Vision, Mr. Holder has led federal business development teams, while holding key management positions at a number of federal government contracting companies, that include ICRC, SSG, Zenith Electronics and GMRI. Mr. Holder has an outstanding record of achievement in complex account and contract negotiations, multi-channel sales experience leading both direct sales teams as well as channel sales networks focused on federal civilian and defense agencies.
Dr. Ittai Flascher, VP Product Development
An expert in the field of 3D human machine interfaces, Dr. Flascher is directly responsible for the design of Mantis Vision products, based on ongoing customer requirements and input from the entire team. Prior to joining the company, he served as an adjunct lecturer and researcher of brain science at the Weizmann Institute of Science, where he completed a two year post doctorate in brain research. In a previous position he was in charge of R&D at Visual Domains, a startup company focusing on the development of a 3D Web browser, where he undertook human-computer interaction design and research, established a usability/user experience lab and represented the company in meetings with clients such as Yahoo and Pelephone. Dr. Flascher received his Ph.D. in Ecological Psychology from the University of Connecticut in 2003.
Mr. Eyal Gordon, Chief Scientist
The creator of Mantis Vision’s breakthrough technologies, Mr. Gordon is a visionary entrepreneur that has spent the last two decades researching and contributing to making 3D a reality, through bridging the worlds of computer graphics and computer vision. Prior to co-founding the company, Mr. Gordon held the position of Managing Engineer of the Geometry Image Processing Laboratory at the Technion's Department of Computer Science, where he conducted R&D in the fields of image analysis, video processing, computer vision and AI, and also co-founded a unique research lab based on LEGO robots. Throughout his extensive travels around the world in pursuit of the ultimate visualization experiences, Mr. Gordon consulted to a major Japanese communications firm where he led the technical staff in the fields of 3D imaging and interactive 3D graphics over the Internet, and also served as a senior software engineer for Harmonic Data Systems in Japan. His first network administrator position at the Tel Aviv stock exchange quickly morphed into a content creation role where he gained experience on some of the most advanced visual equipment in the world at that time. From 1987 to 1991 Mr. Gordon served at the Central Computer Unit of the Israel Defense Forces where he specialized in mainframe communications.
Mr. Gur Arie Bittan, CTO
Born into a world of video, Mr. Bittan successfully completed his first system integration project at the age of 12, and has been exploring the vast possibilities of this medium ever since. A recognized visionary of the digital video market, he possesses an inbred sense of what technologies will work together and implements working models long before the market. Mr. Bittan is a regular participant at the leading media & technology trade shows where he continuously seeks out relevant technologies that will enhance the company's core business activities. Prior to co-founding the company, he served as the VP of Business Development at DVDemand. He was also the Technical Manager for Primus D&A, where he provided consulting services in the field of digital video and was in charge of building and establishing an animation and video processing studio.
Mr. Shabtay Negry, VP R&D
Mr. Negry has 17 years of experience in product and R&D management and specializes in developing multi-disciplinary electro-optical systems. His distinguished career in the field includes serving at the I.M.I. Israeli Military Industry, Orbotech—a leading worldwide company of automatic optical inspection for the PCB industry, Visionsense - a provider of a 3D surgical endoscope, and Itamar Medical—a supplier of diagnostics devices in cardiology. Mr. Negry holds an MBA with a specialization in Marketing Management from the Derbi University and an MA in Psychobiology with a specialization in Neurosciences from the Tel Aviv University. He also holds an undergraduate degree (B.Sc.) in Mechanical Engineering from the Technion Israel Institute of Technology.
Mr. Eldar Cegla, CFO and COO
Mr. Cegla is an entrepreneur and business manager who, in addition to specializing in finances, financial management and operations, has a deep understanding of R&D processes and technologies. Prior to joining Mantis Vision, he served as the CFO, COO and Co-founder of Browzwear International, a software company that provides the fashion industry a 3D visualization platform that accelerates the entire product life-cycle, from concept to shelf. Previous positions include serving as the CFO, COO and Co-founder of Mundo-VR, a software company which developed a generic 3D engine. Mr. Cegla holds a BA with honors in Chemistry and Computer Science from the Tel Aviv University.
Board of Directors
Dr. Arie Ovadia, Chairman of the Board
A lead investor in Mantis Vision, Dr. Ovadia has vast experience in merger and acquisition transactions, finance, accounting, and valuation matters. Dr. Ovadia has served as a consultant and director of major Israeli businesses for over 30 years. He is currently the Chairman of the Strategic Advisory Committee to Shamrock Israel Growth Fund, Chairman of Teva Naot and Chairman of Giron Development & Building. He previously served as Chairman of Phoenix Insurance Company and has been on the board of directors at Israel Discount Bank, Tadiran Communications, Koor Industries, Straus Elite, Israel Petrochemical Industries, Scealix, ViryaNet, Compugen, Intercure and others. A sought after lecturer, he has taught in the U.S. at the New York University and Temple University, and in Israel at Tel Aviv University and Bradford University. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the Wharton School of Business of the University of Pennsylvania, as well as an MBA and an undergraduate degree from Tel Aviv University.
Mr. Oren Most, Board Member
A close adviser to Mantis Vision’s management team, Mr. Most brings many years of senior executive managerial experience. He has served as the President and CEO of Gilat Satellite Networks (NASDAQ: GILTF). Prior to Gilat, Mr. Most was one of the founders of Cellcom, Israel's largest and most successful cellular phone company, where he served as the Deputy CEO and the Head of the Customers Division. Career highlights include leading two successful corporate turnarounds. First as the CEO of Keter, one of Israel's largest book publishing and printing companies, and as the Managing Director of Gibor-Sabrina's Pantyhose Division. Mr. Most received his MBA degree from the New York University.
Advisory Board
Mr. John W. Magaw, Chairman of the Advisory Board
A former director of the U. S. Secret Service, Mr. Magaw is a top international consultant who currently serves as an advisory council member at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. After an extended service in the U. S. Secret Service, Mr. Magaw became the director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF), the Acting Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Head of Transportation Security Administration (TSA). He holds a B.S. in education from Otterbein College, in Westerville, Ohio and for the past 16 years has served on the institution's Board of Trustees. Mr. Magaw received the 1991 and 1999 Presidential Rank Meritorious Award and in 1995 received the Presidential Rank Distinguished Award. Mr. Magaw is a life member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police.
Mr. Thomas Cohn, Advisory Board Director
Currently the Chairman of Getronics Holding BV, Oracle NL and Pereiravan Vliet & Partners, Mr. Cohn holds a number of non-executive board functions at Arcadis NV, Kema, Corus Nederland B.V., Recontec B.V., Foundation Techniek en Marketing (STEM). With a long and distinguished international career in Siemens Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands spanning 40 years, for the last 10 years Mr. Cohn has been serving as the President and CEO of Siemens in the Netherlands. Prior to this, Mr. Cohn served as the CFO of Siemens after fulfilling several management positions within Siemens. Furthermore, Mr. Cohn has three high decorations: Officer in the Order of the Crown (Belgium), Knight in the Dutch Lion (Holland) and Bundesverdienstkreuz (Federal Cross of Merit) 1st Class, the only general state decoration in Germany. He is also the advisor of several start-up companies in Israel.
Prof. Zeev Zalevsky, Advisory Board Director
Prof. Zalevsky received his B.Sc. and direct Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from Tel-Aviv University in 1993 and 1996 respectively. Prof. Zalevsky is currently an associate Professor in the school of engineering in Bar-Ilan University, Israel. He serves as the head of the electro-optics track in the school of engineering and the director of the nano photonic center in Bar-Ilan University. Prof. Zalevsky’s major fields of research are optical super resolution, nano-photonics and electro-optical devices, fiber optics, diffractive optical elements and beam shaping, RF-photonics. Prof. Zalevsky has published two books, has contributed more than 10 book chapters, written more than 180 refereed papers and holds more than 15 issued patents. In 2007 Prof. Zalevsky has received the Krill prize given by the Wolf foundation and in 2008 the International Commission of Optics (ICO) prize and Abbe medal for his contribution to the field of optical super resolution.
