The seasoned Siklu management team brings broad and multidisciplinary experience from the telecommunications, backhaul network, hardware, and software markets. Some of the key players on our team are:
Izik Kirshenbaum - Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO
Mr. Izik Kirshenbaum is Founder, Chairman and CEO of Siklu, Founder & Chairman of Vascure (a medical device company), and serves as an Advisory Board member at Solar Edge.
Izik was the co-General Manager of Intel’s Broadband Wireless Division (BWD) (NASDAQ: INTC) that was responsible for WiMAX (business & engineering) within Intel’s Mobility Group. Izik joined Intel through the acquisition of Envara in May 2004. Following the acquisition by Intel, the Envara group grew from 60 to over 300 people, responsible for Intel’s mobile WiMAX chipsets, and from August 2006 gained responsibility over all Intel’s wireless communication.
Envara was a WiFi Chipset startup company founded in 2000. Izik was co-Founder and CEO of Envara, leading it for four years to the successful development and sales of WiFi 802.11bg and 802.11abg products. The company raised $40M from a series of investors in Israel, Europe and APAC.
Before Envara, Izik worked for more than 17 years at the Israeli Ministry of Defense Electronics Research Department, an organization consisting of hundreds of the top technology professionals in the Israeli defense industries, dealing with state of the art, highly reliable, multi disciplinary systems in the data and telecommunications fields, with a strong emphasis on wireless communication systems. Izik is a two-time recipient of the Israel Defense Award, Israel’s most prestigious recognition for technological innovation and contribution to national security, in 1988 and 1995. In the years 1996 to 2000 he was the General Manager of the Electronics Research Department, leading it to two additional National Defense Awards in 1997 and 1999.
Izik holds a B.Sc. (Cum Laude) from Ben Gurion University, and M.Sc. (Summa Cum Laude) from Tel Aviv University, both in Electronics Engineering.
Yigal Leiba - Co-Founder, CTO
Mr. Yigal Leiba is a co-founder and CTO of Siklu. In previous positions, Yigal worked for Runcom Technologies, in charge of the design and the development of the world's first mobile-WiMAX (802.16e) chip, and a voting member of the IEEE 802.16 standard committee.
Yigal was also a co-founder and CTO of Breezecom’s LMDS group, a spin-off of Breezecom (today Alvarion (NASDAQ: ALVR)). His career includes project management and chief Engineer positions at Breezecom, where he was responsible for development of wireless access and wireless LAN systems. Before Breezecom, Yigal was an R&D engineer in the Israeli Ministry of Defense Electronics Research Department.
Yigal holds an MSc Degree in Electrical Engineering from the Technion – Haifa, Israel.
Itzik Ben-Bassat - COO and VP R&D
Mr. Itzik Ben-Bassat joined Siklu as COO and VP R&D, bringing over 18 years of extensive experience in the telecom, Internet and video markets.
Prior to joining Siklu, Itzik was the COO of Metalink Ltd. (NASDAQ: MTLK), a provider of high performance WiFi and DSL silicon solutions. Before Metalink, he held various executive positions in publicly-traded companies, including Vice President of R&D and Chief Technology Officer of Scopus Video Networks (NASDAQ: SCOP), a provider of digital video networking solutions. Before that, he was Senior Director of Marketing at Gilat Satellite Networks (NASDAQ: GILT. TASE), a provider of innovative satellite products, services and solutions, following his position there as Director of R&D. Mr. Ben-Bassat's engineering career began at the Israeli Ministry of Defense Electronics Research Department, an organization consisting of hundreds of the top technology professionals in the Israeli defense industries, dealing with state of the art, highly reliable, multi disciplinary systems in the data and telecommunications fields, with a strong emphasis on wireless communication systems. There, he led one of the largest groups Itzik is a recipient of the Israel Defense Award, Israel’s most prestigious recognition for technological innovation and contribution to national security in 1994.
Itzik holds a B.Sc. Summa Cum Laude from the Technion - Israel's Institute of Technology.
Gabriel (Gaby) Junowicz - VP Marketing and Business Development
Mr. Gabriel (Gaby) Junowicz joined Siklu in 2008 and is responsible for directing and leading the company’s strategy, business and marketing activities, as well as the product portfolio.
Prior to joining Siklu, Gaby led business development activities and product strategy and management teams at RAD Data Communications – an industry leader in access solutions for data and telecommunications applications. He was instrumental in establishing RAD’s presence as a worldwide market leader in the mobile backhaul space.
Gaby has wide-ranging experience in marketing and business development as well as an extensive R&D background with over 16 years in the telecommunications industry. Throughout his career, Mr. Junowicz held top-executive positions and was in charge of the definition, design, and development of highly reliable, state-of-the-art wireless and telecommunications systems.
Gaby holds B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Tel Aviv University, Israel.
Gila Fieg - VP Human Resources
Ms. Gila Feig is Siklu’s Vice President of Human Resources, responsible for human resources planning, recruitment, organizational development, training, compensation and benefits, and social activities.
Prior to Siklu, Gila was the VP of Human Resources of Enure Networks. Before that Gila led middle management development programs at Intel Israel (NASDAQ: INTC), and served as HR Manager at Envara, until it was acquired by Intel. Prior to joining Envara, Gila served with the Israeli Bureau of Welfare Services, in the Rehabilitation Department.
Gila received a Master of Social Work (MSW) from Tel Aviv University.
Baruch Schwarz - Co-Founder, Hardware and System Director
Mr. Baruch Schwarz is a co-founder and Hardware and System Director of Siklu Communication.
Prior to joining Siklu, Baruch was head of the Design Review team in the Israeli Ministry of Defense Electronics Research Department, an organization consisting of hundreds of the top technology professionals in the Israeli defense industries, dealing with state of the art, highly reliable, multi disciplinary systems in the data and telecommunications fields, with a strong emphasis on wireless communication systems. Before this, he was hardware engineer and VP R&D at WaveAccess (acquired by Lucent Technologies (NYSE: ALU)), developing wireless LAN and wireless internet access solutions.
Baruch holds a BSc Degree in Electrical Engineering from the Technion – Haifa, Israel and MBA from Bar-Ilan University, Israel.
Elad Dayan - Co-Founder, RF and DSP Director
Mr. Elad Dayan is a co-founder and RF Director of Siklu. Previously, Elad worked for the Intel WiMax group (Envara) (NASDAQ: INTC), where he was in charge of RF system and modem front-end design.
Elad’s career includes a hardware management position at Pulsicom, where he was responsible for the HW development of real-time-location-system working at 5.2GHz band. Before this, he was Product Manager at Eureka USA, responsible for the development of a smart antenna-based video wireless link. Previously, Elad was an R&D engineer in at the Israeli Ministry of Defense Electronics Research Department, an organization consisting of hundreds of the top technology professionals in the Israeli defense industries, dealing with state of the art, highly reliable, multi disciplinary systems in the data and telecommunications fields, with a strong emphasis on wireless communication systems.
Elad holds an BSc Degree in Electrical Engineering and MBA from Tel Aviv University.
Dr. Yossi Kofman - Co-Founder, Chairman of the Advisory Board
Dr. Yossi Kofman is a co-founder and the chairman of Siklu’s advisory board. He has extensive experience in the communications and chip industry and has been involved in the formation of several high-tech companies.
Yossi is currently the co-founder and CEO of bSolar, an Israeli company that develops and manufactures photovoltaic (PV) bifacial, silicon solar cells that can provide 15-20% more energy per dollar production than the best of breed counterparts.
Prior to Siklu and bSolar, Yossi was the co-founder and co-CEO of Modem-Art, a company which developed a baseband chip for 3G, W-CDMA and HSPA, cellular handsets and was acquired in March 2005 by Agere Systems (NYSE: LSI) for $145M. Yossi also serves on the advisory board of several Israeli start-ups, including Oree (LED based lighting), and Valens (in home 5 play transmission over cat5/6 cables) as well as on the advisory board of GIMV, the largest Belgium VC fund.
Yossi holds a D.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology.