My Story

He was born in Ethiopia and immigrated to Israel with his family at the age of 7. “We lived in a rather remote village cut off from the world, three days away from the nearest city,” Shimon says. Like many others in the Jewish community, his family decided to join the pilgrimage to Jerusalem. “I remember the long walk and a truck ride that brought us to the city, where I was exposed to something wonderful that I had never seen before – television.” Through a crack in the wall, Shimon watched Star Trek and discovered an exciting new world.

My family arrived at an absorption center in Addis Ababa, but had to wait another year before immigrating to Israel as part of Operation Solomon. Shimon spent his first years of school in Rishon LeZion, where he was first exposed to discriminatory treatment. “There were four Ethiopians in the class, and the teacher told us: ‘Nothing will become of you.’ So, I transferred to a boarding school in Hadera, and within a short period of time I became an outstanding student.”

After his military service, Shimon studied mechanical engineering and continued that field at work. “I wanted to work for a defense company, but only after 13 years I managed to get into Elbit,” he says. Shimon joined the factory and held a number of positions, until he was appointed as a team leader. “At the beginning  I was a quiet worker who sat in my own corner , which is very typical of Ethiopian immigrants – not to stand out. It took me a while to be courageous. But the fact that I’m here and making progress means a lot.”

He is married to Liknash, and together they have three children: Elsa, 13, Matan, 8, and Elin, 6. He met Liknash through a friend, and after a few months they decided to get married. “Liknash in Amharic is a maiden of grace, and that’s exactly what she is,” Shimon describes. “She’s an amazing woman who does everything. While raising the children and working in education, she also somehow managed to become a student of behavioral science.”

Who influenced you the most?

“My mother and father, Lamlam and Adonyiah. I wish I had just a drop of what they have. They are always content with what they have, and managed to raise us with a sense of abundance, even though they did not have much.

My Story

He was born in Haifa to an Iraqi-born father and an Israeli mother, the daughter of a 15-generation old Jerusalem dynasty. “My parents came from families with many children, but they made do with me and my older sister,” Erez says. His father worked in computers, an industry that was in its infancy in those years, so the family moved to the center and settled in Bat Yam. As the youngest child, Erez enjoyed his mother’s pampering. “Mom was the warmth and comfort of the house, always caring for everyone, and in touch with the entire extended family. I remember many stories about Jerusalem in the olden days, Ladino, Agripas street, nostalgia.”

He met his wife, Rachel, at his first job working on Silver Arrow, and today she also works at Elbit. They married when he was 30. “Only then did I leave my parents’ house; I took my time,” he smiles. About two years later, twins Nofar and Almog were born. “The first period of parenthood was considered a restless year. Luckily, we got a lot of help from Rachel’s mother,” Erez says. Today, the couple are the parents of four children: the twins, who have already turned 31, Gal, 25, and Yuval, 24. “I’m totally ready for the grandchildren, but they’re not in any rush,” he says.

He says of Rachel that she is the compass and logistics manager at home. “Always one step ahead of me, knowing what’s worthwhile and when.” The couple enjoys traveling in Israel and abroad. Last Passover they celebrated in Cyprus, and they are planning similar trips with friends. “On October 7th, we happened to be at home,” Erez describes. “Some of my employees were immediately drafted into reserves, and that very same day we opened a war room with my superiors. It was clear that things were taking a different direction.” During the war, the systems under Erez’s responsibility were used extensively, and on a significant scale. “I am responsible for marketing and new business with customers in Israel and sometimes even unique products,” he explains.

Who has influenced you the most?

“My parents. My dad had the strongest persona in the house, and my mom taught me to care for and help others. I took care of them both when they got sick, then I took care of my father’s brother, and now I’m helping my last surviving aunt. At the same time, for more than a decade I have been a social leader in the business unit, and I am responsible for our volunteering program with various entities, such as the Kadima youth group in Rehovot, activities with Ort Rehovot and Givatayim, Good Deeds day, distribution of food baskets on holidays and more.”

However, according to Lior, the connection to his role as head of R&D programs in the C4I and cyber division comes from creativity. “My job is to understand the gaps and needs of the foot soldier when facing threats, and to find creative and simple solutions to bridge the gap”‘ explains Lior. “Most of the work is in the fields of robotics and autonomy, with the main concept of keeping combat soldiers from harm’s way and substituting as many unman operations with remote controlled operations.”

My Story

Lior began working at Elbit two years ago, after retiring from the security forces, and was invited to share his skills as an engineer and his broad knowledge at Elbit. “In the security forces I was involved in project management, but what attracted me at Elbit was the opportunity to not manage others, rather, create. Finding a simple solution that works is something I really like doing. During the war outbreak in Israel, much emphasis was put on this and scheduling became a significant factor—every moment there is a new challenge that needs to be solved. I’m lucky that I enjoy an adrenaline rush.” He adds with a smile.

During the first two months of the war, Lior was drafted into the reserves. “We met officers and combat soldiers who were in Gaza, and pretty quickly we discovered a serious gap between training for urban warfare and the operational reality, which was warfare in demolished territory. We realized that some of the existing solutions were no longer relevant, and we had to adapt the doctrine of warfare and means in the middle of the war, whether it was a drone that could navigate inside a building or other means for special units. After I was released from the reserves, we continued to develop these specific solutions at Elbit as well.”

Lior grew up in Dimona, the middle child of a family of three boys, and today he and his wife Anat have three sons, two of whom are in the military service – Tomer, 22, in the reserves, Noam, 19, in regular service, and Maayan, 16, a high school student. Anat is a special education teacher and bookkeeper, and Lior still finds time between his demanding projects at work and two other old loves – music and painting. “I play drums and percussion, and originally electric guitar. My current band plays R&B and covers. All members are friends and neighbors from my community, and for fun I also run the community pub.” When possible, Lior paints at night, in the style of modern art. His works, under a pseudonym, have even been showcased at exhibitions around the world – in New York, Miami, Paris, and these days also in a gallery in Tel Aviv. “I explain the combination of creativity, which comes from the same areas of the brain—art and engineering solutions, in this context, are quite similar.”

Who has influenced you the most?

“My children. There were always on my mind even before they enlisted, but now even more so. I feel I have an obligation to bring all the soldiers home safely. Professionally, I appreciate and thank my managers, who gave me full support for projects, the freedom to go ahead and funding when needed.”

What has changed in you over the years?

“For many years I had a hard time with people who aren’t like me – a little square in their perception or those who tried to discourage my ideas – because I always take things to the extreme. As I got older, I realized that people are different and you have to work with them too, and I even discovered the benefits of sticking to the rules and realized that maybe it’s better not everyone be like me.”

My Story

Igor was born in Uzbekistan, the youngest of two children. When he was nine and a half years old, he immigrated to Israel with his family. “It was just before the Gulf war, and our welcoming to Israel was in the safe room with sirens,” he recalls. The family settled in the Krayot area, near his father’s family. Igor describes himself as a sporty boy, who loved boxing and accomplished considerable achievements as the national youth champion, and fourth place in an international competition. “Boxing really grounded me, taught me how to control my emotions and provided great life lessons,” he says. In the army he served as a combat soldier, and then successfully completed his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in economics.

In 2008 and during his Master’s, he joined Elbit Systems as a financial manager in the Aerospace division. He was a key part of Cyclone’s finance department, where he was responsible for establishing KPI’s for various departments. After several years in the position, Igor asked to transfer to Sales and Contracts. “I wanted to make a shift to an area with more challenges and working closer with the customer, ,” he explains. He began his business activity with leading companies in the aviation industry such as Airbus and Boeing, and was later appointed to manage head systems for helicopters and planes in the US and internationally. For the past two years, Igor has also managed the civilian avionics unit.

He married his wife, Katya, a dentist, about six years ago and today they are parents to two children, Lior, 4, and Yael, 2. “It wasn’t until I became a father that I understood what parental concern really means,” he admits. “I got married relatively late, but once Lior arrived I started to fear. On the other hand, it taught me to be much more open, and my management abilities also improved. So you could say that parenthood is the key point in my life,” he says.

With the outbreak of the war in October, Igor found himself mediating the reality at home, since Katya immigrated from Russia only nine years ago. Fatherhood also taught him to look at his relationship with his parents with fresh eyes: “In retrospect, when we came here during the Gulf War, I think my parents were afraid. It was fear mixed with a misunderstanding of the language, of the situation. One morning, I arrived at school and the guard said to me, ‘What are you doing here? School is closed.’ I went home and my parents didn’t understand why I ran away from school.”

What’s the best advice you can give others?

“Be true to yourself, and do what makes you feel good. Whenever I hit a dilemma, that’s the question I ask myself. Is it right for me to be in this situation? And what do I have to do to be in a good place.”

My Story

A self-described “planner who looks for creative connections” Craig’s primary focus as an IT Infrastructure Manager is to ensure that Elbit America’s network meets the needs of the organization and is secure and dependable.

“We’re constantly routing and switching like building a highway, and we are not just going out and buying new tools. We’re leveraging what we have to achieve the results we want,” said Craig.
Before joining Elbit America in October of 2022, the Airforce Veteran worked as a consultant specializing in network security for the defense industrial base.

Craig was instrumental to the selection, acquisition and implementation of several new networking and security tools that grant advanced visibility and control over the Elbit America network. The new enhanced capabilities play a key role in Elbit America’s readiness towards obtaining a Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) Level 2 certification soon to be required for doing business with the U.S. Department of Defense. Elbit America also earned its first ISO 27001 certification that opens up new business opportunities for the company.
“This would not have been possible without Craig’s diligence and investment of time above and beyond his normal day-to-day responsibilities,” said Rob.

Craig currently works in Fort Worth and lives in Keller where he enjoys spending time with his 12-year-old son, Lian, who is about to be 13.
“Lian is absolutely my best friend. We play golf together and he is a great soccer player. I also coach a youth soccer team,” said Craig.

“I love to feed everyone in my world,” Jenniffer said. “Folks in Merrimack know my baking, and anyone who’s been to our house knows our love language with friends and family is food.”

Jenniffer’s knack for combining different ingredients into something remarkable isn’t limited to her kitchen; it’s a skill she also brings to Elbit America.

My Story

Elbit America’s OneERP project was well underway when Jenniffer left Business Unit Finance to join the team as a Local Process Owner-Plus (LPO+).

“Coming into the project later than everyone else, I had to quickly learn what was going on,” she said. “While my boss focused on data migration, I concentrated on our users – that included defining new processes for the Order to Cash (O2C) stream. It was during those exercises that I learned a lot about other streams.”

At Go Live in January 2023, Jenniffer’s cross-functional knowledge proved invaluable. Her familiarity with the various processes, along with her instinct for collaboration, pulled the right people together to get our customers’ orders moving through the new ERP ecosystem.

“The resilience of Elbit America after OneERP Go Live was nothing short of extraordinary. As one company, everyone worked together to clear obstacles as we learned new things every day. I am so proud of our users and the IT team alike,” she said.

2023 was extraordinary for Jenniffer, as well. Being recognized as an Outstanding Employee for her contributions to OneERP’s success was the icing on the cake.

Who is the person who inspire you the most?

“My 25-year-old daughter. We joke about Millennials and Genereation Z and the participation trophy mentality, but my daughter is far from those tropes,” she said. “She is driven, determined, and passionate. She works hard at a job she loves and always does the right thing. It’s impossible to watch her and not be inspired to be better.”

My Story

Rahav came to Elbit as a student, and his first job was in the field of hardware development. “From there I moved up,” he says. “It’s a natural process; first you work on a product like a PCB, then you’re responsible for the entire enclosure, and finally, the entire system.”

According to him, all members of the defense industry have a sense of mission – even those who do not deal directly with systems and products for the Israeli security forces. “The systems I work on are intended for customers abroad, but I feel a deep connection to the national effort. Our work at Elbit contributes to Israel’s economic and industrial resilience. Besides that, our commitment is also towards friends that drafted into the reserves, and accomplishing the tasks for all forces. Each of us is hindered by some difficulty in our personal lives due to these turmoil times; whether it’s supporting the kids or, God forbid, personal loss or an acquaintance who lost a loved one, and supporting displaced civilians and recruits. I made a decision to try to support my social circle as much as possible.”

For as long as he can remember, Rahav has been a man of “many hats”, with one of the most important hobbies in his life being sports and physical fitness. “On a personal level, I play sports all the time, but my sport is also a profession,” he says. “My second job is as a fitness trainer. After October 7th, one of the things I decided to do was to give free training to my community where I live. At the time, there were no classes or activities – and people were confined to their homes under pressure. The training is meant to give them some relief.”

Rahav is married to Inbal, an educator of young children, and has three children: Ray (19), Nir (16) and Yaari (12). Among his many responsibilities at home, at work, and in the community, he also finds time to brew beer at home. “It’s a fun hobby, because besides the production process, there’s great fulfillment in the end result and the ability to choose the type of beer you want to drink at the end of the process.”

What’s the best advice you can give others?

“It’s important to have a life outside of work as well. Personally, I have quite a few hobbies  –  but having hobbies isn’t the point; the point is, you have to live life to the fullest.”

What has changed most about you?

“Besides the fact that I got rid of my ponytail and the long hair – I try very hard not to change over the years. It’s important for me to stay true to myself and my values.”

My Story

Eli started working at Elbit 3 years ago, after retiring from his last position in the IDF. His rich experience with the needs of the IDF ground forces and technological solutions was a natural transition to his new role at Elbit – this time with end customers abroad. “In my role, I’m responsible for every activity with the customer – from identifying opportunities to implementing the systems themselves. We lead the process from early stages of negotiating and signing, through production, until delivery and implementation. Just recently, a historic contract worth more than a billion Shekels was signed”. Following successful projects, a few months ago, Eli also took on managing the field of maneuvering formations.

Eli grew up in Kiryat Yam, with an older sister and twin brother. Today he lives with his wife Orit and his two children, 18-year-old Eden and 12-year-old Ayala. “Orit is very versatile; she is a stylist, a client manager, and also helps develop brain functions and improve memory among seniors”, he says proudly. Throughout his life, Eli says, he has always drawn strength from his family, and in recent years, he has learned to balance his work-life and personal life. “My family is my comfort zone. The positions I had in the army were very demanding and made it difficult for me to be present, but even when I was absent during service, I always tried to bring the family to me, whenever possible. We had more concentrated quality time over the years, like when I graduated my M.A. studies at Harvard”.

Even outside working hours, Eli is always doing something meaningful; he conducts workshops in the field of leadership and decision-making, as well as activities in high-schools to prepare teenagers for the IDF. “It’s important to me to encourage teenagers to choose a meaningful service. My son is soon enlisting as a combat soldier. It’s not easy, even worrying, but we’re very proud of him”.

Who is the person who influenced you the most?
“On a personal level, my parents were the main figures who influenced me. It was they who taught me family values, hard work ethics and to strive for excellence. On a professional level, I was influenced by many commanders with whom I served under in the IDF as well as various leaders in Israel and worldwide – David Ben-Gurion, the  founder and first prime minister of Israel, is in my eyes the best example of a man with a vision, who succeeded to turn a dream into a reality. A large part of what has become of the State of Israel today, rests on his vision and decisions made during his time”.

My Story

He grew up in Petah Tikva, the youngest child of a religious-Zionist family. “We lived in a mixed neighborhood, secular and religious, and even today I believe in openness and less in an absolute worldview,” he says and adds that as the fourth son, he was also the “good boy” of the family, “the quiet one, the one who tries not to cause trouble for his parents”. From his teenage years, he mainly remembers the basketball games that he loved, and today, although he does not play, he watches games on his spare time.

His wife, Moriah, is his best friend. They met through their siblings, a match that became a success story. “I was 23 years old, for me the connection was immediate, but for Moriah it took a little longer”, says Shai with a smile and adds that the relationship molded him. “Moriah helped me open up to the world and believe in myself. She knows how to push forward and make things happen”. Today, the couple are parents of four children, three daughters and a son, and Shai describes himself as an involved parent, who enjoys teaching and enriching his kids. “Three girls is a mess, but they are good friends and I like to introduce them to new worlds”.

He has known Elbit Systems since his days as a student, when he was hired for his first job in the field. About six years ago he rejoined the company, in a business line in the division. “The position attracted me. It’s a unique opportunity to see the overall picture of things, EW, RF, aerodynamics, mechanics, all the components together”, he explains. In the last year, he has been involved in several leading developments in various divisions, and demonstrates advanced management skills, alongside creativity and compliance under stressful conditions. “I enjoy the work, and for me there is also a sense of mission—knowing that you are contributing to the country,” Shai explains.

Who is the person who influenced you the most?

“Albert Einstein. I like his ability to simplify complex things and think creatively. He talks a lot about a free mind, and if I have taken anything from him in life, it’s to insist on the important things. I know what is right for the project, and even if it’s inconvenient – I remind myself of this”.

My Story

In his position in the test unit, Dudi is responsible for testing and inspecting a long line of advanced systems for delivery to the customer. “We make use of countless different measuring devices such as radars, cameras, temperature sensors and drones”, he explains. “Each system delivered to the customer can undergo dozens or even hundreds of tests. We design measuring tools like modelling clay to be applied with great precision to any test or inspection. In our position, the sky is the limit – you can always learn and develop”.

Dudi’s work is challenging even in quieter times, and often requires prolonged absence from home, and work under irregular field conditions. “You need a lot of patience to fulfill this role, and it is also important to work in a team. Each unit employee needs to be there for each other, to achieve results from the design stage to execution. Some tests last a few days, and some challenges and projects can take several weeks”.

Between one reserve period and another, Dudi takes part in the national effort also through his work at Elbit. “When we work on an ammunition project for the IDF, for example, we see the final objective in front of our eyes”, he explains. “In such cases, everyone comes with motivation and desire to do more, as part of personal Zionism and commitment to the army and to the country”.

One of the greatest passions in his life is creation, and especially—creation with wood. “I build a lot of things at home”, he boasts. “My goal is to create as much as possible in the world of carpentry, and this will happen when I have more time. I recently built a wooden bench on the balcony of our house. It was a complex project, which lasted two days and included strenuous physical work. But this activity relaxes me more than anything else”.

Who is the person who influenced you the most?

“My wife Danit and my children Ido and Yarden. They have changed me in terms of inclusion, commitment and priorities in life”.

What is the best advice you can give others?

“It doesn’t matter where you are: what matters is who you are with. It is important to surround yourself with people you feel comfortable with”.