From ministerial aide to Ashdod Port chief, the executive who boosted Toto's profits and now runs Israel's last state port

Personal: 57, divorced, father of three, lives in Ra'anana. Professional: Chairman of Ashdod Port.

Childhood and family: I was born in Lithuania in 1968, and when I was 3 we came to Israel. We arrived at an absorption center in Beit Shemesh and after two years moved to Netanya, where I spent most of my childhood. In those years Maccabi Netanya won football championships, and I remain a fan to this day. My mother was head of the linguistics department at Tel Aviv University, and my father was a technician at Amcor. At school I was mostly at the beach instead of in class, but I finished vocational high school as an assistant electrician with a full matriculation certificate.

Army and studies: I served as an officer in the Ordnance Corps and did reserve duty for years. To this day I keep in good touch with my commanders and subordinates. After being discharged I began a bachelor's degree in political science and international relations at the Hebrew University. I was elected chairman of the university's student union and later also chairman of the national student union. At the same time I worked as an assistant to then Jerusalem deputy mayor Yigal Amadi. I completed my MBA in 1998 at the University of Manchester.

Bezeqcal: After finishing my studies I spent about a year as an assistant to Communications Minister Limor Livnat. But then Ami Erel, who was CEO of Bezeq, drew me into a vice president position at the subsidiary Bezeqcal, which provided communications solutions for businesses. Later I was promoted to CEO. This was a period when competition with private companies began, but we managed to achieve excellent financial results. Then things changed in the group, there was then tension between Bezeqcal and Bezeq's management, which wanted to turn it from a subsidiary into a division, I felt I could not continue being part of the system, and I left.

Eurocom: I was appointed vice president for business development at Eurocom and learned a great deal from Shaul Elovitch, who controlled the group. I worked for him for almost four years, and our relationship has remained strong to this day.

Toto: The next stop was Toto. The company was then in crisis, with revenues of 600 million shekels and profits of only 13 million shekels, and I was asked to see what could be done. When we brought Winner to Israel, everything changed. I served as CEO for about four years, and in the final year we ended with revenues of 1.8 billion shekels and profit of about 560 million shekels.

CEO in London: After a year-long break I was chosen to serve as CEO of a private company based in London that carried out projects in energy, finance and insurance in Eastern Europe. For six years I left Ben Gurion Airport almost every Monday morning and returned Thursday night. We established six companies and managed hundreds of employees.

Fight for life: In 2015 I was diagnosed with a rare cancer that could be treated only with surgery, and I stayed at home for a year. They removed a large tumor. I had already been on the other side and came back. Lessons? Put the event in a box, lock it, throw the key into the sea, and move on.

Court battle: After recovering, I joined the biotech company Essence Labs, founded by Weizmann Institute entrepreneurs, as vice president for business development, and we listed it on the Australian stock exchange. After two years it became the target of a hostile takeover attempt. We spent money on legal battles, but in the end we decided to give up. Following that attempt, I later managed two more companies under debt arrangements, including Kardan NV, of which I am still chairman.

Ashdod Port: In 2021 I joined Ashdod Port as a director. After two and a half years in the role, including four and a half months without a serving chairman, I was offered the position and agreed. Today it is the last government-owned port in the country, and the competitors are private ports. No one believed we would survive, but we remained with a market share of 40%, contrary to forecasts that spoke of a decline to 25% to 22%.

Salaries and revenues: In the first quarter of 2026 we showed a 10% improvement in revenues, but profitability fell because of a 39 million shekel bonus we gave our 1,247 employees, about 31,000 shekels per employee on average. The average base salary at Ashdod Port, excluding bonuses and overtime, is incredibly low, 15,000 to 16,000 shekels. A small number of employees reach 60,000 shekels gross per month, which is more than the CEO's salary, 52,000 shekels. These are founding-generation workers, who will soon no longer be here. In the next generations there will remain only workers earning up to 22,000 shekels gross. I am perfectly fine with that.

Trade war: October 7 proved that Israel must have its own port. There are insane numbers of security vessels that unload only with us. In the world, not just in Hormuz, Egypt is threatened and this severely damages supply. We are in a global trade war that could deteriorate into a world war.

Second term: I am glad they chose me for another term, this week, and I also feel a heavy responsibility. My main goal now is to continue being a conduit of oxygen for the economy and the security establishment.