Management Team

Yossi Cohen, CEO & Founder

Yossi Cohen has over 20 years of experience in the software industry, in which he has focused on developing tools solutions for reengineering, integration, and database technologies. Yossi was previously the founder and CEO of Alexandria - a database migration technology company whose customers include Merrill Lynch, Salomon Smith Barney, CitiBank, Daimler-Chrysler, and New York State. Alexandria was acquired by BluePhoenix (NASDAQ: BPHX) in 2002. Before that Yossi was the founder and CEO of Predicate Software, a professional services company specializing in complex migration and integration projects in Israel. Yossi was also a software engineer and DBA at Formula (NASDAQ: FORTY), Jacada (NASDAQ: JCDA) and in the Israeli Air Force. Yossi holds a B.Sc. Cum Laude and a M.Sc. Summa Cum Laude in Computer Sciences, both from the Tel Aviv University. Yossi is currently completing his Ph.D., which describes a framework for building database software analysis tools.

Moshe Molcho, Chief Operating Officer (R&D)

Moshe Molcho is responsible for the strategic and operational leadership of Panaya’s IT operations. Moshe most recently managed IBM’s Haifa Development Lab. In this role since March 2003, he managed over 150 scientists and engineers involved in tens of independent projects in parallel, in coordination with other IBM labs worldwide. During this period, the Lab in Israel significantly improved its productivity and capabilities and was also the first E&TS Lab that developed off-shoring ventures. Prior to IBM, Moshe was Chief Operation Officer, and before that, VP Engineering of Online Benefits, a SaaS (software as a service) HR application provider, since December 1999. Here, he built up Online Benefits’ delivery organization, enabling the internet start-up with 20 employees to become a financially stable enterprise with over 90 employees. Previously, Moshe was VP Engineering and then General Manager at C-Cube Microsystems. At C-Cube, he built its biggest and most profitable Division - Consumer Electronics - from the ground up to generate $300 million annual revenue. During his three-year tenure at C-Cube the company went public and grew from 100 employees and $20 million annual revenue to 900 employees and more than $350 million annual revenue. Moshe has a B.Sc. and M.Sc in Computer Science from the Technion, Israel.

Mati Cohen, VP Products

Mati Cohen, co-founder of Panaya, is responsible for driving the company’s product strategy and development. From 2002 to 2006, he was a Senior Consultant and SAP Project Manager in IBM’s Global Business Services Consulting division. In this position, he was responsible for the implementation of large-scale projects in the hi-tech, electronics, aerospace and defense and public sectors. During his extended military service in the Academic Reserve of the Israeli Navy, Mati led the first SAP supply chain project. Mati has a B.Sc. in Industrial Management (Information Systems) from the Faculty of Engineering Sciences at Ben Gurion University.

Amit BenDov, VP M&S

Amit BenDov has over 15 years of experience in managing development, marketing, and sales to Global 1000 corporations in North America, Europe and APAC. Most recently he served as Senior VP of Worldwide Marketing/VP of Sales and Marketing at ClickSoftware (Nasdaq: CKSW), a $25M enterprise software company traded on Nasdaq. In pivotal leadership roles almost from inception, through first sales, IPO, “Tech bubble” crisis, to emerge as 2003’s best performing stock among Israeli companies traded on Nasdaq, and as a growing, profitable company, outselling the nearest competitor 3:1. He has a B.S. in Computer Science and Statistics from Tel Aviv University.

Avi Lazar, CFO

Avi Lazar is a veteran CFO with a rich experience in initial and secondary public offerings (CheckPoint, Nice Systems, Emultek), US GAAP, international taxation, and venture financing. Prior to joining Panaya, Avi served as CEO of Insyst. He also acted as CFO of Mysticom Semiconductor. Before joining Mysticom, Avi worked as a Partner with Ernst & Young, Israel. Previously, Avi also held the position of Chief Financial Officer and Director in Ubique Ltd., acquired by IBM in 1998. Avi holds a BA in Economics and Accounting from the Ben-Gurion University and an MBA from Tel Aviv University.

Nurit Dor, Ph.D., Chief Scientist

Dr. Nurit Dor is Chief Scientist at Panaya.  Nurit has extensive experience in developing academic and industrial program analysis tools. Prior to joining Panaya, Nurit was a Program Analysis Researcher at IBM Haifa Research Lab where she designed and developed new program analysis tools and techniques. While interning at Microsoft Research, she was involved in enhancing a static analysis error detection tool.  As project manager and programmer at Log-On Software Ltd, she developed methodologies and tools for Y2K conversion.  Responsible for developing Panaya’s program analysis technology and maintaining Panaya's thought leadership in both the software industry as well as academia, Nurit has published papers in leading academic conferences on program analysis topics, and won numerous  awards for her research. She holds a B.Sc. and M.Sc. Cum Laude in Computer Science from Ben-Gurion University. She received her Ph.D. in Computer Science from Tel-Aviv University.

Yossi Binyamin, Director of Operations

Yossi Binyamin is Director of Operations at Panaya. Yossi has 15 years' experience in planning, developing and implementing multifaceted information solutions, including SAAS (software as a service) and hosting solutions. Prior to joining Panaya, Yossi was Director of Managed Services at Traiana Technologies from 2004. Traiana provides enterprise software solutions for the banking industry and Yossi managed the company’s secure, high-availability hosting facilities and IT operations. Previously, he also served as Director of Production and Support at RealTimeImage. At RealTimeImage, he was responsible for the company’s QA, IT and Production operations, including the company’s San Jose-based ASP operations. Yossi expertise also includes managing complex, mission-critical information security projects. Yossi holds a B.Sc in Industrial Engineering and Information Technologies from the Technion, Israel institute of Technology and an MBA from the University of Haifa.