Company

Management

Lieutenant General (retired) Dan Haloutz is the former Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Force (2005-2007). Prior to that, Haloutz was Deputy Chief of Staff (2004-2005) and Israel Air Force Commander (2000-2004).

Between 1991-1999, Haloutz held senior command positions in the Israel Air Force, including Assistant to the Deputy Chief of the General Staff and Head of Operations, Head of the Air Force Staff, Head of Air Force Operations, and Wing Commander (F-16 fighters).
He is a veteran fighter pilot, and has accumulated about 4,500 flying hours in various aircraft.
A graduate of Tel Aviv University with a degree in economics, Haloutz is also an alumnus of the Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program.

Micha Lawrence has more than 15 years of experience in avionics. Prior to founding Starling, he served for six years at Elbit Systems, a global leader in military electronics and communications technologies and a founding investor in Starling. At Elbit, Micha held senior positions in various avionics programs, including as manager of a group that was responsible for defining end-user requirements for airborne platforms. He also was responsible for key sales efforts targeting the avionics market. Earlier, Micha served in command positions in the Israeli Air Force. Before founding Starling, Micha spent more than a year researching the needs of stakeholders in the civilian air industry, building a unique combination of expertise in military avionics technologies and insight into the civil aviation market.

David Mansour has been involved in developing advanced communications systems for military and civilian applications for more than 30 years, and has extensive expertise in fields ranging from adaptive antenna arrays to spread spectrum modems. Prior to joining Starling, David served as CTO or VP in a variety of companies focusing on communication technologies. These included, Ubiquity Digital (AM and FM digital radio), RDC (wireless LANs), and Geotek Communications (cellular systems for fleet management). Earlier, during a 20-year stint at RAFAEL, a world leader in military technology R&D and a founding investor in Starling, David held several senior technology management positions, including Director of the Communication and Intelligence Division. As a pioneer advocate of the Ku band since the 1960s when he initiated Ku defense system development at RAFAEL, David is internationally recognized as an expert in the field. This in-depth expertise forms the basis for the Ku-based approach underlying Starling’s systems. David holds B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in electrical engineering from the Technion – Israeli Institute of Technology, and a Ph.D in computer and electrical engineering from the University of California in Santa Barbara.

Michael Salomon joined Starling after a ten-year tenure at Elbit Systems. Among other positions, he was a senior director and head of the finance and contracts division in the airborne and helmet business unit. He also served as director of several Elbit subsidiaries. Michael has many years of experience in financial management of large-scale programs, particularly in the avionics and A/C upgrade sectors. Michael Salomon holds a B.Sc. Cum Laude in industrial engineering and management from the Technion – Israeli Institute of Technology, and a M.Sc. in management from the Polytechnic University of New York. 

Jacob Keret is an experienced business and technical manager with extensive expertise in satellite communications. Prior to joining Starling, Jacob co-founded Spacecom Satellite Communication Services, service provider of Amos satellites, and served nine years as VP marketing and sales, building the company into a leading position in several European markets. Previously, he held the position of marketing manager in the MBT Division, Space Directorate of Israel Aircraft Industries. During his tenure, Jacob handled the successful negotiation with a European partner to launch a communication satellite. Earlier, as a space systems engineer in the same division, he was responsible for satellite trajectory planning and performance analysis. Jacob holds a B.Sc. in aeronautics and space engineering from the Technion – Israeli Institute of Technology and an MBA from Tel Aviv University.

Ilan Bitton has been involved in the development and management of electronic system for military and civilian applications for more than 35 years. Ilan has an extensive experience in computer embedded systems ranging from ruggedized field computers to automotive radars. In his thirty year at RAFAEL Ilan has pioneering the introduction of software development methodology at Rafael and at a later stage been in charge of multi million projects combining sophisticated RF modules and computer networking. The main projects Ilan was involved in are: an airborne wide band transmit/receive system and HIL (Hardware in the Loop) flight simulators. In his last position at RAFAEL Ilan was the COO of the electronic systems division (1200 employees) in charge of project management, production and Quality Assurance. For five years Ilan was the COO/acting manager of RoadEye and has developed and brought to production a millimeter wave radar and a sophisticated ultra sound sensor. Ilan holds a BSc in Electrical Engineering from the Technion – Israeli Institute of Technology

David Levy has more than 25 years of experience in communications systems, bringing in-depth expertise in RF/IF processing, digital signal processing, MODEM algorithms, and related fields to his work at Starling. He has particular expertise in designing and implementing complex multi-disciplinary communication systems. This includes point-to-point military and cellular systems (TDMA and CDMA). For the first 12 years of his career, David was involved in system design projects involving wideband and narrowband RF/IF processing for military airborne and ground-borne communication systems. Later, as a chief engineer at RAFAEL and then at Geotek, he was involved in the design of commercial communication systems, WLAN applications, and FHMA-oriented cellular networks. Prior to joining Starling, he was co-founder and CTO of FireMedia Communications, which developed high-speed WLAN and home media router chipsets. David holds a B.Sc. in telecommunication systems engineering from the electrical engineering Department of the Technion – Israeli Institute of Technology.

Ben Engel has 27 years of experience in the design and development of commercial and military Communication Systems. Most recently he was the RF & Packaging R&D Group Manager at CyOptics Inc., a 40Gbps optical components house. Prior to CyOptics, he held several design management positions in the Point-to-Point and Satellite Communication equipment industry. In 1993 Ben Engel co-founded and served as the Engineering Manager of Misat Ltd., a Ku-Band VSAT Transceivers vendor. Mr. Engel, a 15-year veteran of RAFAEL, holds a B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology.

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