Makhteshim Agan Group > Investor Relations > Overview

Global Leadership Group

A formula for greater flexibility and efficiency

Our Global Leadership Group (GLG) is a forum consisting of leading managers collected from all of our many subsidiaries worldwide. The GLG reflects the market-centric approach we are pursuing. It is a strong platform that will enable us to benefit from the expertise and experience of our team members in every region where we maintain operations. The potential for collective and collaborative professional mindshare on issues of crop products, market trends, distribution and logistics, is truly invaluable.

Working together, we look forward to establishing an even leaner and more flexible global organization than we currently have. Our goal is to relentlessly focus on efficient approaches to consolidating and improving our purchasing procedures, streamlining production, and tightening our supply chain while providing a quality product with world class service.

Makhteshim Agan Group is run by a team of highly qualified and committed professionals with decades of proven experience in the development, manufacturing, marketing and distribution of crop protection products. Our team is attuned to the many trends driving the crop protection market and work together closely, valuing the mindshare of local experts in the formulation of market-specific policies that drive the Group’s global success.

Mr. Yang Xingqiang, Chairman of the Board

Mr. Yang Xingqiang has been appointed chairman of the board of Makhteshim Agan as of October 2011. Mr. Yang also serves as Vice President of China National Chemical Corporation since 2009. Prior to this role, he served as President of China National BlueStar (Group) Corporation and Chairman of Adisseo and BSI in France and Qenos in Australia, BlueStar’s overseas subsidiaries. Mr. Yang is also Senior Vice Chairman of the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation. As a senior engineer, Mr. Yang received his education in chemistry from Sichuan University.

Erez Vigodman, President & Chief Executive Officer

Erez Vigodman joined Makhteshim Agan Group in January 2010. Prior to this role, Erez served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Strauss Group Ltd.; Chief Executive officer of Elite Israel; and a partner at KPMG Somekh Chaikin. Mr. Vigodman is a member of the Advisory committee to the National Economic Council, a member of the Teva Pharmaceutical Industries board, and a chairman of the Be’atzmi fellowship association. He is a certified public accountant, holds a B.A in Accounting and Economics from Tel Aviv University and is a graduate of the program of Management Development at Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration.

Amos Rabin, Director - Global HR Officer

Mr. Rabin joined Makhteshim-Agan group in 2007. Prior to this he held the position of Senior Vice President of Human Resources and Organizational Processes at the following companies: Elisra-Tadiran Electronic Systems of the Elbit Group, 013 Barak International Telecommunications, and Elite International.

Mr. Rabin holds M.sc. in Business Management specializing in Organizational Behavior from Tel Aviv University, and a post M.A in Gestalt specializing in Leadership from Tel-Aviv University.

Aviram Lahav - Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Lahav joined Makhteshim Agan Group in 2010. Prior to this he served as CEO of Synergy Cables. Mr. Lahav Served Beforehand as CEO of Delta-Galil Industries, CEO of Delta-Galil North-America and CFO of Delta-Galil. Prior to that, he served as CEO of Europcar Israel and CFO of Samlat. Mr. Lahav is a CPA and graduate of Harvard Business School Advanced Management .

Dr. Chen Lichtenstein, Deputy CEO

Dr. Lichtenstein joined the Makhteshim Agan Group in 2006. Three years ago, Mr. Lichtenstein established MAI’s Global Resources Division, combining all of the group’s operational activities including manufacturing, supply chain, procurement and R&D. Prior to that he served as Executive Director of Investment Banking at Goldman Sachs in New York and London. Dr. Lichtenstein holds joint doctoral degrees from Stanford University's Graduate School of Business and School of Law, and B.Sc (Physics) and LL.B from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Dani Harari, Director - Strategy, Innovation and Business Intelligence

Mr. Harari joined the Makhteshim Agan Group in 2010. Prior to this Mr. Harari retired from the IDF (Israeli military), as Brigadier General, after 32 years of service. In his last position, he served for four years as commander of an elite technological unit. He holds B.A. Arabic language and literature, M.A. Middle Eastern Studies and M.A. Political Science and National Security

Dr. Eli Abramov, Director of Global Resources:

Dr. Abramov brings with him 20 years of executive experience, including serving as CEO of Baran, Israel’s largest engineering and project management group, where he managed a stabilization process that led to a significant improvement in the company’s business results. Prior to that, Dr. Abramov served in various operational and managerial roles at the Nuclear Research Center-Negev in Israel, including serving as COO and Deputy CEO. Dr. Abramov holds a Ph.D. summa cum laude in Materials Science and Engineering from the Ben Gurion University, and serves as Chairman of the Board for both the Beer Sheva College for Engineering and the Advanced Technological Center in Dimona (TEMED).

Ignacio Dominguez, Director - President and CEO, Europe

Mr. Dominguez has an agrochemical industry background of more than 20 years. Starting at ICI as product Manager in 1987, he was promoted to Marketing Manager in 1990. He then moved to American Cyanamid by 1994, where he grew from the role of Spain Marketing Manager to a Marketing Director in the US, and then came back to Spain as Country Head. By the time of the acquisition of American Cyanamid by BASF (year 2000), Mr. Dominguez had joined Makhteshim Agan Group as General Manager of Aragro. In mid 2005 he left Aragro for a position of Country Head with Syngenta, a role he had filled until recently.

Michal Arlosoroff,
Director, General Legal Counsel, Secretary & Corporate Social Responsibility Officer

Ms. Arlosoroff, Esq. is a member of the Israel Bar Association (1987). Before joining Makhteshim Agan Group, Michal was employed and a partner at the Law offices of E.S. Shimron, I. Molho, Persky & Co for 21 years, the last 15 of which she held the position of Partner and Manager of the office’s Tel-Aviv branch. Educated at the University of Tel Aviv, LL.B (1985), B.A. Political Science and Labor Relations (1982) (cum laude), Michal has extensive experience in contract negotiations and is regarded as a key advisor in matters of mergers and acquisitions, license agreements and international commercial transactions.

Ran Maidan, Director - President and CEO, Asia-Pacific, Africa & Middle East
Mr. Maidan joined Makhteshim Agan Group in 2006 as the CFO until 2010. Prior to this he served as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Koor Industries. Mr. Maidan served beforehand as Chief Financial Officer of the Elisra Defense Group. He was Vice President, Mergers, Acquisition and Taxation of Koor, was Corporate Controller of Koor. Mr. Maidan was also an Audit Manager at KPMG Somekh Chaikin. He holds an MBA and Bachelor degree in Accounting and Economics, both from the Bar-Ilan University, and is a Certified Public Accountant in Israel.

Ms. Rony Patishi-Chillim, SVP of Global Corporate Communications

Ms. Patishi-Chillim joined MAI as Head of Global Corporate Communication in January 2010. Prior to joining MAI, Ms. Chillim-Patishi served as Senior Vice President of Investment Banking at Barclays Capital (formerly Lehman Brothers) in Israel and New York. Ms. Patishi-Chillim holds an MBA from Boston University Graduate School of Management and a bachelor's degree in Business Administration and Comparative Literature from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Shaul Friedland, Director - President and CEO, Americas

Mr. Friedland joined Makhteshim Agan Group in 2004 as Sales and Marketing Manager, after serving as commercial manager at Agan from 1998. Prior to this Mr. Friedland was regional manager for Latin America and was employed at Makhteshim Chemical Works as Asia and Pacific Desk sales manager. He holds bachelor and master's degrees in Agriculture from the Hebrew University.

Professor Uri Shani , Head of Novel Agricultural Technologies

Professor Uri Shani joined Makhteshim-Agan Group in 2011. Prior to this role he was the chairman and general manager of Israel's Governmental Water and Sewage Authority. He is also chairman of Israel's Steering Committee for the Red Sea-Dead Sea Channel project, as well as Professor of Soil and Water Sciences at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
Professor Shani received a B.Sc. in Soil Sciences, a M.Sc. in Soil Chemistry, and a Ph.D. in Soil Physics all from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He also has a Post-Doc from Utah State University, Department of Plant, Soil and Biometeorology, Utah.

Yoav Zeif, Director - Global Products and Marketing

Prior to joining Makhteshim Agan Group, Mr. Zeif was an Associate Principal of McKinsey & Company, where he served clients around the world focusing on Agrochemicals, telecom and banking and had a key role in planning and overseeing the group's change and improvement plan on behalf of McKinsey.
Mr. Zeif holds a Ph.D. in International Economics of Bar-Ilan University and an MBA of the Kellogg-Recanati school of management.