Our Team
We’re a well-oiled, experienced team with an extensive track record of growing high-growth technology startups. With the support of world-leading investors, the CTERA team is defying traditional IT conventions to deliver on its vision for secure and progressive enterprises as they embark on their journey to the cloud.
Liran Eshel
CEO & CoFounder
Liran is CEO and co-founder of CTERA. He brings to CTERA more than 18 years of IT managerial experience. Prior to founding CTERA, Liran was CEO of SofaWare Technologies, which was acquired by Check Point Software Technologies. Previously, Liran served as an officer in an elite technological unit of the Israel Defense Forces. Liran holds a B.Sc. in Mathematics and Computer Science and a M.Sc. in Computer Science from Bar-Ilan University.
Oded Nagel
Chief Strategy Officer
Oded is responsible for CTERA’s solution offering and strategic initiatives. Prior to joining CTERA Oded managed pre-sales at SofaWare Technologies, a Check Point company. He holds a BA in Business and Economics.
Aron Brand
CTO
Aron Brand, CTO of CTERA Networks, has more than 22 years of experience in designing and implementing distributed software systems. Prior to joining the founding team of CTERA, Aron acted as Chief Architect of SofaWare Technologies, a Check Point company, where he led the design of security software and appliances for the service provider and enterprise markets. Previously, Aron developed software at IDF’s Elite Technology Unit 8200. He holds a BSc degree in computer science and business administration from Tel-Aviv University.
Shay Brin
CFO
Shay brings to CTERA more than a decade of financial management experience. Prior to CTERA, Shay worked at M86 Security (acquired by Trustwave Holdings in 2012) and Finjan Software (acquired by M86 Security in 2009) as a Financial Director. Previously he was an auditor at Ernst & Young’s High Tech team in Israel. Shay is a certified accountant (CPA, Israel), and holds a BA in Economics and Accounting from Ben Gurion University.
Limor Bakal
EVP, Business and Marketing Operations
Limor is responsible for developing CTERA’s sales infrastructure and go-to-market strategy. She has 18 years of experience in leadership positions in the high tech industry. Prior to joining CTERA, Limor advised technology start-up CEOs on strategic growth areas. From 1995 to 2003, Limor was VP International Sales and Marketing and member of the senior executive team at Check Point Software. By 2003 her organization generated 55% of the company’s revenue (~$250M). Limor holds a BA (Cum Laude) in Mid-East Studies and Political Science from Tel Aviv University and an MBA from Columbia University in New York.
Donald Wales
SVP, North America
Donald brings over thirty years of experience leading global sales organizations for start-up, early-stage, and established technology and services companies. Prior to joining CTERA, Donald held executive sales roles at EMC, IBM, Zerto, Robin.io, StorageTek, Brocade, and Veritas.
Michael Amselem
VP, EMEA Sales
Michael serves as CTERA’s VP Global Strategic Sales, brings CTERA more than 20 years of vast knowledge and experience in Enterprise Sales WW. Prior to Joining CTERA, Michael was a Senior Director at Check Point Software Technologies. During more than 10 years he held various sales management positions and grew the large Strategic System Integrators and Telco business WW. Prior to that, Michael worked for 6 years with Sofaware Technologies which was acquired by Checkpoint. Michael holds a BA in Economy from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
Mike Ivanov
Sr. Director, Global Marketing
Mike brings over twenty-five years of product and marketing experience from start-ups to Fortune 1000 companies. Prior to joining CTERA, Mike held executive product and marketing roles at DataCore Software, Permabit Technology, Commvault, Mimosa Systems, and Veritas. Mike holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Central Florida.
Yaniv Nachum
VP, Engineering
Yaniv is an experienced engineering manager with a proven track record in the computer software industry. Through his career Yaniv has developed deep domain expertise in the areas of software design, cloud storage and advanced filesystems. Prior to joining CTERA, Yaniv worked on embedded systems at Freescale Semiconductor. Yaniv holds a B.Sc. in Computer Science, a B.A in Accounting and an MBA and from Tel-Aviv University.
Itay Uman
VP, Global Services
Itay is responsible for CTERA’s Global Services. He has more than 15 years of experience in implementing large scale and complex projects. Through his career Itay has developed expertise in migrating enterprise companies from legacy systems to modern cutting-edge technology systems. Prior to joining CTERA Itay managed the support and delivery of the Mobile Internet division in Comverse. He holds a B.Sc. in Software Engineering from Jerusalem College of Engineering.
Mariel Katz
VP, HR
Mariel brings more than 20 years of experience in Human Resources. At CTERA, Mariel oversees all HR aspects, both locally and globally. Prior to joining CTERA, Mariel served as the VP HR of the Security Division at Nice Systems. Previously, she led the HR at Nuvoton and held a senior HR position at Alvarion. Mariel holds a BA in Criminology from Bar Ilan University and an MA in Labor Studies from Tel-Aviv University.
Liran Eshel
CEO & CoFounder
Liran is CEO and co-founder of CTERA. He brings to CTERA more than 18 years of IT managerial experience. Prior to founding CTERA, Liran was CEO of SofaWare Technologies, which was acquired by Check Point Software Technologies. Previously, Liran served as an officer in an elite technological unit of the Israel Defense Forces. Liran holds a B.Sc. in Mathematics and Computer Science and a M.Sc. in Computer Science from Bar-Ilan University.
Zohar Kaufman
CoFounder
Zohar’s experience spans 20 years of managing software, networking and embedded systems development teams. Zohar was previously VP of R&D at SofaWare technologies where he led all R&D for SMB and enterprise branch office products. Zohar was an officer in an elite technology unit of the Israel Defense Forces. Zohar holds a B.Sc. in Mathematics and Computer Science summa cum laude and an MBA in Finance and Marketing with honors from Tel-Aviv University.
Yaniv Stern
Yaniv is Managing Partner at Red Dot Capital Partners, an Israel based growth stage fund backed by Temasek Holdings, an investment company owned by the government of Singapore.
Prior to joining Red Dot Yaniv was Vice President at Adama Partners, a venture firm that invests in, builds and operates businesses in the luxury space. Earlier, Yaniv was part of the Private Equity and Principal Investors Practices at McKinsey & Company where he focused on developing investment strategies, deal evaluation and portfolio company growth strategies primarily in the tech, business services and industrial spaces. Yaniv served for 10 years as an officer in the Israeli Intelligence.
Yaniv has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a B.Sc. in Computer & Software Engineering from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology.
Ray Rothrock
Ray is a partner at Venrock and a board member at CTERA. Ray’s areas of investment expertise include energy, information technology infrastructure and cyber security. Ray’s successful investments include Check Point Software Technology (NASDAQ: CHKP), the world leader in Internet security, DoubleClick (NASDAQ: DCLK) subsequently acquired, and scores of others.
Ray is a director of the National Venture Capital Association and chair-elect for the 2012-13 term. Ray earned his B.S. in Nuclear Engineering from Texas A&M University, an S.M. in Nuclear Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and an MBA with Distinction from Harvard Business School.
Adam Fisher
Adam Fisher is a partner at BVP, where he manages the firm’s Herzliya office focused on investments in Israel and Europe. He joined BVP in 2007 after 9 years with Jerusalem Venture Partners.
Adam covers several areas of investment at BVP, including consumer Internet (Wix, Fiverr, MyHeritage, BillGuard), enterprise SaaS and data center infrastructure (Wandera, Stratoscale, Ravello, Cloudius, Dynamic Yield), and disruptive technology companies in storage and wireless (Altair, Densbits, Vayyar).
Adam received a Bachelors of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University. Adam was named one of the top 100 venture capitalists in 2013 by AlwaysOn. He blogs about venture capital and Israeli high tech at Savants in the Levant.