Moshe Lichtman, Microsoft Corporate VP and head of Microsoft's Israel R&D center, is leaving this post after five years, thus bringing to an end about 20 years of employment at Microsoft. Head technologist and CEO of technologies Yoram Yaacovi will replace Lichtman as of July 1.
"Moshe’s contributions over the past 20 years have been valuable," said Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. "In particular, under Moshe's leadership, the R&D center in Israel grew substantially and became a center of innovation contributing to a number of Microsoft’s important technology advancements, including cloud computing. With the foundation Moshe has built, the team’s collective and unique talents, and Yoram’s leadership, I am confident that this R&D center will continue to grow and make strong contributions to Microsoft’s overall success.”
Microsoft's R&D center in Israel was established in 1991 in Haifa. It was the company's first such center outside the US. In 2006, Lichtman moved back to Israel, whereupon Microsoft decided to appoint him head of Microsoft Israel R&D and to expand the center's activity significantly. At the end of about a year of preparation, the expanded center was launched in May 2007 as a Microsoft worldwide strategic R&D center, a unique status held by only two other R&D centers outside the US: China and India. After about a year, in May 2008, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer came to Israel to launch Microsoft's new R&D campus in Herzliya.
Within 2 years, the R&D center had grown by 400% under Lichtman's management, through substantial hiring and also by acquiring start-ups and integrating them fully into the R&D center. As part of this process dozens of Israelis moved back to Israel -- among them senior managers from Microsoft Corporation and other companies -- who decided to come back to Israel and join the R&D center. Today, the R&D centers in Haifa and Herzliya employ about 600 people.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com on June 1, 2011
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