Our leadership
Ran Maidan - President and CEO
Ran joined Netafim as CEO following 15 years of senior managerial experience in areas such as finance, operations, M&As, marketing and sales. Prior to joining Netafim in 2014, Ran was CEO of Asia-Pacific, Africa & Middle East at Makhteshim Agan Industries (now Adama Agricultural Solutions), a leading global manufacturer and distributor of crop protection solutions. In this capacity, he developed business opportunities and new markets, established long-term infrastructure, and generated significant top-line growth and improved margins. Before that, Ran served as CFO of the Makhteshim Agan group from 2006-2010.
Prior to joining Makhteshim Agan, Ran held a number of senior managerial positions at Koor Industries, including SVP and CFO, Vice President in charge of Mergers, Acquisitions and Taxation, and Corporate Controller. He also served as CFO of the Elisra Defense Group and as Audit Manager at KPMG Somekh Chaikin. Ran holds a BA in Accounting and Economics and an MBA specializing in Finance from Bar-Ilan University, and is a CPA in Israel.
Lauri Hanover - SVP, CFO
As CFO, Lauri is responsible for Netafim's global financial and IT activities. Prior to joining Netafim in 2013, Lauri served as Executive VP and CFO of the Tnuva Group, CEO of the GKH law firm, Senior VP and CFO of Lumenis, Corporate VP and CFO of Nice Systems, Executive VP and CFO of Sapiens and held various finance positions at Scitex and Philip Morris, Inc.
Lauri is a Director and Chairman of the Audit Committees of SodaStream Ltd. and of Kornit Digital Ltd. and former Director and Chairman of the Audit Committees of Ellomay Capital and of Nova Measuring Instruments.
Lauri holds an MBA from New York University, a BS in Economics from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and a BA from the University of Pennsylvania.
Gabriel Miodownik – SVP, Americas Division
As President of the America’s division, Gaby is responsible for overall management of the region, including business development, sales, marketing, finance, production, operations, HR and administration. In addition, he is leading the formulation of the division’s long-term strategic vision. Before being appointed to his current position, Gaby successfully served as Head of the EMEA division.
Since joining Netafim in 2003, Gaby has served in several other positions including CFO of the Americas, Managing Director of the South American region, and Managing Director of the Mexico and Central America region.
Gaby is a CPA, and holds a BA in Accounting and Economics and an MBA specializing in Finance from Tel Aviv University.
Daniel Neves - SVP, EMEA Division
Daniel joined Netafim in 2010 to run our subsidiary in Brazil and after many years of success in South America, in 2015, he moved to Europe to lead our South European markets. In 2018 Daniel was promoted to the EMEA division to drive its strategy goals and build new growth engines. Daniel brings over 18 years of management experience in different markets and different cultures.
Ofer Oveed - SVP, APAC Division
Ofer Joined Netafim Agronomy department in 2001 as agronomist for Turkey and East Europe. Throughout his extensive career at Netafim, Ofer has held several managerial positions, including Netafim Turkey Sales Director and Netafim Turkey MD. Having brought Netafim Turkey to the large and significant company it is today, in 2009, Ofer was promoted to the position of MD of GBU Turkey, Central Asia and the Balkan countries.
Prior to Netafim, Ofer served as the manager of Gadash Gilad, an agricultural enterprise specializing in field crop farming under extremely harsh conditions.
Ofer holds a BA in Soil and Water Sciences from the Faculty of Agriculture, Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Rehovot), Israel.
Randhir Chauhan - SVP, India Division
As Head of India Region, Randhir is responsible for overall management of the business and long-term strategic vision for the region. Randhir has more than 20 years of experience in the micro-irrigation sector and has handled cross functional profiles of sales, marketing and operations for Netafim.
Prior to joining Netafim, Randhir worked with Excel Industries Limited, Mumbai - a leading agrochemical company.
Randhir served as President of the Irrigation Association of India for three years and is an active member of the association, Randhir is also a member of CII (Confederation of Indian Industries) National Council on Agriculture.
Randhir holds a BTech in Agricultural Engineering.
Avi Schweitzer - SVP, CTO
Avi Schweitzer joined Netafim in 1972, and currently serves as Chief Technology Officer. Throughout his extensive career at Netafim, Avi has held several managerial positions including VP Product Offerings, VP R&D, and Head of Research. Avi is an electronics engineer, a chemist and a member of the IEEE (Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers).
Avi holds a BSc in Electrical Engineering from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, and an MSc in Electrical Engineering and BSc in Chemistry from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
Benny Klener - SVP, Head of Global Operations
As Senior Vice President and Head of Global Operations, Benny is responsible for Netafim’s Global manufacturing, quality, engineering, supply chain and procurement activities.
Prior to joining Netafim, Benny served for 30+ years as Pharmaceutical Operations and Quality Assurance executive. He has been active in site based, regional and corporate roles across the US, Europe, India & Asia.
From 2013 to 2017, Benny was SVP and Head of Global Operations at Sun Pharma. In this role he was in charge for integrating and managing a network of 30+ manufacturing sites.
Previously Benny was with TEVA Pharmaceutical Industries, for over 25 years. In his last role he served as VP Operations and was in charge for 10+ pharma plants and supporting functions in Israel and Western /Central Europe.
Benny who is fluent in Dutch, French, English and Hebrew, has a B. Sc. in Chemistry and Biochemistry from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Maya Perry Mitelpunkt - SVP, Global Human Resources
As Netafim's SVP Global Human Resources, Maya is responsible for developing and managing the company's global HR strategy. Since 2012, Maya has directed Netafim's organizational development and cross-organizational HR practices and processes. She has successfully led the company's digital transformation activities, strategic HR management, leadership development, and more. Guided by her firm belief that employees are a company's greatest asset, Maya's focus is on building and promoting a winning culture at Netafim.
Before joining Netafim, Maya has worked for over 20 years as an organizational consultant and HR manager for global organizations. Among her previous positions, Maya served as VP HR at Ericsson Israel, where she led the HR activities in Israel, and aligned the corporate HR strategy with the strategic and organizational needs of the business groups.
Maya holds a master's degree in Industrial Psychology from Bar-IIan University, and a bachelor's degree in Psychology and Mass Communication from Tel Aviv University.
Vivian Goldstein Richter - SVP, General Counsel
Vivian brings to Netafim 20 years of experience in the legal field, including extensive global cross-borderwork in China, India, South America and North America. She has expertise in commercial agreements, bids, M&As, joint ventures and other business development-related agreements, intellectual property, post-acquisition integration activities, financial and operational agreements for large-scale projects, and global legal team management.
Before joining Netafim, Vivian served nearly eights years as Senior Legal Counsel for Adama (formerly Makhteshim Agan Industries Ltd.). Prior to that, she served five years as head of Customer Contracts Department of the LAHAV Division at Israel Aerospace Industries.
Vivian has an LLB and a BA in Political Science and International Relations, both from the Tel Aviv University.
Gal Yarden - SVP Corporate Commercial Solutions
As the head of the corporate commercial solutions unit Gal is responsible for Netafim's global Product Offering, Agronomy services and Marketing strategy and activities.
Gal joined Netafim in 2007 and held different sales and marketing positions in the APAC division. In the last 4 years, he led the South-East Asia GBU. Gal was responsible for the overall operation of the region which includes sales, marketing, finance, operations, HR, business development and was also responsible for formulating the region’s long term strategic vision.
Before that, he worked 7 years as VP in Trendline Business Information and Communication Company in Israel. The Trendline Group, specializes in providing services, tools, work environments, and business information for Brokers, Analysts and the capital market community, lawyers and jurists, accountants and CFO’s.
He has an MBA in Finance and Marketing from Tel Aviv University and HKUST university. He has a BA in Economics from Tel Aviv University.