Ehud Ben-Yair, Finance Expert in Tel-Aviv, Israel
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Ehud Ben-Yair

Verified Expert  in Finance

Finance Expert

Location
Tel-Aviv, Israel
Toptal Member Since
November 29, 2017

Udi has 20 years of CFO experience in global public companies such as SHL, Orad, Opgal, and Voltaire. He's led successful operational efficiency initiatives—achieving 20% in cost savings in Opgal and leading a 600% growth in Orad's market capitalization. He has also raised over $250 million in equity and debt from leading institutions such as Sequoia, Baker, and Commerzbank. Udi joined Toptal to work on challenging finance and strategy projects.

Career Highlights

CFO | Vice CEO, IT and Legal Affairs
Opgal Optronics (Subsidiary of Elbit Systems and Rafael)
CFO, IT and Legal Affairs
Orad Hi-Tech Systems (now Avid)

Education Highlights

Certified Public Accountant (CPA)
Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Israel
Bachelor's Degree
Ben-Gurion University

Case Studies

Work Experience

CFO | Head of Supply Chain

2016 - PRESENT
SHL Telemedicine
  • Created a new business model which decreased the expenses by 20% and increased revenues by 5% which quickly led the company to profitability.
  • Improved the control on inventory level which led to a decrease in inventory level by 5%. Identified slow-moving inventories and reduced the cost of subcontracting production.
  • Secured over $50 million in loans in Israel and Germany from banking institutions and other credit facilitators.
  • Recruited new employees in the finance team and created a new workflow to better assist other departments.
  • Defined the new KPIs and built a mechanism to better collect and analyze the resulting data.
Focus areas: Turnaround, Inventory, Investor Relations, Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A), Financial Restructuring, Profit & Loss (P&L), Secured Loans, Budget Controls

CFO | Vice CEO, IT and Legal Affairs

2013 - 2016
Opgal Optronics (Subsidiary of Elbit Systems and Rafael)
  • Built a financial model which identified the key initiatives involving cost savings of over 15%, revenue growth, profitability, and cash flow.
  • Implemented an improved supply chain which led to decrease in the level of inventories by over 50% and reduced the purchasing price of raw materials.
  • Built a new working methodology for accurate financial projections and forecasting.
  • Led the implementation of an enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM), business intelligence (BI) and product data management (PDM) systems involving several million dollars in budgets over 4 years.
  • Facilitated a new international tax structure and transfer pricing method to optimize tax exposure.
Focus areas: Contract, Information Systems, Transfer Pricing, Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A), Forward Contracts, Financial Reporting, Corporate Finance, Cost Estimation, Cost Reduction & Optimization, International Finance, Internal Audits, P&L Forecasting, Budget Controls, Business Planning, Pricing, Purchase Price Allocation, Turnaround, Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A)

CFO, IT and Legal Affairs

2005 - 2012
Orad Hi-Tech Systems (now Avid)
  • Built a new business plan and refocused the sales efforts from selling hardware to selling software licenses.
  • Created new procedures for budget planning, controlling, and forecasting.
  • Managed a quick return to profitability which has a combination of new sales model, streamlining operations and cost structure, and entering into new territories and new products. This led to a 350% increase in revenues over five years and significant expense reductions, leading to a net profit margin of 10-to-20% every year.
  • Implemented a working methodology with institutional and retail investors in the US, Europe, and Far East which led to an increase in share price of over 600%. The working methodology included quarterly roadshows, conferences, press releases and meetings with investors, analysts, and fund managers among other stakeholders.
  • Optimized a new international tax structure with multiple subsidiaries around the world and new transfer pricing model using three levels of pricing.
  • Led the implementation of a new ERP and BI system, an Oracle application, and Oracle BI with a budget of approximately $1 million. The project was implemented in parallel in the headquarters and seven subsidiaries in Europe, US, and the Far East. The implementation included the following modules: finance, reporting, budget, inventory, WIP, purchasing, and sales leads.
Focus areas: Investor Relations, Turnaround, Forward Contracts, Contract, Information Systems, Transfer Pricing, Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A), Financial Reporting, Corporate Finance, Cost Estimation, Cost Reduction & Optimization, International Finance, Internal Audits, P&L Forecasting, Budget Controls, Business Planning, Pricing, Purchase Price Allocation, Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A)

CFO | Vice President of Operations

2002 - 2004
Olive Software
  • Created a new business model which combined a software license and pay per use with a revenue split from advertising.
  • Managed a large global team from the service business unit which created a new revenue stream and increased the stickiness of the clients.
  • Led a $8 million financing round from a top-tier venture capital fund in the US (Sequoia).
Focus areas: Internal Audits, P&L Forecasting, M&A (Sell-side), Pricing Strategy, Price Analysis, Financial Reporting, Corporate Finance, Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A), Budget Controls, Capital Raising

Director of Finance

2000 - 2002
Voltaire (now Melanox)
  • Built a new business model to penetrate the big data market with fast communication switches.
  • Led four financing rounds totaling $30 million from top-tier funds and strategic investors such as Baker Capital, Pitango, Hitachi, and Quantum.
  • Recruited a finance team and implemented new budget control methods and a new reporting method to attract investors and assist in fundraising efforts.
  • Implemented a new financial reporting system (SAP for SMB) consisting of financial reporting, budget planning and control, and purchasing modules.
Focus areas: Capital Raising, Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A)

Director of Finance

1997 - 2000
Magalcom (now Telrad)
  • Led a debt restructuring of $30 million from banking institutions.
  • Led the process of financial reporting and prospectus approvals for an IPO in Tel-Aviv Stock Exchange.
  • Implemented a costing-and-pricing methodology to accurately value the costs of products and projects and to price tender offers more effectively.
Focus areas: Debt Structuring, Budget Controls, Initial Public Offerings, Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A), Pricing, Marginal Costing
1991 - 1995

Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in Accounting

Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Israel - Israel

1991 - 1994

Bachelor's Degree in Economics

Ben-Gurion University - Beersheba, Israel

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