Leadership

Tal Jacobson has been a leader and executive in the ad-tech industry for more than two decades. Prior to his appointment as Perion's CEO in 2023, Tal served as General Manager of CodeFuel, Perion's Search Advertising unit, since 2018. During his tenure, he turned CodeFuel into a significant driver of Perion's market share and valuation. He also cemented a strategic relationship with Microsoft for which the company won the Microsoft Advertising Global supply partner award. Tal's success is rooted in his extensive experience in all facets of the tech industry. As Chief Revenue Officer of SimilarWeb, he was paramount to the Israeli unicorn growth spurt in its early days. Prior to that, he held the position of VP of Business at McCann Erickson, the role of CEO at the video collaboration platform Watchitoo, and Director of Business Development at AOL.

Maoz is an experienced finance executive with more than a decade of experience working with NASDAQ-listed companies. Prior to joining Perion, Maoz served as Vice President of Allot Communications, where he led the full lifecycle of M&A deals, from due diligence through the final integration phase, to re-organizational and post-M&A activities. Maoz also served as Controller at Tnuva and Stratasys Ltd., where he played a key role in the Objet-Stratasys merger. Earlier in his career, Maoz served as a CPA at PwC. He holds a B.A. in Accounting and Economics from the College of Management.

Elad is a seasoned finance professional with a strong background in strategic financial management for hi-tech companies, managing teams globally. With over 10 years of experience in various financial positions at NASDAQ-listed companies, Elad has specialized in creating, building and leading large finance organizations throughout complex projects & processes, and scaling business abilities that add value to organizations.

Elad has played a key role in Perion’s M&A processes and managed comprehensive operations in all the different financial aspects. Prior to joining Perion, Elad held financial leadership positions at Allot Communications (NASDAQ, TASE: ALLT) and EY Israel. He holds a BA in Accounting and Business Administration from the College of Management.

As Chief Strategy Officer, Ran Cohen shapes Perion’s long-term vision, aligning leadership around the CEO’s strategy. He spearheads the company’s M&A strategy and strategic partnerships, playing a key role in Perion’s expansion—including the recent acquisition of Hivestack (now Perion One). Since rejoining Perion in 2017, Ran has held multiple executive leadership roles across the business. A pioneer in online advertising, he previously served as Vice President of Product Strategy at Sizmek (formerly MediaMind), where he led product strategy through its IPO. He also co-founded and served as President of Legolas Media, one of the first audience-powered DSPs, later acquired by Undertone in 2014. Ran holds a BA in Economics from Hebrew University and an MBA from Tel Aviv University. He is passionate about martial arts and philosophy.

Stephen Yap has joined Perion as Chief Revenue Officer. Previously, he was Managing Director of the Google Marketing Platform team, overseeing Google's data and technology solutions for retail and commerce in the Americas. In this role, he helped marketers advance digital maturity and transform their businesses by leveraging Google’s industry-leading technology platforms, including Display & Video 360, Campaign Manager, Search Ads 360, Google Analytics, and cloud-based analytics tools.
During his 17-year tenure at DoubleClick and Google, Yap successfully led various teams and product launches. He played a key role in building Google’s Platforms business in Latin America, leading Sales & Operations for over seven years across Buenos Aires, São Paulo, and Mexico City. Later, as Director of Emerging Markets and Products, he led the acquisition and development of data and measurement solutions, launching and commercializing Google Analytics Premium (GA360) and overseeing global sales for Google Tag Manager, Audience Center, Data Studio, and attribution solutions. He is passionate about leadership and culture, co-founding Google’s Asians in Business in the Americas, serving as a member of Alphabet’s Asian Leadership Group, and acting as Executive Sponsor of the Filipino Googler Network. Yap holds a BA in Psychology from Boston College and is a member of the Boston College Alumni Group, the IAB, Boston Interactive Marketing Association, and the Web Analytics Association.

Erin McCallion leads Perion’s global marketing practice. With over 25 years of experience, Erin thrives in high-performance organizations in transformational moments. Erin has led the marketing practices of several adtech companies including Outbrain, Mediaocean, INVISION and GumGum. At Outbrain, a recommendation technology company, she led global marketing through a series of acquisitions, new market & customer launches and a successful IPO. During her tenure at Mediaocean, she built out the global marketing function integrating a series of acquisitions while they were in the Vista Equity portfolio. Prior to adtech, Erin spent almost a decade running marketing teams in the publishing industry through their transformations from print subscriptions to digital solution platforms. Erin is a proud mom of 2 children, an avid tennis fan and a lifelong New Yorker.

Kenny is Perion’s new Chief Product Officer and will lead all of Perion’s product innovations. Lau has held key roles at many of the industry’s most prominent companies, including PubMatic, Criteo, and AdTheorent. Prior to joining Perion Kenny was Vice President of Product of Advertiser Solutions at PubMatic, he led a global product development team of over 100 engineers and product managers.

Mina joins Perion’s leadership team with two decades of advertising technology expertise.  Most recently, he led the engineering team at Hivestack, Perion’s DOOH arm, through 3 years of high growth while simultaneously driving down per-unit costs.  Previously, he built advertising technologies and teams at AdGear, from its early startup phase through its acquisition by Samsung Ads, where he served as Chief Architect overseeing the design of the entire technology portfolio.  Prior to this, he worked as an architect at creative marketing and communications agency, Cossette. A tech industry veteran since 1997, his expertise spans many areas including hardware and networking, low and high-level software, distributed systems and high scalability. Mina also participated in the IAB Tech Labs in defining industry frameworks for European and US privacy compliance, and is currently the chairperson for the Prebid.org Digital Out Of Home Committee.

Adi Zackai Mates brings over 12 years of global HR high-tech industry experience. Prior to joining Perion, she served as Global HR Business Partner at Amdocs for 4 years. Prior to that, she held various HR leadership roles at Comverse specializing in organizational consultation, leadership talent management, professional growth, recruitment and more.

Adi holds a bachelor’s degree in Behavioral Sciences Organizational Behavior and HR, as well as an MBA in Business Administration Human Resources Management and Organizational Consulting from the College of Management.

Jonathan brings a wealth of experience from his tenure at Outbrain, a recommendation technology company, where he served as Global VP Video during 5 years to build and lead globally their Video Department, driving it to exceed $100M in annual revenue. Jonathan also played a key role in the acquisition and PMI of vi.ai, a contextual video company by Outbrain. Prior to that, he held senior positions at companies in the Ad Tech space, including Webpals and Matomy. Jonathan holds an MSc in Mathematics applied to Finance and Economics from Paris Dauphine University.

Amit brings over 25 years of experience across diverse domains such as Ad Tech, Cyber Security, Mobile Operator Providers, and Software Development. Before joining Perion Networks, he held various management positions at notable companies including Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW), Flash Networks (CVE: LMN), and Celltick. His roles spanned Sales, Business Development, and Customer Success at the executive level. Amit was appointed General Manager of CodeFuel after serving as Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) and VP of Business Development for five years.

He holds a B.Sc in Engineering from Tel Aviv University, an MBA from Derby University, and an MA in Laws from Bar Ilan University.

Eyal Kaplan joined Perion’s board in May 2018. He also serves as Chairman of Expand Investments, a consulting firm focusing on growth-through-innovation and corporate strategies.

Prior to that, he was Managing General Partner with Walden Israel, a venture capital firm, and served as Director and Chairman of numerous portfolio companies. Mr. Kaplan holds an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, a MA in International Studies from the University of Pennsylvania, and a BSc degree (with Honors) in economics and management from the Technion.

Tal Jacobson has been a leader and executive in the ad-tech industry for more than two decades. Prior to his appointment as Perion's CEO in 2023, Tal served as General Manager of CodeFuel, Perion's Search Advertising unit, since 2018. During his tenure, he turned CodeFuel into a significant driver of Perion's market share and valuation. He also cemented a strategic relationship with Microsoft for which the company won the Microsoft Advertising Global supply partner award. Tal's success is rooted in his extensive experience in all facets of the tech industry. As Chief Revenue Officer of SimilarWeb, he was paramount to the Israeli unicorn growth spurt in its early days. Prior to that, he held the position of VP of Business at McCann Erickson, the role of CEO at the video collaboration platform Watchitoo, and Director of Business Development at AOL.

Amir has spent more than 25 years at creative agencies (starting out at Young & Rubicam), rising through the ranks to become CEO of Grey, Israel. Here he led regional accounts for international businesses like P&G, Volkswagen and others. Under his leadership Grey Israel became one of the biggest agencies in the network.

It was here that Amir recognised the opportunity for a more curated way for creatives to work directly with brands, which is how Togetherr was born. Backed by the technology of Fiverr and with the collective input from a multi-award winning creative council, Togetherr officially launches at Cannes Lions. The platform pairs world-class creative teams with innovative brands on a project-by-project basis. Amir has an MBA from Northwestern University - Kellogg School of Management and when he’s not cooking up new ideas, can be found climbing mountains and diving the oceans with his spouse and three children.

Rami Schwartz serves as Managing Director of The Portland Trust (Tel Aviv office), and an Advisory Board Member of Algosec. Previously, Mr. Schwartz was the President of the Amdocs Products and Amdocs Delivery groups for 7 years. Prior to joining Amdocs, he was the Chairman of Olive Software (acquired by ESW Capital), and Comply, the co-Founder and CEO of Zizio and DigiHOO, and an EIR at Cedar Fund.

Mr. Schwartz was CEO and Director of Exanet (acquired by Dell) and General Manager of Precise Software (acquired by Veritas software). Rami holds a B.Sc. in excellence, in Math and Computer Science from the Hebrew University.

E Michal Drayman has served on the Board of Directors since June 2022. Ms. Drayman serves as a director and member of the audit and compensation committee of Ree Automotive Ltd (Ree) and serves on the boards of several privately held companies including aVISI Ltd and MetzerPlast . A long standing investor who served as a partner in Jerusalem Venture Partners VC since 2014 to sept 2023 and a CFO and VP business development at European High Tech Capital, a privately held investment firm which is focused on healthcare investments.

Prior to that from 2001 to 2004 Ms. Drayman served as the VP Finance America of Lumenis Inc.

From 1994 to 2001, Ms. Drayman served in different financial positions in Lumenis Ltd. (previously, Nasdaq:LMNS). Ms. Drayman holds a BA in Economics and Accounting from Haifa University and an MBA in excellence from The College of Management, Rishon Letzion, Israel, Biomedical Management Track.

Mike Vorhaus is the CEO of Vorhaus Advisors. Previously, he was the President of Magid Advisors, a leading strategic consulting firm. He also serves on the Advisory Board at Digital Media Wire Inc. Mr. Vorhaus is a frequent guest on Bloomberg TV. He previously worked for the U.S. House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate and for two White House administrations.

He has a B.A. in Psychology and Sociology from Wesleyan University and completed the University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business Management Development Program.

Joy Marcus has a wealth experience in the media industry, including EVP and GM Digital Video at Condé Nast Entertainment, CEO of Bloglovin' (now Activate), SVP Global Marketing Solutions at Time Warner (now WarnerMedia), VP International at Viacom and GM North America for DailyMotion. She sits on the Boards of digital media companies Anyclip and Qwire, and the nonprofits New York Tech Alliance and Hoops4Hope.

Joy is currently a full time Lecturer in Entrepreneurship at Princeton University, and is serving as a Venture Partner at VC firm JVP, focusing on digital media, advertising and consumer investments. Joy graduated Magna Cum Laude from Princeton University and has a JD from NYU Law School.

Keith “Kappy” Kaplan, an entrepreneur and investor with 35+ years in ad-tech/mar-tech. His leadership roles include WPP Worldwide, King Digital Entertainment, Yahoo, and Adconion Media Group. Keith also sits on the Advisory Board of Syracuse University’s Newhouse School.

Sarit Firon is a Managing Partner at Team8 Group, where she spearheaded the establishment of Team8 Capital. Notably, she was an early investor, board member, and mentor at Datorama, a marketing cloud intelligence company later acquired by Salesforce. Additionally, she led the IPO of MediaMind, a digital advertising company that DG Corp subsequently acquired.

David brings over 25 years of executive experience from leading technology companies and his current roles as President and Chief Financial Officer at Oppenheimer Advisors and Partner and Chief Financial Officer of Verissimo Ventures.

Mark Lieberman is an experienced media, advertising, and technology executive serving as an Operating Advisor at Blackstone and Executive Chairman of Recurrent. He is a co-inventor on five patents covering adtech and big data, and has served as Associate Deputy Secretary at the U.S. Department of Commerce. Mark graduated from Tufts University with a BSME and a J.D. from Benjamin Cardozo School of Law.

Andreas Soupliotis is the founder and General Manager of Hivestack, the leading global full stack technology company that powers the buy and sell side of programmatic digital out of home (DOOH) advertising. Founded in 2017 and headquartered in Montreal, Canada, Hivestack has global operations across 35+ markets including Tokyo, Singapore, Hong Kong, Seoul, Shanghai, London, New York, São Paulo, Mexico City and Sydney. Andreas has over 25 years of experience spanning across the software and ad tech industry, most notably in various R&D positions at The Microsoft Corporation. Andreas also founded Ayuda Media Systems, which was acquired in 2018, and sits on the DPAA Board of Directors.

Avi Zimak brings more than 26 years of ad tech and media experience and a broad set of leadership abilities. He served as Chief Revenue & Strategy Officer at The Arena Group (NYSE: AREN) and at New York Media. In previous roles, Avi built a revenue-focused career with traditional publishers, such as Hearst, Conde Nast, Time Inc., and Ziff-Davis. He also led sales and strategic growth as General Manager for the innovative distribution platform Outbrain (NASDAQ: OB), helping build the business from a start-up to hundreds of millions in annual ad revenue. Avi received his bachelor’s degree from the State University of New York at Potsdam.

Daniel E. Aks has broad operating experience in C-level roles in the information, education, and consumer media industries. Previously, Mr. Aks served as the CEO of Antenna Audio Inc, where he led its reorganization and developed formative testing and data-driven instruction products. Previously, as the COO of Primedia Consumer Magazines, he launched and led the pioneering digital business. Mr. Aks holds two undergrad degrees from Rutgers University, and an MBA from Harvard University.

As of April 1, 2025 Daniel will be a strategic advisor to Perion.