Michael Federmann

Michael Ilan Yoel Federmann, known as Mikey, (born in 1943) is an Israeli businessman and self-made billionaire, in charge of Elbit Systems and the Dan Hotels group. Under his leadership Elbit Systems multiplied its size many times and became a major player in the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle market globally as well as in other areas of military defence technology.

Early life

Federmann was born in Haifa to Bella and Yekutiel (Ksil) Federmann, brother of Irit Federmann-Landau. He received a bachelor's degree in economics and state studies and then a master's degree in business administration from the Hebrew University. He served in the Israel Defense Forces' elite unit Sayeret Matkal where he was a member of Ehud Barak's team.

Business

Since 2002, Federmann has been the owner of Israeli conglomerate Federmann Enterprises Ltd which was started by his late father and uncle. His cousin Ami Federmann also holds a stake. Federmann chairs the boards of its two biggest publicly traded holdings: defense electronics maker Elbit Systems and luxury hotel operator Dan Hotels Corp.^[1]

Elbit

Federmann joined Elbit when his El-Op company merged with it in 1998. That doubled it in size. Elbit was naturally going to benefit from the global growth of the UAV market however, the 700% growth of Elbit over the following decade was also largely due to Federmann and CEO David Ackerman's leadership of Elbit Systems. They embarked on an ambitious global buyout strategy for the sake of growth. The strategy has made Elbit into a multibillion-dollar multinational. ^[2]

Dan Hotels

Under the aegis of Federmann the hotel group has continued to grow, thanks to growing tourism and business in the country as well as ongoing expansion of the chain. Dan Hotels began as a boarding house on the Tel Aviv seafront that was purchased by his father and uncle in 1947. Over the following decades it grew to be a national chain. It is now expanding into India.^[3] Part of the chain is the iconic King David Hotel in Jerusalem, which since its founding in 1932 until this day hosts heads of state and diplomats on behalf of the Israeli government on their visits to Israel.

Contribution to the United Kingdom

Under Federmann, Elbit Systems has been instrumental to the UK Ministry of Defense's UAV program. The Elbit Hermes 450 UAV has been used very extensively in Iraq and Afghanistan by the British Army, enabling it to conduct regular, probing reconnaissance with a good degree of stealth, without risk of life loss to troops. In September 2013, the Hermes 450 reached 70,000 flight hours supporting British troops in Afghanistan, the equivalent of 8 years of non-stop flying. The British have flown the Hermes 450 more than any other country in Afghanistan.^[4] As of January 2014, British Hermes 450 air vehicles have flown over 86,000 hours over Iraq and Afghanistan. Up to nine aircraft operate from Camp Bastion and conduct five flights per day, accumulating a combined 70 hours of surveillance coverage.^[5] Elbit also bought the British-based manufacturer of its engines UAV Engines Ltd in Shenstone, Staffordshite, and took up the UK's offer to use ParcAberporth in Wales for testing the UAV supporting the re-purposing of and employment at the testing park. Moreover, in addition to using Hermes 450, in 2005 the British MoD contracted Thales UK and Elbit to produce a modern British UAV called the Watchkeeper WK 450, to be based on Elbit's Hermes 450 and to replace the Hermes once operational.

Wealth

He was ranked 7th wealthiest in the Maariv newspaper's top 100 in Israel in 2010 with an estimated wealth of 6.5 Billion Shekel (approximately $1.4 Billion).^[6] In that year he was ranked No. 721 in the Forbes list of billionaires.^[7] In 2011 he was ranked No. 879^[8] and in 2012 he dropped off the ranking of the top 1000.^[9]

Honours

• In 1996 the Hebrew University of Jerusalem awarded him an honorary doctorate.
• In 2005 he received the Israeli industry prize for electronics.
• In June 2014 he received an honorary MBE in Queen Elisabeth II's Birthday Honours list 2014 - For services to UK/Israel business cooperation and UK prosperity.^[10][11]

Senior positions

• Chairman of the Board of Elbit Systems.
• Chairman of the Board of Dan Hotels.
• Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
• Board member of the Weizmann Institute of Science.^[12]

Personal life

He is married to Leora who is responsible for design in the Dan Hotel chain. They have 3 children,^[13] David, Gidi and Daniel who is married to Sharona Fick, daughter of Svika Pick.

References