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Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest defense contractor, will swap leaders effective April 1, 2013, a company news release said Aug. 13.
Current CEO Joseph “Yossi” Ackerman, 63, who has served as the company’s head since 1996, requested retirement, the notice said. Bezhalel Machlis, 49, an executive vice president at the company, will take over.
Elbit, which earned $2.8 billion in revenue in 2011, is the country’s largest defense contractor, earning 95 percent of its income from defense. The company employs about 11,000 workers worldwide.
Michael Federmann, chairman of Elbit’s board of directors, voiced appreciation for Ackerman’s work in the news release.
“Under his leadership, the company has increased its revenues tenfold and has grown from a primarily local company to a globally recognized leader in the defense market,” he said in the statement. “This has been accomplished in no small part because of Yossi’s strategic vision, leadership qualities and business savvy.”
