Recently retired Microsoft executive Moshe Lichtman explains what makes the softwaregiant’s Israeli development center special and why the company still is relevant.
Five years ago, at his 50th birthday celebration, Moshe Lichtman got up onstage at the Zappa club and sang to resounding applause. Last week, the departing head of Microsoft Israel’s research and development center took the stage again, again before a cheering crowd, but this time to bid his employees farewell. After 20 years at the global corporation, Lichtman had decided to strike out on a new path.Lichtman is among Israeli high-tech’s highest achievers and most competitive executives. He is also one of the most well connected. “Not buddy-buddy, but a manager with friends,” says a senior executive in the industry who knows Lichtman well. “He made a meteoric leap and became vice president of Microsoft when he was just past 30.”
Lichtman, who joined Microsoft in 1991, held various jobs at the company before becoming one of the most prominent Israelis in global high-tech. In June, he announced his retirement from Microsoft, after five years as director of the Israeli R&D center. Now, three months after leaving, he is discussing his past and his future.
“The Israeli economy is in good shape, and the momentum is positive, but there are clouds on the horizon,” he says. “It’s as expensive to employ an engineer in Israel as it is in the United States, and Israel has taxes and overheads that you don’t face in the U.S. In addition, there’s the sense that things are going in a bad direction politically. This combination – the South Africanization process, the overheads and cost of the engineers – along with competition from emerging markets, could have an impact on Israel’s high-tech industry. This has me worried. If it continues, the economy will be damaged.”
Full Interview here
