Founders
Dr. Yossi Vardi
Co-founder & Board Observer
Dr. Vardi is one of the pioneers of the high-tech industry in Israel.
Dr. Vardi leverages his broad technology background and experience gained from a successful track record of high-tech ventures and investments, to provide valuable insight into emerging markets, technologies, and companies. Dr Vardi is the founding investor and the former Chairman of Mirabilis Ltd, the creator of the highly popular instant messaging program ICQ. The company was acquired by AOL, to which he still serves as an advisor.
Dr. Vardi is also a veteran of a long civil service career where he served the Government of Israel as Director General of the Development and Energy ministries, and served as special advisor to the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Finance during Israel's peace negotiations. He was on the Advisory Board of the Bank of Israel, and is actively involved in several public organizations and institutions. Dr. Vardi is a graduate of the Technion Israel Institute of Technology, where he earned Doctor of Science degree (thesis awarded the Kennedy - Leigh prize), a Master of Science degree (dissertation with distinction) in Operations Research, and a Bachelor of Science degree (summa cum laude) in Industrial Management Engineering.
Shimon Scherzer
Co-founder
Shimon Scherzer has over 20 years of experience in the cellular sector with specific expertise in cellular network performance and radio technologies. Shimon has managed programs and R&D efforts in theses fields both as a Captain in the military and as a senior executive and founder of technology companies.
Prior to founding WeFi, Shimon founded Kiwi Networks. Kiwi Networks developed radio interference resistant communication links. Kiwi Networks was acquired by Colubris Networks. Prior to Kiwi, Shimon founded Adaptive Telecom which built smart antenna solutions for CDMA base stations. Adaptive Telecom was acquired by Metawave Communications.
Shimon is the inventor of more than 25 patents. He holds a BScEE from the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology.
Tamir Scherzer
Co-founder, VP Research and Development
Tamir Scherzer brings 15 years of experience in communications engineering to WeFi. Prior to joining WeFi, Tamir led the System and Architecture team at Modemart, a 3G cellular chip company which was acquired by Agere. Before, Modemart, Tamir was a product manager and researcher at Paragon Communications, which developed high-efficiency cellular base-station amplifiers. Prior to Paragon, Tamir led large communication engineering teams as a Captain in the IDF Intelligence Core.
Tamir holds MScEE and BScEE degrees from the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology.
Arnon Kohavi
Co-founder & Board Observer
Arnon Kohavi has over 15 years of experience in the wireless industry as a senior executive in roles of business development, marketing and strategic planning.
Arnon is the co-founder of Mapplr, an online service for people who love eating out and traveling. He is also in the process of launching other consumer-based Internet companies with the goal of creating useful applications for Internet users worldwide.
Arnon co-founded and served as the CEO of WeFi. Prior to WeFi he was a Fellow at the Reuters Digital Vision Program at Stanford University, where he developed WiFi solutions that help developing countries increase penetration of wireless communications and bridge the "digital divide".
Prior to Reuters, Arnon led the initial public offering and follow-on offerings of DSPC and Vyyo on Nasdaq (raised $1 billion) and the sale of DSPC to Intel for $1.6 billion in 1999. Other companies that Arnon worked or advised include DSP Group, Zen Research and Magnolia Broadband.
Arnon holds a BA degree in Economics and Management from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and a MBA degree from the Anderson School at UCLA.
