Eyal Waldman

Eyal Waldman (Hebrew language, born July 16, 1960) is a businessman and entrepreneur in the high-tech field. The founder of Mellanox Technologies, which was sold to technology giant NVIDIA for over $7 billion in 2020. Waldman is the chairman of Waldo Holdings, a family office that focuses on diversified investments in private and public companies, various funds, real estate and other financial platforms. Board of directors at Check Point and Pliops.
== Biography ==
Waldman was born and raised in the Neve Sha'anan, Jerusalem neighborhood of Jerusalem, to Miriam Waldman, a Doctor of Chemistry and an economist father. At the age of four his parents divorced, and his mother raised him on her own. As a child he lived with his family for a year and a half in Scotland, as part of his mother's postdoctoral fellowship. Through high school he studied biology at Boyer High School. He enlisted in the 1978 Gideon Regiment in the Golani Brigade. After the 1982 Lebanon War Waldman was discharged from the army with the rank of Major. He began studying chemical engineering and civil engineering in 1983, at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, then converted his studies and graduated from computer science. Holds a master's degree in electrical engineering from the Technion.
== Early Career ==
After graduating, Waldman worked at Elbit Systems as a software engineer. During his time at the company, he took part in the development of the software for the Israeli fighter jet “Lavi”.
From 1989 to 1993, Waldman worked at Intel as a team manager and in micro-architecture. His work was highly regarded and he received the Employee of the Year Certificate and the Award for Company Achievements.
== Business Career ==
=== Galileo Technologies ===
In 1993, Waldman was one of the founders of Galileo Technology, which developed chips for communications networks, and became vice president of engineering. In 1997 Galileo was issued on Nasdaq. In February 1999, Waldman left the company. In 2001, after his retirement from the company, Galileo merged with the American chip company Marvell Technology for $2.7 billion.
=== Mellanox Technologies ===
In 1999, together with Michael Kagan, Roni Ashuri and Shai Cohen, Waldman founded Mellanox Technologies, a company that developed and manufactured electronic products and components for high-speed communication systems using InfiniBand technologies. Waldman served for years as founder and CEO, and for several years also served as chairman of the company. Mellanox launched its Nasdaq IPO in 2007.
On March 11, 2019, it was agreed to sell the company to Nvidia for over $7 billion, and the transaction was completed in April 2020.
== Awards and recognition ==
In 2012 Waldman was named "Man of the Year" by economic newspapers "Globes (newspaper)|Globes" and "Forbes|Forbes Israel".
In 2018 he was named "Global Industry Leader" by the Israeli Semiconductor Industry Association .
Awarded an honorary doctorate from the Technion in 2016.
== Promoting equal opportunities for Palestinians ==
Mellanox Technologies, headed by Waldman, has employed about 200 Palestinian workers from Rawabi, Shechem, Hebron and Gaza Strip|Gaza since 2013. The profits and equities of the Palestinian employees were equal to all other company employees including during the purchase of the company in 2020, which generated high profits for all employees.
Among other things, Waldman also helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations for the IDF field hospital for Gazans in 2019.
In June 2022 Waldman privately visited Saudi Arabia where he met with fellow businessmen and governmental figures.
==Personal Life==
Waldman was married for over 20 years. His 3 children live in Israel.
After the divorce, Waldman was in a relationship with Shlomit Penn. After their separation there was a legal battle for a few years, at which Waldman was acquitted of all charges due to absence of guilt.
Category:Israeli electrical engineers
Category:Israeli billionaires
Category:Israeli businesspeople
Category:Technology company founders