The Best & Brightest in Technology

Yaron Galai is the Co-Founder and co-CEO at Outbrain.

Prior to founding Outbrain, Galai was Co-Founder and SVP of Quigo, Inc., a provider of performance-based marketing solutions for advertisers and premium publishers. He served as CEO of the company for three years until Quigo was acquired by AOL in December 2007.

Galai was also Co-Founder and Vice President of Business Development at Ad4ever, a developer of rich-media, web-based advertising technologies, later acquired by Atlas, a division of aQuantive.

Earlier, he was the Founder of NetWorks Web Design, an SEO and Web Design firm. At NetWorks he oversaw the production and search engine optimization of over 30 websites.

Galai studied Industrial Design at the Holon Technological Institute, and is a Lieutenant Commander (res) in the Israeli Navy.

David Kostman is the Co-CEO of Outbrain, and has served in this role since November 2017.

In addition to his role at Outbrain, Kostman is Chairman of the Board of NICE Ltd., Director of privately held companies ironSource and TIVIT SA, and Co-Founder of Nanoosh.

Prior to this, Kostman acted as CEO of Delta Galil USA and COO of Verticalnet. He was also a Managing Director in the investment banking division of Lehman Brothers, heading the Global Internet Group, and earlier, an Investment Banker at NM Rothschild & Sons.

Kostman holds a Bachelor of Law degree from Tel Aviv University and a Master of Business Administration from INSEAD.

Ori Lahav is the Co-Founder, CTO, and General Manager of Israel at Outbrain, while also overseeing the company's R&D center located in Netanya, Israel.

Prior to co-founding Outbrain, Lahav led the R&D groups in Search and Classification at Shopping.com, which was acquired by eBay for $634 million. Ori also previously led the Video Streaming Server Group at technology company Vsoft.

A practical engineer from the Rupin Academic Institute, Lahav is also a Major Reserve Officer in the Israeli Navy.

Elise Garofalo is the Chief Financial Officer at Outbrain.

From February 2010 to April 2014, she served as the Senior Vice President of Treasurer and Investor Relations at Revlon, Inc. Prior to that, Garofalo was the Chief Financial Officer of Marakon Associates, Inc.

Garofalo holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from The University of Connecticut’s School of Business and a Master of Business Administration from Vanderbilt University.

Eytan Galai is the Chief Revenue Officer, responsible for Outbrain's global revenue organization.

A seasoned member of Outbrain's Executive team, Galai joined the company in 2007 as Director of Finance, then moving on to become the Vice President of Business Development, leading Outbrain's early expansion into Europe. Later, he spearheaded the company’s growth and extended its footprint into new markets taking the role of International Managing Director.

Galai has over 20 years of experience in International Business Development across the Media, Technology, Web, and Finance industries. Prior to joining Outbrain, he worked at Citibank, Clal Finance, and Bank of Israel.

Galai is a graduate of the Hebrew University, and was awarded both a Bachelor of Art in Economics and Statistics, and a Master’s of Business Administration with honors.

Yossi joined Outbrain in 2014 as vice president of Cyber Security. Prior to his CIO role, he served as VP IT and Security where he established and scaled operation in cybersecurity, anti fraud domains, IT and information systems. Yossi's group lead cross-functional efforts/projects and drive business scaling driven by automation and operational excellence.

Yossi serves on several advisory boards for early stages starts-up on various technology domains, with a focus on product mgmt and scale. Prior to Outbrain, Yossi was Conduit's head of security.

Prior to that role, Yossi lead various roles in Amdocs such as global IT operation and cross-functional projects, IT tech lead on Amdocs M&A, and in his last role, head of Amdocs corporate security and cyber technologies research & innovation with overseeing global teams who were responsible on security for more than 60 offices /locations.

Yossi holds a BA in Management and Political Science specializing in International Relations, The Open University of Israel.

Gilad de Vries is the Chief Strategy Officer at Outbrain, and has served in this role since January 2016.

Prior to this, de Vries served as Vice President of Products and BI and Head of the Brands and Agencies business at Outbrain since he joined the company in 2011.

de Vries brings more than 25 years of experience in the digital media and technology fields. Before joining Outbrain, de Vries was VP of Digital Media and Principal at Viola Ventures, one of Israel’s top-tier venture capital firms, where he lead Carmel’s investments in digital media, Internet and mobile startups.

de Vries served as a Lieutenant in Mamram, the prestigious Israeli Defense Forces’ Technology Unit. He holds a B.A. degree in Economics and Business Management from the Bar-Ilan University and a Global MBA from IDC Herzelia.

Asaf Porat is the Chief Operating Officer and leads Outbrain’s Business Operations and Business Intelligence Departments as well as the Global Business Optimization efforts.

Prior to that, Porat served as Vice President of Corporate Operations where he led and supported a variety of strategic initiatives aimed at increasing the organizational effectiveness with an emphasis on operational excellence and corporate development.

Porat joined Outbrain in 2014 as a Business Analyst and held positions of increasing levels of responsibility. He played a key role in the acquisition and integration of Ligatus, AdNgin and Zemanta.

Prior to Outbrain Porat served as a Captain and Squadron Leader in the Israeli Navy.

Porat holds an International Master of Business Administration from Tel Aviv University and graduated its exchange program with Johnson Business School at Cornell University.

Daphna Michaeli is the Chief People Officer and joined Outbrain in 2012. She has successfully led HR efforts for a variety of companies and carries nearly two decades of experience in recruiting, employee development and training.

Prior to her current role, Michaeli was the Vice President of Human Resources for ICQ where she developed and implemented policies for staff recruitment and professional training and development. She also helped define the organization's mission statement and spearheaded initiatives instilling core values of transparency and trust throughout the workforce.

Michaeli holds a B.A. Degree in Psychology and Sociology and actively mentors professional women who are both entering the workforce or have an interest in human resources as a career path.

Veronica Gonzalez is the Chief Administrative Officer & General Counsel at Outbrain. Prior to joining Outbrain, Veronica served as an Associate with the law firm Day Pitney LLP from September 2008 to April 2013.

Gonzalez graduated from Brown University where she earned her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and attended Fordham School of Law where she earned her Juris Doctor.

Prior to joining Outbrain, Knegten was CMO of Beeswax, which was acquired by Comcast’s FreeWheel. Following the acquisition of Beeswax, Knegten joined FreeWheel, the leading CTV platform, as a senior marketing executive.

Knegten held various executive marketing roles at MediaMath, Yahoo!, and Dapper, in addition to co-founding Amitree, an Accel-backed tech startup

Ayal Steiner is the Vice President of Global Ad Revenue at Outbrain, responsible for leading Advertising Sales and Commercial Strategy, globally.

After completing his Master’s of Business Administration and working for several tech-startups in Product Strategy positions, Steiner joined Outbrain in 2012, launching both the Australia and New Zealand markets. He later became the Managing Director of the APAC business and oversaw expansion into several new markets in Asia.

In 2017, he became Vice President of International Revenue, leading Commercial Strategy and Revenue across all markets outside of the United States before being promoted to Vice President of Global Ad Revenue.

Stephanie Himoff is the Vice President of Global Publishers and Platforms at Outbrain, responsible for the strategic growth of the global organization.

Since joining in 2012, she has grown the business into a dominant market player in the Native Advertising space, building commercial relationships with leading publishers and advertisers.

Himoff has over 20 years of experience spearheading the growth of Internet businesses in Europe, working with innovative digital start-ups and world-leading technologies.

Himoff holds a Master’s of Business Administration from the University of San Francisco as well as a Masters from IESEG.

Alexander Erlmeier is the International Managing Director at Outbrain, responsible for sustainable growth and product adoption for all international markets across APAC, EMEA, and LATAM.

Erlmeier joined Outbrain in 2012, and has led the DACH business as Managing Director, Central Europe into a high and sustainable growth market. He also established Outbrain as the market leader in Germany and Austria for native discovery.

Erlmeier has more than 20 years of professional experience in the online sector, has founded several start-ups, and worked for leading international companies such as AOL and Mail.Ru.

Before joining Outbrain, Erlmeier was Country Manager of DACH for ICQ and established the brand as the market leader in Instant Messaging in the region.

Sarah Baird is the General Manager for Outbrain's North America business. In this role, she leads our commercial teams and is responsible for revenue growth, product adoption and setting the region's strategy.

Baird has held several roles at Outbrain since joining the team in 2014. Prior to becoming GM, she served as VP of Account Strategy & Operations where she built commercial relationships with leading publishers and advertisers in North America.

Prior to joining Outbrain, she was the Director of Business Operations for Studio One Networks. In this role, she ran the commercial relationships with the firm's largest advertisers and was a member of their deal team leading up to their acquisition in 2014.

Baird is a graduate of the University of Miami, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts.