Laufer Aviation

Mr. Menachem Laufer was born in Germany and arrived in British Palestine in 1947. A naval instructor in the Israeli Navy from 1950 to 1953, he later became General Port Agent in New York for Zim, Israel’s national shipping line.
Upon returning to Israel, Mr. Laufer was appointed Deputy Station Manager for Swissair in Tel Aviv, a position he held until founding Laufer Airline Representation, which became Laufer Aviation Ltd in 1975.
In 2007, he was appointed Honorary Chairman of Laufer Aviation-GHI.

Ms. Nehama Ronen Holds a BA in Education and History, and a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of Haifa. Ms. Ronen has served as Chairperson of the Board of the Maman Group since 2004, and also held this post from 1999-2001. She currently also serves as Chairperson of Israel’s Recycling Corporation (ELA). Ms. Ronen formerly served as Director General of Israel’s Ministry of Environmental Protection and as Chairman of the Board of Logisticare. She also served in the 15th Knesset as a MK for the Center Party, 2001-2004.

Mr. David Laufer was born in New York in 1960 and educated in the US. He moved to Israel where he served as a pilot in the Israeli Air Force, completing his military service with the rank of major.
In 1986, he joined Laufer Aviation as Operations Manager and in 1991 was appointed General Manager.
In 2004, he initiated the merger between Laufer Aviation and GHI, which created Laufer Aviation-GHI in 2007.
Mr. Laufer holds the position of chairman of AVIANCE the international alliance for ground handling companies, a position he has held since 2001.

Mr. Gaston Shopen holds the position of Station Manager, Eilat/Ovda at Laufer Aviation-GHI, a position he has held since 1985. Mr. Shopen served in the Israeli Air Force as an airplane mechanic after graduating from the Air Force Technical School. He has worked extensively in civil aviation since 1973.

Mr. Kobi Eigenstein holds the position of VP Operations for Laufer Aviation-GHI. Prior to this appointment in 2007, he was Station Manager at the company, a position he held since joining Laufer Aviation in 2001.
Between 1997 and 2000, Mr. Eigenstein was El Al Security Manager for the West Coast of the United States. He also served in the Israeli Ministry of Defense for 22 years.
A graduate of Bar Ilan University in Geography and Sociology, Mr. Eigenstein also holds a commercial pilot’s license.

Mr. Dan Behar began his career in aviation in 1984 at MAMAN Group in the Cargo Security department. He worked in a number of roles until his appointment to the position of Deputy Security Manager. He also possesses extensive experience in ground operations that saw his eventual appointment as Manager of the Operations department. He then held a range of positions in the areas of marketing and contracts until he was appointed Deputy Managing Director of GHI.
Today, Mr. Behar holds the position of Senior Manager- Contracts and Quality Control, a role that combines quality control of all the company’s services in addition to creating and maintaining business connections with customers regarding contracts.

Mr. Ran Marom

In 2008, Mr. Eyal Hochberg was appointed Manager of the Cargo department at Laufer Aviation-GHI. Prior to joining the company, he served for 10 years as the Head of Logistics for DHL.
Mr. Hochberg holds a Bachelor’s degree in Communications from the Open University.

Ms. Tali Laufer Epstein joined Laufer Aviation-GHI in 2000, and holds the position of V.P. Commercial. She is responsible for all handling agreements and all commercial and contractual relationships with the company's handling customers. In addition, she is responsible for all marketing aspects. Ms. Laufer Epstein serves as representative of Laufer Aviation-GHI in the international alliance for ground handling companies – AVIANCE.
After graduating from law school with honors, she worked as an attorney in a private firm, and then in the Government Companies Authority in the Prime Minister’s Office, where she was involved in the privatization of several government companies.

Ms. Sigal Mannheim-Katzovich is the Deputy-CEO of Laufer Aviation-GHI. Prior to the merge of Laufer Aviation and GHI, Ms. Mannheim-Katzovich served as the Managing Director of GHI.
For 19 years, she worked in a variety of management positions at the Israeli airline Arkia. The last position she held at Arkia was Director - Ground Operations & Security.
Ms. Mannheim-Katzovich has a Bachelor’s degree in Social Science, with a specialization in Management.

Ms. Orit Friedman is the VP Human Resources for Laufer Aviation-GHI. Ms. Friedman joined the MAMAN Group in 1990. When GHI was established, she was appointed Manager of Passenger Services, and subsequently served as Manager of Handling Operations.
Ms. Friedman is a graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, in the areas of Social Sciences and Education, and also completed studies in computer training at the Technological Institute of Holon.

Since 2006, Mr. Aviad Rodan has served as VIP Club Manager, and was appointed VP VIP Services in 2008. He brings to the position 12 years of experience in a range of positions in the field of VIP services, including management of VIP companies, management of incoming passengers at a travel agency, and more.
Mr. Rodan holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management.