Yair M. Sakov

Yair M. Sakov

Yair is the Managing Director of Tel Aviv University’s Entrepreneurship Center. The cross-campus center aims to introduce all students with the entrepreneurship tool-kit and mindset. Yair joined TAU from Ono Academic College where he was the Chairman of it’s Entrepreneurships Center. He brings over 25 years of executive management experience in the high-tech industry and, in parallel, 17 years of diverse activities for social causes.

Yair worked close to ten years in the United States at Intel and 3Com. At Intel, he was the marketing manager for the Pentium Processor, and played a key role in the successful launch of the product. With 3Com Yair drove new business initiatives like the creation of 3Com’s $1B Cable Broadband division. Later he managed the company’s European venture investments leading to some successful exist. In Israel, he established AIG Orion, a $112M venture capital fund, helping fund, build, and drive exists of a few successful startups. Later he held general management and executive positions with a number of Israeli global companies and was the Chairman of FTS China.

For the last 17 years Yair is a member and mentor in IVN – Israel Venture Network, an impact investment organization currently focused on building Israel’s social businesses sector (the forth sector). Yair is on the boards of Juha’s Guesthouse, a social venture dealing with the social and economic reconstruction of the Arab village Jiser A-Zarqa, Israel’s poorest municipality; on the advisory board of the Cleaning Cooperative, a business cleaning service company owned and operated by Arab women; on the board of Susan’s House Jerusalem, a social venture working with youth at risk and on the audit committee of its franchise, Susan’s House Eilat.

Yair holds a B.Sc. in Electrical and Computer Engineering (Cum Laude) from the Technion in Haifa, and Masters of Business Administration degree from Washington University, USA.