Our Team

Ronen Lin, Co-Founder, President and CEO                             

Ronen Lin co-founded Citala and is the company’s president and CEO. Prior to joining Citala, Ronen served as a manager in the high-tech department at the Israeli offices of Ernst & Young.

During his tenure, he worked closely with multiple high-tech companies—helping them to achieve their business and financial goals, including all aspects of private placement funding and initial public offerings.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in Business and Accounting from the Tel-Aviv Business College in Israel and is also a Certified Public Accountant.




Ilan Ofir, Vice President, Chief Financial Officer                                 

As Citala’s CFO, Ilan Ofir is applying his extensive experience in financial management.

Prior to Citala, he was the finance manager at Indigo, the digital press division of Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ). Before HP, Ilan served as a Financial Controller (Israel Co.), as a Corporate Tax Manager in Lumenis (NASDAQ: LUME), and as Director of Finance in Jacada Inc. (NASDAQ: JCDA).

Ilan holds a bachelor’s degree in Business and Accounting from the Tel-Aviv Business College in Israel and is also a Certified Public Accountant.




Gilad Steiner, Chief Operating Officer, Citala Ltd. & President, Citala US

Gilad Steiner brings to Citala a wealth of experience as a manager of technology and engineering in the semiconductor and polymer industries. In addition to his role as president of Citala US operations, Gilad serves as Citala's Corporate COO. He is responsible for corporate operations and developing cooperative technological alliances.

Before joining Citala, Gilad served as an engineering manager, developing electro-optical and laser products at Semiconductor Devices (SCD), where he managed the transition of multi- disciplinary projects from development to production. Gilad was also responsible for project management, introduction of new products, process improvement, as well as efficiency and cost reduction programs.

Gilad has a bachelor’s degree with honors in Chemical Engineering from Ben Gurion University and an MBA from Haifa University.



Aharon Nizani, Vice President,  Sales & Marketing

Aharon Nizani joined Citala as vice president of sales and marketing in charge of corporate strategic business development, sales and distribution, as well as brand management, marketing and customer satisfaction. He brings extensive experience in the digital color imaging business. Prior to joining Citala, Aharon was a managing partner of the Irvine, CA-based company, Strategic Business Consulting (SBC), where he assisted high-tech companies develop their businesses through strategic alliances, technological collaborations, and the development of distribution partnerships.

Before SBC, he was vice president of marketing and business development at Iris Graphics, a $120M inkjet printer company. Before that, he was the director of corporate business development and strategic planning at Scitex Corporation (NASDAQ:SCIX later sold to Eastman Kodak), a multinational company with annual revenues of $700M.

Aharon earned his master’s degree from Boston University (MBA) and also attended multiple executive courses at Harvard Business School, Wharton School of Management, and the Paris-based Insead Business School.



William S. Ostrander, Vice President, Citala Ltd. & General Manager, Citala US Inc.       

With more than sixteen years of experience in management and manufacturing of flexible displays, William serves as vice president of Citala Ltd. and general manager of Citala US. He is in charge of all engineering, manufacturing, application development and customer services. Prior to joining Citala, William was general manager of Xymox Technologies’ Display Products Division.

He also served as new product development manager at Elo Touch Systems and as business development manager at Optical Coating Labs/JDSU. Before that, he was the director of technology at Raychem Corporation and an engineering manager at Taliq, also in the arena of flexible display technology. William has held management and engineering positions at Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) in printed circuit and microcircuit manufacturing.

William obtained bachelor's and master's degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan.



Ronen Shaul, Vice President, Research & Development                       

Leveraging his strong background and experience in technology research, management, systems development, and engineering, as well as high-tech-related business development, Ronen oversees Citala’s research and development programs.

Prior to joining Citala, Ronen founded and managed Arnet Systems, a company that specializes in providing large-scale systems for security, control, and various smart building applications. He also served as the manager of a large group of real-time engineers at ECI Telecom Ltd. (NASDAQ:ECI), dealing with advanced telephony transmission systems for international service providers.

Ronen worked at Ness Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: NSTC) as the Integrated Systems Division Manager in charge of multi-application smart card projects. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the Technion - the Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, Israel.



Shimon Yisraelian, Vice President, Electronics                                      

With substantial experience in technology management and development, Shimon is responsible for managing Citala’s electronics research and development.

He previously was vice president of development for ATM Systems at Orckit Communications (NASDAQ:ORCT), where he managed a large team of developers and led innovation and development of technologies—from the early stages of design to product completion and customer interaction.

Prior to that, Shimon worked in the Israeli defense industry and was involved in the development of guided-missile technologies through video JPEG compression.

Shimon holds a bachelor’s degree in Communications Engineering from the Technion - the Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, Israel. He also has an MBA from Harriot Watt University.

Aki Tomita, Vice President, Chief Technical Officer

Widely published in journals on optics, physics, and displays, Dr. Aki Tomita has been issued 23 patents for his innovations in optics, MEMS, liquid crystal and light valve technology. He is a frequent presenter at industry trade shows worldwide.

Dr. Tomita served as the Vice President of Business Development at X2 Technologies Inc., an IT start-up in San Rafael, CA. He was the co-founder and interim CEO of Ribomic Inc., a biotechnology start-up in Tokyo, Japan. As COO and President of Tucson Optical Research Corporation in Tucson, AZ, Dr. Tomita dealt with optical components and thin-film coating. He also worked as a Product and Project Manager at Silicon Light Machines, a Silicon Valley display technology startup, which was acquired by Cypress Semiconductor. Dr. Tomita worked as the Senior Scientist and Department Manager of projection displays for Raychem Corporation in Menlo Park, CA, and as a member of the technical staff at AT&T Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, NJ.

Dr. Tomita earned a doctorate in Optical Science from the University of Arizona and an Executive MBA from Stanford University. He received his bachelor’s degree in Applied Physics from Hokkaido University in Japan.