Brandeis International Business School

As part of its mission to be “a key pillar of the Boston-Israel bridge,” Brandeis International Business School presented the 2018 Asper Award for Global Entrepreneurship to two Israeli entrepreneur CEOs who scaled their global businesses in Massachusetts: Udi Mokady of CyberArk and Lior Div of Cybereason.

“Udi and Lior represent the brightest lights of Boston’s thriving cybersecurity cluster, and they are a testament to the deep ties and collaboration that bind Massachusetts and Israel together,” Brandeis President Ronald Liebowitz said.

Newton-based CyberArk, which Mokady founded in in 1999 and took public in 2014, is a leader in Privileged Account Security and provides solutions to more than 3,650 global businesses, including 50 percent of the Fortune 100. It has offices in Singapore, Japan and Australia as well as several European countries and Israel.

Boston-based Cybereason helps organizations detect persistent cyber attacks. Before co-founding the company in 2012, Div was an Israel Defense Forces Medal of Honor recipient for outstanding achievement as a commander of an elite cybersecurity unit.

At the awards event, speakers shared current research on the economic impact of cybersecurity and Israeli cybersecurity companies in Massachusetts. The program also featured a “fireside chat” with Mokady and Div moderated by Bloomberg TV anchor Anne Mostue.

“The International Business School is developing initiatives to enable more Israeli students to study here and expanding programs that allow its students to study and work in Israel,” said Ben Gomes-Casseres, director of the Asper center at the business school. “The school is also increasing access for Israeli startups in Boston to its students through consulting projects, internships and job placements, and is making its faculty and research resources more accessible to Israel’s innovative firms.”

In their conversation with Mostue, Mokady and Div discussed cybersecurity in the context of recent events such as the cyberattacks on power plants and other U.S. infrastructure. They also noted Boston’s recent rise as a location for Israeli companies and Israel’s image as “the startup nation.”

The Asper Center for Global Entrepreneurship at the International Business School sponsors seminars, conferences, internships, field visits and other events that focus on key trends affecting entrepreneurship across cultures and borders. The Asper Award is presented annually to entrepreneurs who achieves outstanding success in the global marketplace through creative marketing and business strategies.