Bezhalel "Butzi" Machlis has run Elbit Systems since 2013 — through defense-export expansion, the post-Ukraine rerating, and the multi-year build that positioned Elbit as Israel's most valuable US-listed company by 2026.
President & CEO, Elbit Systems · The defense-industrial operator at the head of Israel's largest publicly listed defense company · Born 1956
Bezhalel "Butzi" Machlis is the CEO of Elbit Systems — Israel's largest defense prime contractor and, as of 2026, the most valuable Israeli company on a US exchange. He runs the company's day-to-day operations alongside chairman Michael Federmann, whose family has held the controlling stake since 2000.
Machlis has run Elbit since 2013, through the defense-export expansion of the second half of the 2010s, the post-Ukraine global defense rerating that began in 2022, and the multi-year build-out that has positioned Elbit as the structural Israeli industrial position in the global Western defense supply chain. The Elbit chapter under Machlis is one of the longest and most operationally consequential CEO tenures in the Israeli industrial economy.
Founder Snapshot
| Company | Elbit Systems Ltd. (Nasdaq + TASE: ESLT) |
| Role | President and CEO since November 2013 |
| Chairman | Michael Federmann, controlling shareholder since 2000 |
| Sector | Defense & aerospace — drones, electro-optics, C4I, electronic warfare, land platforms, training systems |
| Born | 1956, Israel |
| Education | Industrial Engineering and Management, Technion — Israel Institute of Technology |
| Military service | Israel Defense Forces — Air Force officer |
| Elbit tenure | 40+ years at Elbit; rose through subsidiary CEO roles to corporate CEO |
| Headquarters | Haifa, Israel |
WHY MACHLIS MATTERS
Machlis is the institutional operator at the head of the Israeli defense-industrial cohort during the most consequential defense-spending expansion in a generation. Elbit's order book has expanded substantially across the multi-year window since 2022, the company has become the most valuable Israeli company on a US exchange for the first time since the Mobileye 2022 Nasdaq refloat, and the Machlis tenure has positioned Elbit as a structural Israeli industrial supplier to the broader Western defense supply chain.
What is Bezhalel Machlis's background?
Machlis was born in Israel in 1956. His education is at the Technion — Israel Institute of Technology, in industrial engineering and management. His military service was in the Israeli Air Force as an officer. He joined Elbit in 1985 and has spent his entire industrial career inside the company — more than four decades, an unusual operating-tenure profile in the global defense industry and almost unparalleled in publicly listed Israeli industrial companies.
How did Machlis rise through four decades inside Elbit?
Machlis's career at Elbit progressed through the subsidiary structure that has been a defining feature of the company's industrial organization. He held senior positions across multiple Elbit subsidiaries, including the chief executive role at Elop, the electro-optics subsidiary that is among Elbit's most consequential engineering organizations. He served as Executive Vice President of Strategic Programs before being appointed President and CEO of Elbit Systems in November 2013, succeeding Joseph Ackerman. The progression from engineering management through subsidiary CEO to corporate CEO is structurally Israeli — and structurally rare in the global defense industry, where senior defense-company leadership more frequently comes from government and military backgrounds rather than from inside the industrial organization itself. Machlis runs operations; Michael Federmann, chairman since the Federmann family acquired its controlling stake in 2000, sits above him as the long-tenured principal shareholder — a split between operating CEO and controlling-family chairman that is itself unusual among Israeli Nasdaq-listed companies of Elbit's scale.
What happened during the 2013–2026 Elbit chapter?
The Elbit chapter under Machlis covers thirteen years of substantial industrial-organization expansion. The 2018 acquisition of IMI Systems — the privatized former Israel Military Industries, with substantial land-systems and ammunition manufacturing capability — was the largest single transaction of the Machlis tenure and reshaped the Elbit product portfolio. The defense-export trajectory through 2018 to 2024 expanded the order book substantially, with notable contract wins across European NATO members, Asia-Pacific allies, and the broader Western defense-export market. The post-2022 global defense rerating — driven by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the multi-year Western defense-spending commitments that followed, and the renewed emphasis on industrial-base capacity — accelerated the Elbit growth trajectory and revalued the company's order book substantially.
Why did the post-2022 defense rerating matter for Elbit and the Israeli defense cohort?
The structural context for Machlis's most consequential CEO chapter is the global defense-industrial rerating that began with the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. That rerating has been sustained across the subsequent four years by three parallel forces: US and European defense-spending commitments now running at levels last seen during the Cold War, renewed emphasis on Western industrial-base capacity after decades of consolidation and offshoring, and the demonstration in Ukraine that modern warfare depends on the specific product categories — drones, electro-optics, electronic warfare, precision munitions, air defense — where Elbit and the broader Israeli defense cohort hold globally competitive positions.
Inside that context, Elbit sits at the head of the Israeli defense-industrial cohort that includes state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, alongside the privately held defense-tech cohort of Israeli startups building loitering munitions, autonomous systems, and next-generation sensors. Elbit is the publicly listed anchor of that cohort and the operative Israeli industrial position most directly exposed to the Western defense-spending expansion. Machlis's CEO tenure has coincided with the entire arc of that positioning — from pre-2022 baseline through the current rerating — and his operational decisions on capacity expansion, supply-chain build-out, and product-portfolio prioritization are what have converted the rerating into the current Elbit market position.
Why is Machlis considered Israel's defense-industrial anchor?
Machlis's significance in the Israeli economy is structural and increasingly strategic. The Israeli defense industry is one of the most globally significant industrial categories the country produces, and Elbit is its largest publicly listed expression. As CEO, Machlis is responsible for the operating performance of the company that — for the first time since Mobileye's 2022 refloat — is now the most valuable Israeli company on a US exchange. The Israeli defense industry's broader trajectory — Elbit, alongside the state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, and the broader privately held defense-tech cohort — represents a structural Israeli industrial position that has substantially compounded across the 2020s. The CEO tenure at the country's largest publicly listed defense company during that compounding is one of the most consequential operating roles in the Israeli economy.
What is Machlis doing today?
Machlis continues as President and CEO of Elbit Systems. The company employs more than nineteen thousand people globally, with substantial manufacturing and engineering concentration in Israel and a global subsidiary network operating in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, Brazil, and additional jurisdictions. The senior leadership at Elbit has been largely stable through the Machlis tenure, with Federmann continuing as chairman throughout.
Why does Machlis matter now?
The strategic question on Machlis's chapter for 2026 and beyond is the sustainability of the order-book expansion and the conversion of the contracted backlog into revenue and cash flow at the rates the public-market valuation now implies. The case for: the multi-year Western defense-spending commitments are structural rather than cyclical, Elbit's product positioning across drones, electro-optics, electronic warfare, and land systems is well-aligned with the categories Western buyers are now prioritizing, and the company's industrial-base capacity has been expanding to meet the demand. The case against: the order-book conversion-to-cash timeline depends on industrial-execution capacity, the post-2022 rerating has stretched the valuation multiple, and insider selling activity through the recent period has flagged investor-attention questions about expectations.
Bezhalel Machlis FAQ
Who is Bezhalel Machlis?
Bezhalel "Butzi" Machlis is the President and CEO of Elbit Systems, Israel's largest publicly listed defense company. He has held the role since November 2013, after joining Elbit in 1985 and rising through subsidiary CEO roles over a 40-plus year career at the company.
What has Machlis achieved as CEO of Elbit Systems?
Under Machlis, Elbit completed its transformative 2018 acquisition of IMI Systems, expanded its export order book substantially through the post-2022 global defense rerating, and became the most valuable Israeli company on a US exchange, a position not held since Mobileye's 2022 Nasdaq refloat.
What is Machlis's educational and military background?
Machlis was born in Israel in 1956 and studied industrial engineering and management at the Technion, Israel's Institute of Technology. He served as an officer in the Israeli Air Force before joining Elbit Systems in 1985.
Who is Elbit Systems' chairman?
Michael Federmann has served as chairman of Elbit Systems since his family acquired its controlling stake in 2000. Machlis runs day-to-day operations as CEO, while Federmann sits above him as the long-tenured controlling shareholder.
Why is Machlis's tenure considered significant in Israel's economy?
Machlis leads the largest publicly listed defense company in Israel during the most significant global defense-spending expansion in a generation, a period during which Elbit has become a structural Israeli industrial supplier to the Western defense supply chain.
Watch points
- Quarterly order-book progression and backlog conversion-to-revenue rate.
- Major contract wins in NATO and broader Western defense-export markets.
- Operating-margin trajectory as the company scales the post-2022 production capacity.
- Senior leadership stability and any succession-planning signals.
- Geopolitical risk factors affecting Israeli defense-export licensing.
Sources
Elbit Systems Ltd., Annual Report on Form 20-F, fiscal year 2024 (filed via SEC EDGAR). Elbit corporate site at elbitsystems.com. Tel Aviv Stock Exchange filings via Maya.
Olam coverage
See the Olam entity profile of Elbit Systems (the largest Israeli company on Nasdaq by market value as of mid-2026); the founder profile of chairman Michael Federmann; and the flagship Olam Nasdaq 20.
בצלאל ("בוצי") מכליס הוא מנכ״ל אלביט מערכות — קבלן הביטחון הגדול ביותר של ישראל, ונכון ל-2026, החברה הישראלית בעלת השווי הגבוה ביותר בבורסה אמריקאית.
מכליס מנהל את אלביט מאז 2013, דרך התרחבות יצוא הביטחון של המחצית השנייה של שנות ה-2010, התמחור הביטחוני הגלובלי שהחל ב-2022 לאחר אוקראינה, ובניין הרב-שנתי שמיצב את אלביט כעמדה התעשייתית הישראלית המבנית בשרשרת האספקה הביטחונית המערבית. תקופת אלביט תחת מכליס היא אחת מתקופות המנכ״ל הארוכות והמשמעותיות תפעולית בכלכלה התעשייתית הישראלית.
The Olam Editorial Team
