Quite a bit could be said about Gil Agmon, the CEO of Ford and Mazda importer Delek Automotive Systems Ltd. (TASE: DLEA), one of Israel's wealthiest employees. He is aggressive, colorful, energetic, does not fear to say what's on his mind, even if it contradicts his colleagues, and extraordinary.
Indeed, Agmon is an exceptional CEO, and not merely because of the features mentioned above, but because he is the only employee CEO (together with Zadik Bino) who has become the controlling shareholder of the company he runs, and within a decade of taking the helm.
Even before, Agmon was one of Israel's wealthiest employees, partly thanks to Delek Group Ltd. (TASE: DLEKG) controlling shareholder Yitzhak Tshuva, but mostly thanks to his own efforts. Agmon, CEO of Delek Auto for 12 years, was the man who turned the company into one of the greatest creators of value in the Israeli capital market and into a cash cow for Delek Group.
Agmon started out at Delek Auto as the "son of". His father, Avraham Agmon, was CEO of Delek Group, after a long public sector career as director general of the Ministry of Finance. Gil Agmon once said, "When I started to work at the company, everyone said 'the son of', and I had to hide it. Today, no one remembers my father, and I have to explain who he was."
Gil Agmon started out at Delek Auto in lowly marketing jobs. The test of time show that his marketing efforts were successful, otherwise Mazda who not have become Israel's most popular car.
In a rare interview with "Globes", Agmon admitted, "Importing cars isn't the most difficult profession in the world." Difficult or not, his professionalism has turned him into one of Israel's richest men.
Delek Group will report a pretax capital gain of NIS 1.91 billion on the sale of 22% of subsidiary Delek Automotive Systems Ltd. to Agmon.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on September 6, 2010
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