The Mullings Group, among the leading placement services in the US for senior executives in the medtech and life sciences industries, has announced the official opening of an Israeli branch. Mullings will serve Israeli companies seeking to recruit their first US-based teams to open the American market to their companies: CEO, VP Marketing, clinic managers, etc. The person heading the new Israeli branch is Ido Hadari, formerly Chief Communications and Government Affairs Officer at Maccabi Healthcare Services, a partner in healthtech venture capital fund Alive, and a private consultant in the medical device sector.
Joe Mullings' relationship with the Israeli market began in the early days of medtech in Israel. His first contact was Dr. Yuval Binor, who founded Medica, one of the sector’s first venture capital funds. Since then, Mullings estimates, he has recruited more than 100 executives to Israeli companies. "We've been looking for the right person to open the branch with for about a decade," Joe Mullings tells "Globes." "When we made contact with Ido, we realized that he could be our local base."
To explain his connection to Israel, Mullings employs sports metaphors. "I'm not Jewish, but I'm a martial arts athlete, which means I really like people with strong character, determination but also flexibility, where what happens to them only makes them stronger. It seems as though in technology you signed up for a competition in a weight category above your weight, but you always succeed."
Mullings first came to Israel in 2024 with a delegation of North American medtech personnel organized by Hadari. "It was a difficult period, but I was amazed by the sense that you will always find a way," he says.
"Someone has to tell you that you’ve got an ugly baby"
What challenges do Israeli companies face when they want to recruit staff to penetrate the US market?
"You have to know how to communicate with your local hire. Israelis need to understand that there are different ways of talking to people from California, the North East coast, the South or the Midwest. Every person speaks differently and processes conflict differently. We accompany the companies and staff for six to twelve months after the recruitment process, which usually takes 60-90 days. We do a kind of coaching and mediation work, to make sure the relationship will be successful.
"When an Israeli medtech entrepreneur brings a technology to the US, it's usually the first market they encounter, and their company doesn't really exist as a company yet -- it’s a baby. And someone has to tell this entrepreneur that his baby is ugly. That the product is not yet ready for the American market, that more information is needed, that the product's place in the healthcare system is not yet fully clear. That's the message that the first person you recruit in the American market is going to convey. And then, the Israeli says, 'You don't understand the product,' and the American replies, 'You don't understand the market.' If that conversation can take place without the business blowing up, then the result will be a better product, and it’ll be possible to start working."
What other issues can hamper recruitment or lead to choosing the wrong person?
"One difficult issue is salaries. Israelis aren’t always willing to internalize that the American is going to earn about twice as much as they do -- even if they are the founders -- and receive options of up to 5% for a CEO and 2%-3% for a VP. That's a lot, but the first hires are the ones who will make your company or break it.
"On the other hand, the Israelis need to make it clear to their US team that in return for this salary, they have to be available to them during Israeli hours and on Sundays, 60-70 hours a week, just like an Israeli startup works. If this isn’t clarified, the Israelis will be frustrated when their senior executive isn’t available to them. These things have to be on the table."
According to Mullings, Israelis who have always managed "lean" companies often try to save money on the hiring process as well. "They think their friends in the US will bring them the right person. But that means they'll be looking at a very narrow segment of the American market, and the chances that you will really find the right person, someone reliable who also wants to come, are almost nil.
"It's also important to know that just because someone has been successful at one startup, it doesn't necessarily mean they will succeed at your startup, and if someone has done well at a corporation, it probably means they don't know anything about startups."
"VCs are starting to free up funds"
What is the current state of employment in the medtech market, and what does this mean for the industry?
"At the major corporations, there have been large rounds of layoffs because they’ve gotten out of certain areas to enter others. So, it's a tough job market right now. For startups, this is a great time. After we came out of Covid, there was a period of uncertainty, and then we experienced it again ahead of the US elections and around the Trump tariffs, but there’s more clarity now around all these issues, and the markets like clarity.
"What the markets are doing is also trickling down to the venture capital funds, and we see they’re now freeing up funds they kept close to their chests for four years. We’re seeing it in the sharp rise in inquiries we’re receiving. 2025 was our best year.
"At the same time, some people who tried to pivot their businesses to the digital sector discovered that they didn't know exactly how to make money from it and came back to medtech - including medical devices upgraded with digital capabilities but still hardware, or good old medical devices. That’s good for Israel, which specializes in these areas."
How hard is it to recruit a person to an Israeli company and even manage it?
"I often express my appreciation for Israel on social media and people usually agree with me. It hasn’t happened that someone has told me they were turning down a job with a company because it was Israeli. It has happened with companies from other countries, but not Israel. Your name in the medtech market is strong enough, and people in the sector know that Israel is developing innovation not just for Israel, but for the entire world."
"We need to educate the market"
Mullings and Hadari have another challenge: getting funds to understand that senior management does not have to be US-based. To this day, the prevailing perception in the medtech market is that CEOs of Israeli companies must relocate to the US, because no local hire, no matter how suitable, will be willing to go head-to-head with investors or the US health system.
"That's exactly the perception we want to change," says Hadari. "If the right people are recruited, who can be trusted and to whom authority can truly be delegated, there will be no need for managers to move to the US, and we’ll stop losing those people."
Mullings admits that venture capital funds want companies to be headquartered in the US, and would be happy if the top management was there. "We need to educate them that it's not necessary. It works otherwise as well."
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on December 8, 2025.
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