72 | SEPTEMBER 14 • 2023
Much of this was
implemented back in 2007
when Golan proved what
some leaders in the industry
have just picked up in recent
years. The Herzliya-based
team has focused on a range
of technical needs for the
automaker ranging from
autonomous driving/ADAS
solutions to cybersecurity
innovations. “We saw that
(need) and we took it into
action,” Golan said.
Golan earned his bachelor’s
and master’s of science
degrees at the Technion–
Israel Institute of Technology.
He studied at the Harvard
Business School (Executive
Program) and is a graduate of
the executive MBA program at
Stanford’s Graduate School of
Business, which he continues
to engage with several times
throughout the year.
DETROIT CONNECTIONS
Michael Horowitz, Detroit
businessman and community
leader, has known Golan
for around two decades and
is not surprised with his
career accomplishments. The
Horowitz family has spent
time with Golan, his wife and
children over many years in
northern Michigan.
Horowitz said that Golan
has a keen perspective of
the U.S. community, having
been here for many years,
and has impressed him with
conversations that have
spanned topics from business
to policy. Golan has often
been the point person to
welcome visiting dignitaries,
such as Michigan’s governors,
on economic missions to
Israel.
Horowitz connected to
Golan through mutual friends:
Detroit communal leaders
Sally and Dr. Richard Krugel.
Richard Krugel was working
as a physician on an army base
in Alabama and befriended
Avihu Ben-Nun, who would
go on to become an Israeli Air
Force commander and then
a leader at UMI (Universal
Motors Israel).
When Gil Golan joined the
firm and initially moved to
Michigan, Krugel’s old friend
from the Alabama military
base connected him with his
promising young employee.
There is now a growing
number of employees from
Israel who live in Detroit
and work in the automobile
industry.
Today, newly promoted
Golan, the man-on-the-move
and the man-with-a-mission,
is also one who prefers
modesty; quick to give credit
to leaders Mark and Mary,
and the tens of thousands of
engineers and technologists
now driven together by the
same mission.
His modesty overlooks a
remarkable track record: Even
before day one in his new role,
he’s advanced safety features
with his team that have saved
countless lives and created
more jobs in his native nation
than many political leaders.
He clearly passes the
leadership class of early GM
leader Alfred P. Sloan, who
stated, “It is astonishing what
you can do when you have a
lot of energy, ambition and
plenty of ignorance.”
You’ll find Gil supporting
the occasional restaurant in
Detroit — but he doesn’t stay
for long — as the industry’s
accelerating fast, and he’s not
wasting a millisecond to help
GM meet its goals.
BUSINESS
Dr. Richard Krugel and
Michal and Gil Golan
continued from page 71
Temple Emanu-El in Oak Park has hired a
permanent executive director who started
working as of September. Lorelei Berg has
joined the staff. She lives in Huntington
Woods with her family, and her children
graduated from Emanu-El’s ECC program.
Donald Levin has just
published his newest novel The
Arsenal of Deceit, the second
novel in a projected Detroit
Quartet series, a follow on to
the first book, Savage City. The
new novel takes on home-
grown fascism, Christian nationalism, racism,
antisemitism and political corruption in
Detroit in 1941. It follows four characters who
unite against the treachery that threatens
America’s “arsenal of democracy” on the
brink of WWII.
Jerome P. Pesick and
Richard D. Rattner,
shareholders at Wil-
liams Williams Rattner &
Plunkett P.C., have been
named 2024 Lawyers of
the Year by Best Lawyers
in America. Pesick was
named for Eminent Do-
main and Condemnation
Law, and Real Estate Law.
Rattner was named for
Litigation – Land Use and
Zoning.
Jerome P.
Pesick
Richard D.
Rattner
Robert S. Bick and Robert
B. Labe, shareholders at
Williams Williams Rattner
& Plunket, P.C., have
been recognized as 2024
Best Lawyers in America.
Bick was recognized for
his work in Corporate
Law and Closely Held
Companies and Family
Business Law. Labe
was recognized for his
work in Trusts & Estates.
Determined through Best
Lawyers’ Purely Peer
Review research process,
Best Lawyers recognizes
the top 5% of legal talent
throughout the United
States.
Robert S.
Bick
Robert B.
Labe
here’s to