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