Gil Issachar
About Gil Issachar
Gil Issachar, 43, is Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Firefly Neuroscience (AIFF). He has served as CTO since November 2022 and has been with the company since 2017, progressing through R&D and data-science leadership roles in an FDA PMA medical device context; he holds BSc and MSc degrees in Biomedical/Medical Engineering from Tel Aviv University . For the most recent fiscal disclosures, the company reported a net loss of $(10.46)M in 2024 versus $(2.60)M in 2023, and disclosed that it did not use financial performance measures to link executive pay to performance for the most recent year; the “value of $100 investment” TSR metric was $2.47 in 2023 and $39.97 in 2022 (company-level context) .
Past Roles
| Organization | Role | Years | Strategic Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Firefly Neuroscience | Chief Technology Officer | Nov 2022–Present | Leads AI/ML and data-science in med-tech under FDA PMA; manages multi-party R&D collaborations . |
| Firefly Neuroscience | Vice-President of Research & Data Science | Dec 2019–Aug 2021 | Scaled data-science functions and R&D programs . |
| Firefly Neuroscience | Director of Research & Data-Science | Dec 2019–Aug 2021 | Directed research/data-science initiatives (as disclosed) . |
| Firefly Neuroscience | Data-Science Team Leader | Apr 2018–Dec 2019 | Built and led data-science team . |
| Firefly Neuroscience | Research & Data Scientist (hired) | Feb 2017–Apr 2018 | Hired into R&D/data-science; early platform development . |
External Roles
| Organization | Role | Years | Strategic Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dune Medical Devices | R&D Software Engineer | Jul 2013–Mar 2017 | Contributed to regulated medical device software development . |
Fixed Compensation
| Metric | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Salary ($) | 177,899 | 133,556 | 179,459 |
| Bonus ($) | 13,009 | 12,575 | 13,687 |
| All Other Compensation ($) | 56,768 | 46,738 | 47,849 |
| Total ($) | 314,800 | 192,869 | 803,967 |
- Employment agreement base salary and bonus construct: monthly base salary ≈ $13,340 (as-converted to USD); annual bonus equal to one month’s salary; one-time lump-sum bonus equal to two months’ salary in 2021; company-provided contributions to pension/education funds, managers’ insurance, disability and other benefits .
Performance Compensation
Annual Bonus Design and Outcomes
- Target: Annual bonus equal to one month’s salary per Issachar employment agreement .
- The company disclosed no financial performance measures used to link executive compensation to performance for the most recent fiscal year (smaller reporting company scaled disclosure) .
| Annual Bonus ($) | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Actual Paid | 13,009 | 12,575 | 13,687 |
Equity Awards (Design and Grant Details)
| Grant Date | Instrument | Shares/Value | Exercise Price | Term | Vesting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 17, 2022 | Stock Options | 2,919 shares | $28.85 | 10 years (exp. 11/17/2032) | Monthly vesting; 2,095 exercisable as of 12/31/2024 . |
| Jul 8, 2023 | Stock Options | 75,417 (post-merger) shares | $5.18 | 5 years (exp. 7/8/2028) | Monthly vesting; 47,241 exercisable as of 12/31/2024 . |
| Jul 8, 2023 | RSUs | $200,000 grant value | — | — | Vest upon listing on a recognized North American exchange; quantity set by opening price at listing . |
| Equity Compensation (Grant-Date Fair Value) | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stock Awards ($) | — | — | 204,757 |
| Option Awards ($) | 67,124 | — | 358,231 |
Outstanding Equity Awards (as of 12/31/2024)
| Instrument | Exercisable | Unexercisable | Exercise Price | Expiration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Option | 13 | — | $72.12 | 8/13/2018 grant (historical; reflected post-split) . |
| Option | 222 | — | $28.85 | 10/14/2030 . |
| Option | 76 | — | $28.85 | 4/1/2031 . |
| Option | 1,308 | — | $28.85 | 6/21/2031 . |
| Option | 2,095 | 824 | $28.85 | 11/17/2032 . |
| Option | 47,241 | 28,177 | $5.18 | 7/8/2028 . |
Equity Ownership & Alignment
| Date (Record) | Beneficial Ownership (Shares) | Percent Ownership | Composition / Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 3, 2024 | 85,260 | <1% | As disclosed in DEF 14A table . |
| Jan 8, 2025 | 88,014 | 1.10% | Based on 7,945,480 shares outstanding at record date . |
| Sep 23, 2025 | 101,337 | <1% | Includes (i) 33,480 common shares and (ii) 67,857 options currently exercisable . |
- Pledging/Hedging: Company insider trading policy prohibits hedging and pledging of company securities by employees and directors, reducing alignment risk from collateralization or derivatives .
Employment Terms
| Provision | Detail |
|---|---|
| Agreement, Effective Date | Employment agreement effective Feb 2, 2017; amended Apr 28, 2018; Dec 16, 2018; Jul 1, 2019; Dec 11, 2019; contract addendum dated Jun 21, 2021 . |
| Current Role | Chief Technology Officer (since Nov 2022) . |
| Base Salary | ≈$13,340 per month (as-converted USD) . |
| Annual Bonus | One month’s salary per year . |
| One-time Bonus | Two months’ salary paid in 2021 under addendum . |
| Benefits | Company contributions to pension/education funds, managers’ insurance, disability, and other benefits . |
| Term/Termination | Continues until terminated by either party with written notice; company may redeem prior notice (full/partial) per law; no redemption if terminated for cause . |
| Confidentiality/IP | Standard confidentiality and assignment of inventions . |
| Severance/COC | Company disclosed no severance entitlement for NEOs during FY 2024, except as described in management agreements; no explicit COC acceleration disclosed for Issachar . |
| Retirement/Deferred Comp | No defined benefit pension or nonqualified deferred comp plans beyond broad-based programs . |
Company Performance Context
| Metric | FY 2023 | FY 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Revenues ($) | 7,981,975* | n/a* |
| EBITDA ($) | (1,977,338)* | n/a* |
| Net Loss ($) | (2,603,000) | (10,460,000) |
- Values marked with an asterisk (*) were retrieved from S&P Global.
Additional performance disclosure (company-level, per Pay vs Performance): The value of an initial fixed $100 investment based on TSR was $39.97 (2022) and $2.47 (2023) .
Investment Implications
- Alignment and incentives: Issachar’s annual cash bonus is formulaic (one month’s salary) with no disclosed financial metric weighting; 2024 proxy explicitly states no financial performance measures were used for NEO pay, limiting direct pay-for-performance alignment .
- Equity structure and potential selling pressure: Significant option grants vest monthly (notably the July 8, 2023 grant of 75,417 options and the Nov 17, 2022 grant), creating a steady cadence of vesting events that can contribute to incremental selling capacity as shares become freely exercisable; RSUs vest on listing (event already triggered), which may have front-loaded equity availability .
- Ownership and retention: Beneficial ownership is below 1% but includes a meaningful pool of currently exercisable options (67,857 as of Sep 2025), providing upside alignment while anti-pledging/anti-hedging policies reduce misalignment risks from leverage or derivatives .
- Contractual protections: Employment terms emphasize notice redemption and standard IP/confidentiality without explicit severance multiples or change-of-control accelerators, suggesting modest parachute risk and moderate retention protections relative to market practice .
- Execution risk: Company-level losses widened in 2024 and the firm did not employ financial performance measures for pay in the most recent year, signaling heightened execution risk and an incentive framework that is not tied to revenue, EBITDA, or TSR outcomes (at least for now) .