Prestigious Technion Alumni Medal to Be Awarded to IAI Chairman Boaz Levy and NVIDIA CTO Michael Kagan

The Technion will award the Technion Alumni Medal to Boaz Levy, Chairman of the Board of Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), and Michael Kagan, Chief Technology Officer of NVIDIA, at a festive ceremony to be held on June 8 as part of the Technion’s annual President’s Reception.

The prestigious medal is awarded to Technion graduates “who have attained exceptional achievements in science, medicine, engineering, technology, and architecture; who have made significant contributions to advancing the economy, industry, and education; and who have demonstrated outstanding leadership and exceptional commitment through public service on behalf of the State of Israel and the Technion.”

Technion President Prof. Uri Sivan said: “The Technion Alumni Medal honors graduates for whom professional excellence, leadership, and public responsibility are a way of life and a daily practice. Boaz Levy and Michael Kagan fully embody the Technion’s values—innovation, commitment to the State of Israel, and profound impact on the economy, industry, and global technology. Their remarkable achievements and enduring connection to the Technion inspire future generations and strengthen the Technion’s contribution to society in Israel and around the world.”

Boaz Levy

Boaz Levy, who earned a bachelor’s degree from the Stephen B. Klein Faculty of Aerospace Engineering and a master’s degree in systems engineering, served as President and CEO of Israel Aerospace Industries from 2020 and was recently appointed chairman of the company’s Board of Directors.

Throughout his tenure, Levy has led the company to unprecedented technological and business achievements, strengthening its position as one of the world’s leading defense companies. Under his leadership, IAI significantly expanded its global operations, reached record order backlogs, and delivered exceptional financial performance.

Levy joined IAI in 1990 as a project engineer for the Arrow ballistic missile defense system and later became head of the project. Over the years, he held a series of key positions, including head of the Barak air defense system program, director of the Air Defense Systems Division, executive vice president of the Missile and Space Division, and president and CEO of IAI.

During his decades at the company, he led numerous strategic defense projects in close cooperation with Israel’s defense establishment. Levy, who has shared in several Israel Defense Prize awards, also received the Belkind Award from the America-Israel Friendship League. In 2025, he was named among the world’s 50 most influential Jews, and in recent years, he has served as a member of the Technion’s Executive Committee.

Levy will receive the Technion Alumni Medal: “In recognition of his enduring dedication to the State of Israel and its security; for his outstanding leadership in advancing Israel’s aerospace and defense industries, and for his pivotal role in leading the development of systems that safeguard its citizens; for his decades of contributions to Israel’s technological strength and position at the forefront of global innovation; and in appreciation of his enduring connection to the Technion, whose values and spirit are reflected in his leadership and achievements.”

Michael Kagan

Michael Kagan, a graduate of the Andrew and Erna Viterbi Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering, is NVIDIA’s Chief Technology Officer. He immigrated from Russia to Israel at the age of 18, completed his undergraduate studies, and subsequently served in the Israel Defense Forces.

Over the course of his distinguished career, Kagan has played a central role in three technological revolutions. He began his professional career at Intel, where he contributed to the personal computing revolution and helped lead the development of the groundbreaking Pentium MMX processor.

In 1999, he was among the founders of Mellanox, where, as the company’s chief architect, he led the development of accelerated networking technologies that helped shape the era of cloud data centers. Following NVIDIA’s acquisition of Mellanox in 2020, Kagan was appointed CTO of NVIDIA. In this role, he focuses on designing the next generations of computing infrastructure architectures that will enable breakthroughs in artificial intelligence.

Kagan will receive the Technion Alumni Medal: “In recognition of his profound contributions to the advancement and development of high-performance computing and communication technologies which have shaped the forefront of global innovation and profoundly influenced the high-tech industry; with gratitude for his enduring support of the Technion, strengthening the connection between academia and industry and advancing the State of Israel as a world-leading high-tech powerhouse.”

Previous Recipients

Past recipients of the Technion Alumni Medal include:

• David (Dadi) Perlmutter, former senior executive vice president of Intel and current chairman of the Technion Board of Governors;
• Johny Srouji, one of the most senior Israelis in the global technology industry, recently appointed senior vice president at Apple;
• Dr. Sharon Alroy-Preis, former head of Public Health Services at Israel’s Ministry of Health and leader of the national response to the COVID-19 pandemic;
• Aharon Aharon, founder of C-perto, former CEO of the Israel Innovation Authority, and former CEO of Apple Israel;
• Maj. Gen. (res.) Nitzan Alon, who headed the intelligence effort to locate hostages and missing persons following October 7; and
• Yizhar Shai, former Minister of Science and Technology and co-founder of Next October.