Vyyo posted annual revenues of $15.4 million last year selling equipment that provides wireless, high-speed data connections to homes and businesses. Headquartered in Cupertino, California, the company has good reason to invest in politics. In addition to federal regulations that can alter the landscape of the rapidly changing telecommunications industry, Vyyo must keep an eye on Israel, where its research and development facilities are located. The Clinton administration served the company's interests on both fronts, championing the industry-friendly Telecommunications Act of 1996 at home and working to ease tensions in the Middle East.

Gilo, the 42-year-old chairman of Vyyo, was born in Tel Aviv and emigrated to the United States in 1982, retaining dual citizenship. He dropped out of the University of California after only one quarter to launch his own consulting firm, then founded DSP Communications, a cellular phone company. In 1996, Gilo attempted a highly publicized hostile takeover of Scitex, an ailing digital communications firm based in Israel. He didn't help his cause when he criticized Scitex's board, calling it "paralyzed and ossified." Scitex directors refused to meet with Gilo, and major shareholders squashed his bid by snapping up more than one million shares on Wall Street. Gilo remained chairman of the board at DSP until 1999, when he helped broker a deal to sell the company to Intel for $1.6 billion. It was the largest high-tech deal in Israeli history, netting $142 million for Gilo.

Gilo has made headlines recently for his $100 million investment in Israeli start-ups. Promoting Tel Aviv as the next Silicon Valley, Gilo has been critical of Israel's slowness in developing high-tech businesses. "Since the early 1980s," he told the Jerusalem Post last year, "we have consistently believed that the future of the state of Israel is linked to the progress of the high-tech sector."

Gilo's wife, Shamaya, created the Winds of Change Foundation in 1998, a nonprofit organization that works to foster what it calls "new visions of leadership," incorporating the concerns of women and children. Shamaya's campaign contributions reflect her focus on developing women in leadership positions: During the last election cycle, all but one of her donations to individual candidates went to Democratic women in Congress.