Forty Over 40

Forty Women to Watch Over 40

Ilana Golan

Ilana GolansqIlana Golan: Ground-Breaking F-16 Flight Instructor, Commander and Multiple-Business Entrepreneur
Founder and CEO, Stiya
Twitter: @ilanagolan
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ilanagolan
Website: http://www.ilanagolan.com/

Bio: Founder and CEO, Stiya. Previously founded Qualisystems  (Quali) North America and had multiple engineering / software development roles with firms including Intel. She started her career as an F-16 flight instructor with the Israeli Air Force.

Innovating in field of work:

  • Stiya is a Storytelling platform for businesses using automation and AI allowing them to share more relevant and personalized content with their clients in a click.
  • Built the US team and business of Quali, an enterprise automation and cloud orchestration startup, which developed to an industry standard
  • Broke gender barriers in Israeli military

Impact:

  • Speaker in many universities and women specific forms about startups, entrepreneurship and being a woman in tech.
  • Excellent Commander Award, Israel Defense Forces—rare award for selected commanders for remarkable accomplishments or life saving events
  • Led Quali from startup to 50% YOY and $15m in yearly revenue
  • Part of startup exit $300M at Verisity
  • Helps travelers travel solo around world, mainly southeast Asia, Africa, South America
  • Organizes and Participates in athletic challenges to raise awareness and funding for ALS including an Iron distance triathlon event.

Role Model:

  • First woman commander of training and educational unit for all F-16 pilots in Israeli military
  • Continuously working with younger generation, focused on women in tech, launching a startup. Presents in schools and universities about women in the industry.
  • Example to women that they can build multi-million dollar companies, excel in the military, and push the limits in sports
  • Active fund- and awareness-raiser for ALS through mountaineering challenges, Ironman competition

“Always pushing the limits and finding new goals in all aspects of life: army, sports, tech (engineering), raising money for ALS and entrepreneurship.”