Ilan is a dual-US/Israeli citizen based in Jerusalem with extensive startup and operations experience, having served as Head of the Israeli Air Force’s Innovation Unit and as an active reservist across various intelligence and technology units. Currently, he is the Israel Director at Mind the Bridge, a Silicon Valley based consulting firm where he advises multinational corporations on innovation strategy – recently completing a project for Fincantieri (the European naval shipyard) creating a report on the dual-use technologies and helping establish their Silicon Valley innovation center. His background includes business operations experience at startups such as Heven Drones, a leading drone company with multiple MoD contracts and projects with the likes of SOCOM and others, where he oversaw daily operations and special projects. He published a map of the Israeli defense-tech ecosystem (defensetechmap.com), serves on the Israel VC Forum’s executive committee (the premier VC interest group in Israel with over 500 local and global investors as members), and advises various emerging-tech and defense startups.