Palo Alto—Women’s leadership non-profit The CLUB is delighted to announce that four alumnae of the CLUB’s Incubator Program have been named 2020 Silicon Valley Women of Influence by the Silicon Valley Business Journal. The four awardees are Colleen Crangle, Olga Mack, Marla Sofer and Aila Malik.
"We’re delighted to see these dynamic women recognized by the Silicon Valley Business Journal. In this group we have an AI pioneer, a CEO, a FinTech executive, and a non-profit strategist, each of whom is shaping the future." says Laraine McKinnon, President of the CLUB and founder of strategic consulting firm LMC17.
The CLUB’s Incubator program is an annual advocacy program for women leaders. Founded and run by McKinnon, the Incubator helps diverse cohorts of talented women crystallize, showcase, and be recognized for their expertise.
Colleen Crangle has forged a path of distinction in both her professional life and her community involvement. An immigrant twice over, she moved to the US first as a child of Irish nationality and then as a young adult from South Africa to enroll in a Ph.D. program at Stanford University. Collen is a pioneer in Artificial Intelligence who, through joint undertakings with professionals in public health and medicine, genetics and neuroscience, adult literacy and bioinformatics, has helped move AI into the mainstream. Colleen is co-founder and owner of Converspeech LLC, the lead author on ‘Language and Learning for Robots’, CSLI Press, Stanford University, Associate Professor in Public Health and Information Sciences at the University of Louisville, a NIH award winner, and co-founder of an independent small publisher, Faultine Press. Her volunteer efforts support criminal justice reform, the unhoused, and LGBTQ+ youth.
Olga Mack is a powerhouse CEO, lawyer and advocate. She is currently the CEO and Chairwoman of Parley Pro, a contract automation startup and previously served as VP of Strategy for Quantstamp. Olga is also the Founder of the Women Serve on Boards movement, where she single-handedly launched full-fledged social media campaigns targeting specific companies to place a woman on their board. She is the author of “Get On Board: Earning Your Ticket To A Corporate Board Seat.” Olga is a contributing writer to Bloomberg, Newsweek and writes columns for the Association of Corporate Counsel and Above the Law Through which she frequently showcases other members of the legal profession for their unique talents and contributions.
Aila Malik is a standout leader in the non-profit ecosystem of the Bay Area, inspiring mission-driven organizations to fulfill promises on their impact. As Founder and Principal of Venture Leadership Consulting, she is a strategic advisor to non-profits and occasionally serves as an interim executive to help non-profit organizations to deepen impact, drive performance, and scale solutions. Aila has served as Advisor, Board member or Commissioner on twelve Bay Area non-profit boards, from Mountain View to Santa Clara to San Quentin. Aila lives with intention as a compassionate advocate of community kindness, planet protection, and family togetherness. She is deeply committed to contributing to a world in which disparity does not limit people’s access to opportunity.
Marla Sofer, Marla is VP of Strategic Partnerships at Jemstep, by Invesco. Throughout her career, she has been a proponent and driver of innovation across the traditional financial services ecosystem. She led major relationships while at JP Morgan and BlackRock and dove head-first into FinTech in 2015 to improve the customer experience. Marla bridges FinTech with traditional financial services companies, simplifying technological integration. She’s also an ardent believer in the value of non-linear career pathing. She has launched two women’s leadership networks, and has supported countless mentees with job transitions. Marla has also served on the executive board of a high profile community relations non-profit focused on social justice, and chaired her synagogue’s youth education committee. Her unique and impactful leadership style stems from her background studying Middle East peace and conflict resolution.
Past CLUB Incubator members who have received the Women of Influence award include Joselle Deocampo (LinkedIn), Anuradha Gali (Uber), Nolwenn Godard (PayPal), Heather Jerrehian (startup executive) Alice Katwan (Salesforce), Nancy Poon Lue (Advanced Education Research & Development Fund), Sherry Main (UC Irvine, UC Board of Regents), Mindy Morton (Procopio), Mansi Shah (Kilpatrick Townsend), and Leedjia Svec (US Navy), as well as founder Laraine McKinnon (LMC17).
More information about the 2020 Women of Influence can be found in the Silicon Valley Business Journal.
About The CLUB Silicon Valley
Founded in 2012, The CLUB is a diverse community of inspiring, professional helping women accelerate their leadership journeys. Our Bay Area based community is hundreds strong and made of professionals who are leaders in their industries–tech, finance, engineering, marketing, legal, rocket science and beyond. We connect women with one another in order to build critical, multi-disciplinary peer groups and mentorship opportunities that strengthen their careers and keep them at the top of their game. www.theclubsv.org
