Title Director, International Operations Company Plug and Play Tech Center Bio Yael works with high tech startups and international organizations from around the world, both public and private, to connect their technologies and entrepreneurship ecosystems to Silicon Valley. She is a native of Montevideo, Uruguay but is now based in Sunnyvale, California where she enables international entrepreneurs’ access to various resources of Silicon Valley in order to accelerate and validate their business models. Yael directs Plug and Play's International Acceleration Program and serves as the point of contact for the selected entrepreneurs. During her time at Plug and Play, she has worked with over 80 international startups from more than 15 countries. Yael currently manages Plug and Play’s investment activities in Brazil and works closely with Porto Seguro through their joint accelerator program in Sao Paulo: Oxigenio Aceleradora. She is also the point of contact and evangelist for Latin American Corporations to access Silicon Valley and stay in the forefront of innovation in their industries. Yael was previously a Business Manager for Software Company in Uruguay where she helped international startups build their technologies with a team of 30+ engineers and designers. She was also an Assistant Professor at ORT University in Uruguay, teaching Financial Mathematics to Business Majors. She spent some time at Babson College, one of the top Entrepreneurship colleges in the United States, and graduated with honors from ORT University with a degree in Business Administration. Yael speaks fluent English and Spanish and is very proud of her multicultural background.