Issue: Winter 2005

Alumni Profile - Orna Berry

"Orna-ry" About Gender Bias

In a nation famous for its pioneers, Orna Berry PhD ’86 is no exception. Ironically, that’s because Israel, considered a bastion of equal opportunity with its universal military service and egalitarian kibbutzim, still has some catching up to do in Berry’s chosen field – the world of high-tech. Which is what makes her accomplishments all the more impressive.

From 1997 to 2000, Berry was the first – and still the only – female to serve as chief scientist in the Israeli Ministry of Industry and Trade. Bookending her stint in government are two successful runs in the private sector as a key player in the world of venture capital.

Berry’s story begins in 1949, one year after the establishment of Israel. In her words, she was born into a nation of “lean means, strong national conviction and a great commitment to education.” In school Berry made money tutoring fellow students in math, and in 1967 she was drafted into the Israel Defense Forces. There, while in the air force, she was immersed in new technology.

After earning degrees in Israel in mathematics and statistics, she came to California with her husband at the time, a UCLA computer science professor. As computer technology progressed beyond punch cards, she decided to get her own doctorate in computer science, though at a different institution – USC.

Orna Berry teaches a class as part of a young entrepreneurs program started by accounting firm KPMG.

She calls her USC education “the foundation of [her] career” and says her school colleagues remain to this day “an important professional network.” After graduating, Berry worked at System Development Corp., which eventually became Unisys.

But she always knew she’d go home again. Upon returning to Israel in 1987, Berry worked at IBM and Fibronics, then co-founded Ornet Data Communications Technologies, later purchased by Siemens.

As her career took off, Berry became aware of certain inequalities in Israeli society. “Israel gave precedence to networks created in the army,” she says. “Women were less in the center of those networks.”

But Berry defied the odds in 1997, becoming one of only two chief scientists in Israel, responsible for $450 million in industrial R&D funds during the global high-tech boom.

Perhaps one reason Berry shattered the glass ceiling is because she grew up in a “pro-equal rights” household – even today, she says, when she and her two brothers dine as a family, “we all take the dishes off the table and clean up.”

But though she enjoyed her time in government, eventually Berry’s need for autonomy returned: “I like to be independent. It re-energizes me.” Today she is a venture partner at Gemini Israel Funds Ltd., helping entrepreneurs set up new companies, assisting the growth of companies already in the Gemini fold and engaging in not-yet-for-profit research.

As for the future, when you consider that, as Berry puts it, “more than 50 percent of Israel’s industrial export is technology-based,” there seems no limit to how far she can go. And thanks to her, that may be true for other Israeli women as well.

– Ross M. Levine