44 | MARCH 14 • 2024
J
N
I
sraeli entrepreneur Hila
Rom was 30 years old when
she visited New York City
for the first time, pitching her
startup company to potential
investors. The businesswoman
with a law degree said she had
just raised enough seed money
for her startup and was excited
to network in the United States
when she got the call from her
base.
It was 2008 and Operation
Cast Lead, the second stage of
the Gaza War, had just begun.
So Rom, a distinguished officer
in the IDF, dropped her sched-
uled business meetings and
booked a flight home to Israel.
“One minute I am a global
entrepreneur doing business in
New York and the next minute,
I am called up to my base to be
a soldier,” Rom said.
Such is the life of Israeli
businesspeople and entrepre-
neurs as they navigate the bal-
ance between carrying on their
civilian pursuits and being
called up by the reserves in
times of war.
Now at 45, Rom is the
founding partner of Herzliya-
based RUNI Ventures, a
venture capital outpost of
Reichman University, Israel’s
only private university with
a special emphasis on busi-
ness and entrepreneurship.
Reichman University alumni
have launched more than 600
startups pulling in $8.7 billion
in funding with the creation
of 21 unicorn companies
(startups each valued over $1
billion).
During her interview with
the JN, Rom’s husband had just
returned home on leave after
serving on the front in Gaza
for 110 days. Like many Israeli
women, she has been single-
handedly juggling a career and
home life as 360,000 reservists
have had to leave their jobs,
families and university studies
to fight. Rom also served in
the early days following Oct. 7
as an officer in the IDF para-
trooper’s unit.
Throughout the war, Rom
said investors continue to
recognize the value of the
work coming out of Reichman
Hila Rom looks to bring Reichman University’s
RUNI Ventures to Michigan.
Spreading Israeli
Innovation
STACY GITTLEMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP
Reichman
University
Hila Rom