Ilana Walder-Biesanz

Ilana Walder-Biesanz is a consultant in Bain & Company's Houston office. Previously, she was a Senior Product Manager at Oath with experience managing both consumer and advertising products. She also works professionally as a freelance theater and opera critic. She holds a B.S. in Engineering and an M.Phil. in European Literature and was the recipient of Gates-Cambridge and Fulbright scholarships in theater and opera studies. She has written both peer-reviewed academic papers and popular articles on theater and opera, with a particular focus on contemporary opera stagings and the intersections of opera and technology and opera and gender studies. Speaking engagements include Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing, the Fulbright Berlin Seminar, a FIRST Robotics Regional Competition, and Girl Scouts of America regional and national conferences. She has appeared on CAM Radio (to discuss an opera and technology project) and Northwest Teen News (as a science reporter).

Sub-specialties: Opera, gender, and sexuality; Opera and social media; Opera stagings that leverage technology; Theater and opera criticism; Product management; Building multi-dimensional careers.