MEET ILANA FISCHER

Board Member Spotlight

Ilana currently serves on the Board of Directors at Milton's and Notable Systems. In this insightful and engaging interview, Ilana shares key career highlights, offers a unique perspective on being a woman in the boardroom, and what brought her to her current board roles. Thank you, Ilana!

When did you become interested in joining a board and what inspired you to pursue it?

I knew I wanted to “be in the room where it happens!”

I think a lot of boards are comprised of people who haven’t operated a business before, and I wanted to bring that voice to the room. In particular, I wanted to make sure that the advice and guidance that the CEO received was practical and consistent with growing businesses profitably. Even off-hand remarks from board members can send a CEO in an unintended direction, and I don’t think board members are always aware of this. It’s important to make sure that the CEO doesn’t walk out of the room with a mistaken sense of what the board wants him or her to do with the business.

What are your top 3 career highlights?

The process of selling Whisps was a highlight for me. It was an opportunity to take stock of everything we had built, how far we had come in a short period of time, and also to see the business from the perspective of outsiders. I had been so “head down” building the business that I had no idea how much we had accomplished until I had a chance to sit back and share the story with people, and that was thrilling.
Whisps won a company culture award from Comparably while I was the CEO and I was very proud of that. I worked really hard to create a rewarding and positive culture for the team, because it was incredibly demanding work in the midst of a pandemic. We were under a lot of pressure! I invested a lot of time and energy into making the team dynamic positive, rewarding and recognizing people for great work, and also bringing people together and building relationships in whatever ways I could given the circumstances.
The best job I’ve ever had was scooping ice cream in my home town at a local ice cream shop called Michael’s Dairy. I spent all summer making people happy by giving them ice cream cones and sundaes, and still have really strong opinions abut the best way to make a milkshake.

How did you secure your first board placement?

Through the Women on Boards Project!

What's your favorite part of being a board member?

I love working with the management teams and the rest of the board, and learning about businesses and industries I haven’t worked in before.

What's the greatest challenge you've faced as a board member?

Being a supportive and positive voice in the room, while also pushing management to reconsider decisions if necessary.

What does it mean to you to be a woman in the boardroom?

A few years ago, I would have said that I have to come prepared, always make sure my thoughts are well articulated and insightful, and carry a burden of representing women to “prove” we should be there. But now I can say for sure that we deserve to be there even if we aren’t perfectly articulate, insightful, etc.

“If we are there, it is because we have earned the seat. We should be confident, and that is sufficient.”

Knowing that, I show up as myself. Sometimes I say something I think is really smart, sometimes I don’t, and so do all of the men in the room.

What advice would you offer to aspiring board members?

Focus on what you’re good at and what you know well, and be really confident about it, rather than trying to build up your resume in areas that you feel you don’t know enough about yet. For example, if you know a lot about operations, you don’t need to be an expert voice in the room on marketing, or vice