Valeriya Ionan is a global advisor, tech entrepreneur, angel investor and author working at the intersection of governments, AI, innovation and emerging technologies. Through her advisory practice, ionan.global, she helps governments, international organizations and technology companies turn technological change into economic competitiveness, institutional resilience and real-world transformation.
Valeriya is one of the architects of Ukraine’s digital transformation and one of the key leaders behind the Diia ecosystem, one of the world’s most advanced digital government platforms. At the age of 28, she became the youngest Deputy Minister in the Government of Ukraine. From 2019 to 2025, she helped lead Ukraine’s digital transformation during both the COVID-19 pandemic and russia’s full-scale invasion.
During her tenure, she co-created the Diia ecosystem, including Diia.Education, Diia.Business and Diia.Hromada; led the development of WINWIN, Ukraine’s National Innovation Strategy; established CDTO Campus; launched the Global Government Technology Centre (GGTC Kyiv) within the World Economic Forum network; relaunched and coordinated UA participation in the Tallinn Mechanism; led strategic partnerships with big tech companies; co-led Ukraine’s EU accession negotiations on Chapter 10 Digital Transformation and Media.
Following her tenure in executive office, Valeriya continued working alongside Mykhailo Fedorov (Minister of Defence of Ukraine, 2026), supporting strategic initiatives in AI, innovation, defence transformation, aviation capability development, international partnerships and institutional reform.
Beyond public-sector transformation, Valeriya is building Pomplya & Friends, an AI-native educational universe helping children understand technology, AI, digital literacy and the future through stories, books, games and digital experiences.
She also advises and invests in founders building the next generation of AI, GovTech, robotics, education and health technologies.
Valeriya has been recognised among Ukraine’s and Europe’s emerging leaders by Mastercard Legacy, European Young Leaders (EYL40), Vogue Ukraine Leaders and UP100 Women. She was named to Sifted’s 100 Women in Tech (2025) and The Government AI 100 by Apolitical (2026). She is an ISF Fellow, Yale Peace Fellow, Senior Non-Resident Fellow at the Atlantic Council, Senior Fellow at Friends of Europe and a member of the Berlin Global Dialogue Advisory Council.
She is also the creator and host of FORWARD and the author of Government Freestyler (coming out in December 2026).
“I do not consult. I co-create.”