Ms Stela Solar

Stela Solar is the Director of the National Artificial Intelligence Centre, hosted by CSIRO's Data61. In this role, Stela is focused on building value for Australian people, businesses and the country, through use of Artificial Intelligence.

Over the past 15 years, Stela has cultivated expertise in capturing new revenue opportunities presented by emerging technologies and business model transformation. Stela is passionate about removing barriers to positive technology adoption and engagement. She leverages her broad experiences across business development, strategy, ecosystem development, marketing and product management to inform her insights surrounding cross-organizational factors affecting an organization’s ability to capture an advantage.

Prior to CSIRO, Stela most recently held the position of Global Director of AI Solutions Sales and Strategy at Microsoft, and before that was with channel partners Ingram Micro, Express Data, and web security startup M86.

Stela has recently returned to Australia from 7 years in the US technology industry. She has a Masters of Interaction Design and Electronic Arts from University of Sydney, and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of NSW. Outside of work, Stela enjoys competitive sailing and plays cello and piano.