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Show Topic:
If you are aspiring entrepreneur, growth-focused founder, family business owners, and government and technology professional, you will value the Levys’ business and personal success stories, with guidance on how to manage a marriage and business simultaneously, creating boundaries with a home office, and showing mutual respect in the boardroom.
In this episode, host CMA’s David Ciullo discusses with Elma and Dov Levy, authors of the book Partners in Life and Work, candid advice on the ups and downs of entrepreneurship, while interweaving the world of tech start-ups, the American immigrant experience, and the realities of running a business with your life partner.
About The Guest:
Elma Levy is an entrepreneur, investor, leadership coach, and public speaker. Ms. Levy is co-founder and principal (with her husband Dov) of The Eldov Group, LLC, a boutique investment and startup advisory in the Washington, D.C. area. As an advisor to entrepreneurs, Ms. Levy provides advice on corporate governance, financial management, and tactical planning.
In 2000, Ms. Levy became the co-founder of Dovel Technologies, a company that builds and supports I.T. systems for the federal government. Over the next 18 years, she served as chief executive officer, and later as chair of the board, overseeing corporate governance and managing the company’s infrastructure development and growth through its 2019 acquisition.
Ms. Levy is a credentialed leadership, wellness and life skills coach, and founder of Coach To Strength LLC in Bethesda, Maryland. Ms. Levy completed George Mason University’s Leadership Coaching for Organizational Wellness program, Harvard Extension’s Leadership Coaching Strategies program through its Division of Continuing Education, and the Life Skills Coaching program through the Life Coach Institute.
Ms. Levy is actively involved in Washington, D.C., and Maryland community business, academic, and non-profit organizations. She is a member of the national advisory council for George Washington University’s School of Engineering (GW SEAS), and the advisory committee for the GWU SEAS Center for Women in Engineering.
She is a business mentor and professional development workshop presenter for the D.C. chapter of SCORE, and Chair of the Board of directors for Montgomery Hospice in Maryland. Before becoming an entrepreneur and business owner, Ms. Levy was a family nurse practitioner. She practiced healthcare and case management in the U.S., Israel, and the Netherlands.
Ms. Levy earned a BSN at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, and MSN and FNP certification at Marymount University in Arlington, Virginia. Ms. Levy and her husband Dov have two children, Mark and Karyn, and in 2020 they became first-time grandparents to Karyn’s daughter, Isabelle Marie. Born in the Netherlands, Ms. Levy relocated to Washington, D.C., in 1982 and is a U.S. citizen. Ms. Levy and her husband reside in Bethesda with their golden retriever named Rosie.
Dov Levy is an entrepreneur, investor, and leading expert in large-scale, mission-critical I.T. solutions. Mr. Levy is the co-founder of Dovel Technologies, a government I.T. contracting company, and currently serves as its chief technologist.
With his wife and co-founder, Elma Levy, Mr. Levy, who sold the company to PE in 2019, has been the technical catalyst for Dovel Technologies’ growth and innovation. He is a dynamic leader at the forefront of technological innovations.
Over the past three decades, Mr. Levy has served in technology leadership positions for the U.S. government’s most significant mission-critical projects, such as the EDGAR system for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the Defense Travel System (DTS) for the Department of Defense (DoD). Mr. Levy is co-founder and principal (with his wife Elma) of The Eldov Group, LLC, a boutique investment and startup advisory in the Washington, D.C., area.
Also, Mr. Levy is a senior advisor for GrantSolutions.gov, managing a large-scale implementation of cloud computing, event sourcing, machine learning, blockchain, and artificial intelligence. In 2018, the George Washington University’s School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS) inducted the Levys into the G.W. Engineering Hall of Fame for their sustained contributions as entrepreneurs, government consultants, and technology innovators.
Born in Israel, Mr. Levy is a U.S. citizen. Mr. Levy earned a bachelor’s degree in geodetic science from Tel Aviv University and relocated to Washington, D.C., to complete a master’s degree in computer science from George Washington