We’re thrilled to announce that Youssef Billawala has stepped into the role of Chapter Director at StandUp for Kids – Silicon Valley!
Youssef brings an incredible blend of innovation, leadership, and heart to this position. A seasoned product and program leader, leading cutting-edge initiatives at Apple across Siri, Spotlight, and Safari, with a focus on AI, machine translation, and online safety. His track record includes building safer, smarter technologies through large language models and leading transformational efforts in real-time search and multilingual systems.
Before Apple, Youssef served as Director of Research at Yahoo Labs, where he drove major advancements in personalization, recommendation systems, and user analytics. His journey began at Fluential Inc., managing speech-to-speech translation research and contributing to patents in machine learning and NLP.
Youssef holds a Ph.D. in Astrophysics from the University of Colorado Boulder and dual BAs in Physics and Astronomy from UC Berkeley. Since 2022, he has been a dedicated volunteer with StandUp for Kids, and now brings that same passion and strategic vision to lead our chapter forward.
Please join us in giving Youssef a warm welcome! We’re excited for the future ahead as we grow our impact together under his leadership.