In this episode, Elya McCleave, Founder and CEO of Innovorg, shares her inspiring journey from frontline engineer to building one of the most forward-thinking workforce intelligence platforms in the digital infrastructure space. Drawing on 20 years of experience in cloud and data centers, Elya reveals how Innovorg is transforming how companies understand, develop, and empower their people.
Today’s guest, Elya McCleave, is the Founder and CEO of Innovorg, a workforce intelligence platform transforming how digital infrastructure companies manage skills, learning, and career growth.
Elya’s journey from operator to tech founder is one of vision, grit, and purpose — driven by her mission to help organizations and people evolve together in an era defined by rapid change.
She explains how Innovorg’s AI-powered platform delivers deep insights into skill gaps, training needs, and workforce optimization—enabling companies to drive performance, retention, and long-term talent development. From dynamic skills catalogs and on-demand content creation to leadership development and career pathing, Elya details how Innovorg helps organizations of all sizes—from startups to hyperscalers—scale their workforce with clarity and purpose.
Elya also offers a candid look at the industry’s most pressing talent challenges—from the aging workforce and AI disruption to the need for greater inclusion and clear expectations. Her vision for workforce intelligence is not just about technology—it’s about unlocking human potential across the digital infrastructure ecosystem and beyond.”
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About
Elya McCleave is the Founder and CEO of Innovorg, a pioneering workforce intelligence platform purpose-built for the Digital Infrastructure sector — the backbone of our connected world spanning data centers, cloud, and AI infrastructure.
With a career that bridges education, technology, and human performance, Elya has spent over a decade helping organizations unlock the full potential of their people. Before launching Innovorg, she worked with leading Digital Infrastructure companies, where she saw firsthand how quickly technology evolves — but how slowly workforce development keeps pace. That realization sparked her mission to build a smarter, data-driven way to manage skills, roles, and career growth across the global digital infrastructure ecosystem.
Under her leadership, Innovorg has grown from an idea into a trusted platform used by major operators worldwide, providing organizations with deep visibility into their workforce capabilities, closing critical skills gaps, and accelerating professional development at scale.
Beyond her role as CEO, Elya is passionate about empowering people through technology, reshaping learning for the real world, and building more inclusive, future-ready teams. Her journey as a solo parent and solo tech founder has shaped her resilience and empathy — qualities that define her leadership style and her belief that innovation starts with people, not systems.
