Lyla Kohistany

GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY, MASTERS '16 | US NAVY

FOCUS AREA: LEADERSHIP & WOMEN'S EMPOWERMENT 

L yla served on active duty from 2001 to 2007 as a Naval Surface Warfare and Intelligence officer, deploying to Bagram in 2005 as a counter-terrorism analyst. An intelligence consultant from 2008 to 2013, she worked from the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, and U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM). Lyla served as the Cultural Advisor at the NATO Special Operations Component Command-Afghanistan. She currently consults for USSOCOM and the Cultural Intelligence Center. She’s also the President/Co-founder of PROMOTE, a nonprofit focused on mentorship and leadership development for women in Special Operations. Lyla holds a Bachelor’s from Penn State University and a Master’s from Georgetown University.