Kathy Leake

Kathy Leake is a four-time AI founder, board director, and growth-focused operator who has built and scaled companies from inception to more than 100 million dollars in revenue, delivering 8x returns to shareholders. She brings 18 years of combined operator and board experience across PE-backed, VC-funded, and pre-IPO companies, with a consistent focus on accelerating value creation through targeted scaling, strategic M&A, and AI-led transformation.

Kathy currently serves on multiple boards, including Shipwell, a leader in AI-powered transportation management systems; Everyrealm, an Andreessen Horowitz backed pioneer in virtual worlds and web3 experiences; and Dimension Renewable Energy, a private equity backed renewables platform where she has helped drive AI and data initiatives in community solar and predictive maintenance. She is also a Partner at Alpha, an AI governance firm, and an Entrepreneur in Residence with Evvolve & Partners and Forum Ventures, where she focuses on operationalizing AI for high-impact business use cases, including predictive maintenance in solar energy and next-generation AI infrastructure.

As a CEO and founder, Kathy has built and led multiple AI and data companies through high-growth and exit stages. Most recently, she was CEO and board member of Crux Intelligence, a voice and generative AI "ChatGPT for enterprise" insights platform. Previously, she served as interim CEO and board member at Trendalytics, a predictive analytics company for retail, and was CEO, co-founder, and board chair of Qualia, a big data, cross-device intelligence platform processing petabyte-scale signals and mapping hundreds of millions of devices. Earlier, she co-founded Dstillery, where she led positioning, strategy, and go-to-market, scaling the company from pre-revenue to 20 million dollars in revenue and a 100 million dollar valuation in two years.

Kathy's value in the boardroom centers on four strengths: driving transformational growth through scaling, strategic M&A, and go-to-market excellence; leading AI and digital transformation that unlock competitive advantage and operational efficiency; bringing a broad, multi-stage perspective grounded in entrepreneurial execution and emerging technologies; and coupling deep operator experience with nearly two decades of board service. Her work has been widely recognized, including being named one of Forbes' "Top 11 Women Who Started Amazing Companies," earning Forbes "America's Most Promising Companies" recognition for two companies, ranking on the Inc. 500 as one of America's fastest-growing companies and the third fastest-growing NYC company led by a female CEO, a VentureBeat "Top Women in AI" nomination in the Responsible AI category, inclusion in TechCrunch's "40 People Who Are Living Proof You Can Make It in Silicon Valley After 40," and recognition by Owler as one of the top-ranked CEOs in New York.

Kathy began her career in global advertising and digital agencies within the Omnicom and WPP networks, including roles at TBWA/Chiat Day, DDB Needham, Ogilvy & Mather, Red Sky Interactive, and Agency.com, working across Los Angeles, Prague, San Francisco, London, and New York City. She holds a BS in Business Administration and Management from the University of Southern California.