Meet 10 Amazing COOs For Your Board
From optimizing production to creating high-level strategies to overseeing organization.
From optimizing production to creating high-level strategies to overseeing organization-wide initiatives to ensuring the company is reaching its maximum potential - the COO is responsible for knowing, overseeing, and integrating with every line of business in their organization.
So, when it comes to holding a board role, COOs tend to be some of the most well-rounded and prepared for the multi-functional role, already playing the part on a daily basis.
And now more than ever, experienced operators at the board level are in high demand with companies needing to pivot quickly to address unprecedented business decisions and market instability.
Who’s on YOUR list of Top 10 COOs?
Let us know by recommending more exceptional and diverse candidates to theBoardlist today!
Meet 10 Amazing COOs For Your Board
Click on the candidate below to learn more about their background and get connected.
With over a decade of experience leading, building, and selling companies in software technology, Ada has established herself as a SaaS and growth strategy expert. In 2011, Ada founded Connected, a contact management startup backed by Trinity Ventures, Ignition Partners, and 500 Startups, which was acquired by LinkedIn that same year and eventually relaunched as LinkedIn’s current Contacts interface. As a serial entrepreneur Ada is currently founding a new startup, Notejoy, now available for private beta users. She also advises multiple startups on marketing, SaaS, and growth strategy, and is a 500 Startups and Reforge Growth Mentor. Prior to Notejoy, she was the Senior Vice President of Marketing at SurveyMonkey reporting directly to the CEO and lead the Product Marketing team at LinkedIn.
With 8 recommendations from other theBoardlist community members, including from the founder of Lyft and COO’s at Dropbox and Twitter, Claire is described as “an incredible executive with range” and having “deep digital expertise.” Spending over 10 years at Google in various executive roles, Claire has been responsible for acquiring and serving thousands of advertisers and partners, and for commercializing new product areas for Google that reached billions of consumers while operating at a global scale and managing budgets into the billions of dollars. Currently, the COO at Stripe, Claire oversees the online payment company with over 1 million clients and over 13,000 transactions every second. Claire has also been a director on Hallmark’s board since 2013 and is a Trustee at Milton Academy.
Francoise was named the first COO at Pinterest in 2018, more than 8 years after the company initially launched. Arriving at Pinterest after 4 years as the Global Business Lead at Square and double that time at Google leading global operations, Francoise undoubtedly aided in the company’s massive scaling and advertising platform growth. Francoise’s career paved an international trail including Europe, Japan, South Pacific, and the United States, equipping her with a global perspective and skill set. Currently, a board member for Sodexo, a facilities management company that operates in 80 countries and serves 75 million consumers each day.
Lisa spent over 13 years in Paris as the NYSE’s COO Europe and Head of European Market Services & Trading where she managed an over $1B net portfolio. Her global experience then led her to the COO & Managing Director role of BlackRock's Global Technology and Operations Group where she managed another over $1B portfolio of global technology, client service, investment operations, and data services teams. Now the COO of Dimensional Fund Advisors, Lisa has previously held several board positions including at SmartPool Trading Limited.
With 6 years in leadership roles at American Express, followed by over 8 years in executive management at Google, Lexi stepped into the COO role at Gusto with an established background in business strategy, operational leadership, product development, marketing, and customer acquisition. Coming up on 6 years at Gusto, Lexi is largely responsible for the company’s immense growth and profitability, including serving over 100,000 small businesses, reaching over $1 billion in revenue, and earning awards from the best place to work, to Forbes Fintech Top 50. Lexi has a passion for helping create more accessible STEM programs for young girls and is a vocal advocate for diversity and inclusion.
With Google virtually in the backyard of her alma mater, Stanford University, Maureen opted to start her career with them in their New York office, going from an Associate role to Chief of Staff in just under 3 years. In 2009, along with former Google executive and new CEO, Tim Armstrong, Maureen headed over to AOL where she spent the next 5 years reinventing and expanding the brand’s portfolio to not only become one of Google’s key network competitors but also helped launched the MAKERS Women brand. Maureen went on to become COO at the fashion platform, Rent the Runway, managing programming, product, and engineering, as well as overseeing strategy, partnerships, and operations. Currently, Maureen is the President and COO at Heyday, a skincare company with locations in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and New York City.
Meera currently leads Product, Technology, Media, Supply Chain, and Global Member Services for TechStyle Fashion Group's (TFG) Portfolio of Brands which includes Fabletics, Savage x Fenty, JustFab, Shoedazzle, and FabKids. Prior to TFG, Meera was Chief Operating Officer at Stella & Dot and held executive roles at LinkedIn, Expedia, and Microsoft all focused on operational excellence. Meera is also a board member for Owler, a community-based business information and insights platform.
Concurrent with her President & COO roles at buybuy BABY, Meka also served as the Chief Customer Experience Officer and Head of Business Development for Bed Bath & Beyond, their parent company. Meka led the rapid growth of buybuy BABY from 8 stores at the time of acquisition to the #1 baby retailer in North America with 135 locations and over 5,000 associates. In 2018, Meka became a National Association of Corporate Directors Governance Fellow, as well as a Senior Advisor for McKinsey & Company and currently serves on the board of directors for Nanit, Party City, Public Storage and Neiman Marcus.
New Zealand born, Sara began her career managing partnerships and strategy for the country’s primary telecommunications provider and online company before joining Microsoft and splitting time between London and Seattle. After 5 successful years at Microsoft Sara made her way to Silicon Valley where she’s held executive roles at LinkedIn, Pandora and now Twitch as their Chief Operating Officer. Sara has extensive board experience (advisor and member) beginning in 2015 and currently serves on the boards of Duolingo and Hootsuite.
Tekedra has led global teams across five continents at eBay, Yahoo, AOL, Startec, and now, Waymo, an autonomous vehicle technology company. Tekedra is a social impact-focused angel investor and an LP with Operator Collective. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for Intuit, and on the Advisory Board for Lyte. Tekedra has been publicly recognized several times including earning the “Top 20 in 2020 Influential Women in Mobility” by Vulog and as one of the most influential black leaders in corporate America by Savoy magazine in 2020 and 2019. She was named a Visionary Leader by ALM and InsideCounsel in 2016, and a Tech Titan by Washingtonian magazine in 2015.
Who’s on YOUR list of the Top 10 COOs?
Recommend more exceptional and diverse candidates to theBoardlist today!