We are so excited to announce that Lauren Sato will be joining the team as our new CEO starting on January 6th! Lauren comes to Ada most recently from The Riveter, where she served as Vice President of Revenue. In addition to a variety of roles in technology and impact investing organizations, Lauren spent five years building YearUp Puget Sound, a workforce development program that served as a model for Ada in the early days.
As we were designing the interview process, we wanted to make sure it was as inclusive as possible, with a wide range of community voices represented. As such, we are grateful to the many members of the Ada community, alums, board and staff who actively participated in building the position profile, promoting the opportunity, and engaging during the interview process. The candidates we met represented a diverse array of backgrounds and lived and learned experiences. Hiring someone to represent Ada as our next CEO allowed us to make decisions that emphasized our values of equality and inclusion. It was amazing to see how passionate the candidates and community are about Ada’s future.
Board Member Rachel Klein shared these thoughts “Ada is an incredible organization, as evidenced by our successful alums, our strong industry partnerships, and our reputation in the field. As a Board, we have spent the last year building a strong foundation and strategic direction for the next several years, and I am confident that Lauren is the right person to help us continue our track record of success.”
Lauren wanted to be sure to share her perspective with the Ada community “I have been a huge fan of Ada since your inception, and consider it a true honor to have the opportunity to now lead this great work. The broader conversation around the importance of gender diversity in technology is at last making its way to the national stage, and with some of the strongest outcomes in the industry, Ada is well positioned to model the way forward.”
Lauren will take over the CEO role from our current Interim leader, Christine Martin, who joined Ada in January 2019 and has guided the team through this past year of transition. We appreciate Christine’s support and stewardship of Ada and the work of Ed Rogan at the Valtas Group for supporting the leadership search process.
We can’t wait to have Lauren meet the Adie community and will schedule a number of engagement opportunities for her early in 2020 so she can get connected, learn from each of you and understand the power and impact that Adies create in their work each day.
On behalf of the Ada Board and Staff, please join us in welcoming Lauren!