KATHERINE LONDERGAN
Hi, I’m Katherine. I’ve worn many hats from Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) to CEO and consultant to investor. It's a privilege to wear the hat of coach for our Founder to Leader clients in their relationships with employees, investors, customers and partners—to help them grow themselves and their businesses. As a pre-med dropout and citizen science-nerd, I am always humbled the impactful and scalable technology solutions our clients are building.
MY STORY
My education started with undergrad at Georgetown, continued with owning several franchise-like sales and marketing territories with Vector Marketing / Cutco Cutlery, then landed me at Babson for an MBA in Entrepreneurship. It felt like home. Leaving Babson I had my first co-founder experience as CEO of a probiotic drink, and confirmed I love company building. I’ve worked with entrepreneurs in various roles ever since as an investor, advisor, partner agency, CXO, and more. It has become the most significant thread in my career.
FINDING ENTREPRENEURSHIP
HONING A CRAFT IN BRAND + BUSINESS DESIGN AT IDEO
The next phase of my career included stints at two marketing agencies: Arnold Worldwide doing brand and business strategy, then digital agency Genuine Interactive (now Interpublic Group) helping scale the company and deliver digital marketing strategy for clients.
I spent the next decade at innovation consultancy IDEO, co-leading the Venture Design practice globally. There, I led the design of new products, services and ventures and incubated companies like PillPack (acquired by Amazon) and other tech, B2B and bio ventures. From this work, I also created entrepreneurship and innovation curricula for business and government clients. Everything we did at IDEO was driven by human-centered design and deep empathy for people’s experiences. This is something I try to use every day, in every role I’ve touched since.
For about four years, I served as Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at Zapata AI, a quantum computing and generative AI software company. This role entailed positioning (and repositioning) the company and our offerings, building a high-growth team, hiring/managing our partner agencies, communicating to various stakeholders (customers, partners, investors, and most importantly, employees), and more. Perhaps the largest challenge was storytelling about a difficult technology and the difference it could make in our world.
CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER AT ZAPATA AI
Whether as an operator, consultant, or coach, my roles have always centered on building and growing companies—often in close partnership with the CEO. In addition to Founder to Leader, current roles include leading a growth program for women CEOs with C200, advising on investments for Palm Venture Studios, and growth and innovation consulting for startups and large enterprises. I also periodically teach executive education in innovation and entrepreneurship with Babson and The Kellogg School of Management.
TODAY: HELPING CEOs GROW
BECOMING YOUR COACH
Jaye, the Founder to Leader team, and I share a passion for helping founders build human-first ventures. I’ve been coaching our clients on general leadership and communication as well as questions like: How do I design and deliver my team offsite? How can I improve my pitch deck? How can I articulate our company’s purpose? What should I consider in naming, positioning and messaging about my company externally? I look forward to helping you and your company grow so that you may deliver on your purpose.