Kira Makagon

As a serial entrepreneur and business and technology leader, Kira dedicated her career to breaking new ground — both by creating cutting edge software products and by speaking up as a veteran “only woman in the room” in Silicon Valley.

In her current role as EVP RingCentral, the business communications platform, she is leading product strategy, product management, research & development, IT and operations teams spread across four continents. She is also a regular public speaker and blogger on LinkedIn, in the Huffington Post and at kiramakagon.com. Recently, Kira has been honored as one of the 2015 Most Influential Women in Business by the San Francisco Business Times and 2015 Women of Influence by the Silicon Valley Business Journal, as well as part of the 2015 Golden Bridge Business and Innovation Awards. She enjoy giving back by mentoring younger entrepreneurs and serving as an advisor to early-stage companies, including Illuminate Ventures, Yozio, Qubell, News360, 1 World Online and Airframe, where she is also a member of the Board of Directors.

Before RingCentral, Kira co-founded several technology companies, including Octane (acquired by E.piphany NASDAQ: EPNY) for $3.2 billion, and RedAril (acquired by Hearst). She also participated in two successful IPOs, at Scopus (NASDAQ: SCOP) and at RingCentral (NYSE: RNG).

Kira caught the computer bug as a teenager shortly after arriving in San Francisco with her parents, who were refugees from Ukraine. They believed strongly that she could do anything and gave her a gender-neutral childhood that included hockey games, chess club and math olympics.

Specialties: Entrepreneur, Product Strategy, Software Engineering, SaaS, Big Data, Leadership, Public speaking, Executive Management, Mentorship, Women in Tech, Business communications, CRM, Adtech, Corporate Development, Marketing