Katie McMahon

Katie McMahon is a trailblazing global tech executive and entrepreneur renowned for pioneering contributions to sound recognition and natural language understanding technologies. With over twenty years of experience, she has significantly shaped the mobile tech industry, especially during the rise of touch-screen smartphones. As Vice President at SoundHound Inc., McMahon was instrumental in launching Hound, a voice search and assistant app, and the Houndify platform, setting the stage for the voice-interface era. Her tenure at Shazam as Vice President of Business Development was marked by the iconic music recognition app’s meteoric rise to 2 billion installs and 70 billion queries, leading to its acquisition by Apple.

McMahon’s expertise spans from ideation and R&D to productization and market introduction. She has a proven track record in guiding early-stage tech companies to significant valuations, including SoundHound (Nasdaq: SOUN) and Shazam. Currently, she is an advisor and consultant focused on helping early-stage tech companies achieve product-market fit and mass-market adoption, with active roles at Neosensory, Native Voice, Valence Vibrations, NatureQuant, Wia, and Brainbaby Inc. She is also a member of the Berryville Institute of Machine Learning, emphasizing the safe, secure, and ethical development of AI technologies.

McMahon's educational background is as diverse and impressive as her professional journey. She graduated with high distinction from the University of Virginia in Political & Social Thought. Furthering her education, McMahon has completed courses at Stanford, M.I.T. Sloan, the London School of Economics and Political Science, and the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University. She is dedicated to understanding the impacts of rapidly evolving AI and technology on business, society, and humanity. Her leadership style, characterized by passion, inspiration, and integrity, has guided her through various roles, including advisor, board member, and senior executive, making significant strides in digital innovation and technology.