Kristen Hamilton

Kristen is currently CEO and co-founder of Koru.

She's an experienced entrepreneur. In 1997, she co-founded Onvia [NASDAQ: ONVI], the first online retailer for small businesses that went public in 2000 and remains a profitable publicly-listed business. While at Onvia, she built the company from zero to 500 employees, raised over $300 million of investment capital, and defined the company’s strategic direction. She also led the M&A team to acquire and integrate four private companies in two years, and negotiated relationships with strategic partners including AOL, Visa, and Bloomberg, as well as 45 business associations, including 26 Chambers of Commerce.

Hamilton has served as a startup advisor to CEOs at companies such as Altius Education, Livemocha, Remind101, and Knowmia develop business expansion, corporate development, international, and partnership strategies.

Previously, she served in senior roles at Microsoft, including global director educator strategy and marketing, and senior product planner, media devices. She honed her expertise in the digital education sector as chief operating officer of World Learning, a global non-profit education and development organization operating in over 60 countries.

Hamilton started her career as a director of MSI Consulting, where she created and implemented go-to-market and distribution channel strategies for technology clients including IBM, Microsoft, Digital, Compaq, Cisco and Oracle. She holds an Honors BA in business from The Ivey School of Business at The University of Western Ontario.