As the first CEO to take over Ruby’s leadership from its founder, Kate had some big shoes to fill. Jill Nelson, thank you for an amazing 17 years!

Kate comes to Ruby having spent 25 years in the technology sector having successfully guided both small and large businesses through various stages of growth wearing just about every c-level hat.  As a small business leader herself, Kate fell in love with Ruby’s purpose driven mission to help small businesses survive and thrive through real human connections, so Ruby was a perfect fit.

With small business at the heart of our economy and core to the foundation of our local communities, Kate knows that Ruby’s mission is more important than ever. No plans to recreate Ruby’s purpose, Kate seeks to double down on the human connection and reinforce Ruby’s founding vision by using technology as a super power to enable our Rubys to be that stellar first impression and empower them to build trust and foster long-term relationships between our customers and their clients in a hundred different ways.

Equally committed to Ruby’s culture, Kate believes that the best organizations are decentralized with passionate leaders working together in company-wide collaboration driven by a holistic sense of pride and ownership. In other words, Kate doesn’t think of Ruby as her company — it’s everybody’s company. You have her commitment that Ruby will continue to discover new ways in which we can help small business owners achieve their biggest dreams.

Stephanie has always been a people person. Which is a good thing, considering she now oversees the hundreds of people that make up our Services, Customer Success, People Operations and IT teams … essentially, the teams that deliver our best in class service and support, and the teams that support a Ruby along their employee journey.

Throughout her career, Stephanie has served in executive roles in customer success, business operations and people leadership, with a proven track record for driving growth and development for successful start-up companies. Part of what drew Stephanie to Ruby was it’s distinctive people-first operating philosophy: engaged and empowered employees are more likely to deliver a customer experience that makes a difference to the tens of thousands of small businesses utilizing Ruby’s products and services. It is Stephanie’s passion and personal mission to make sure Ruby never wavers from its signature people-centric approach as she continues to implement new practices and programs to help the business grow and scale.

A born-and-bred New Yorker, Stephanie and her family have made their way west from Washington D.C., and now happily call the Pacific Northwest home.

Jace is not your average accounting focused CFO. He’s an analytical-minded creative with a penchant for business intelligence and an eye toward the future — not the next step, the next two steps.

While spreadsheets and KPIs are part of the job, for Jace, they are only as good as the story they tell. That’s why his first order of business when joining Ruby was building a business intelligence team and data machine that delivers real-time insights, empowering Ruby to do more for its small-business customers while investing into technology and scaling the employee culture that drives the main quality differentiator of the legendary Ruby service.

Having started his career at Intel through several strategic Finance positions, he then pivoted to lead finance at a flash sales retail start-up that had to reinvent its marketing tactics and merchandise assortment on a daily basis, all through leveraging data analytics.  Jace knows a thing or two about growing a human-powered tech company.  And as he seeks new ways to expand what Ruby can do for small business, Jace uses his metrics to ensure Ruby decisions are not just driven by the data — but driven by the heart.

Inspired by Ruby’s mission to create real, meaningful, personal connections in today’s increasingly technology-focused, virtual world, Katharine seeks innovative ways to use products and technology to close the virtual distance that separates us all — and make the world a smaller place.

To the traditionally tech-minded, Katharine’s approach seems ironic for someone who leads product and technology. To Ruby, it’s the driving force behind rebuilding its technology from the ground up to improve features and functionality and empower small businesses to foster long-lasting customer relationships through genuine, personal interactions.   

While Katharine’s career path has been varied – from a software engineer to an international MBA at Oxford University to product management roles at AAA and Ancestry.com (and a two brief stints as a small business owner)) — her affinity for organizations that aim to help others has been constant. And it’s a mission she holds true in her personal life as well: Recipient of the first-ever PDX Women in Technology Awards, Katharine has been recognized as the Best Contributor for her work with PDXWIT, App Camp for Girls and the PDX Mentorship Program.

Rebecca is an expert in building and leading teams through unparalleled growth. She has spent her career leading sales and marketing teams, building go-to-market strategies, launching new products and scaling businesses across functional, business and geographic boundaries. Rebecca leads with a human-first approach and has been loyal to small businesses since working for an independent optometrist in high school. Naturally, Ruby was a perfect fit – for a number of reasons from the culture, to the values, and the mission to help small businesses survive and thrive.

As the head of sales and marketing, Rebecca is responsible for creating awareness around Ruby’s unique offerings and their intrinsic value for small businesses. Through partnerships with relevant business associations, Rebecca not only builds deep connections with the small business communities Ruby serves, she continually looks for new ways to address their challenges, meet their needs and help them be successful at every stage of their business journey.

Rebecca’s passion for driving success and giving back extends into her off-hours as well. In addition to her philanthropic work for the American Cancer Society and supporting several local charities in her hometown, she recently co-founded and launched a Chicago-based non-profit called Building Up, a professional community of women for women dedicated to building each other up through mentoring, education, knowledge sharing and giving.

As the first CEO to take over Ruby’s leadership from its founder, Kate had some big shoes to fill. Jill Nelson, thank you for an amazing 17 years!

Kate comes to Ruby having spent 25 years in the technology sector having successfully guided both small and large businesses through various stages of growth wearing just about every c-level hat.  As a small business leader herself, Kate fell in love with Ruby’s purpose driven mission to help small businesses survive and thrive through real human connections, so Ruby was a perfect fit.

With small business at the heart of our economy and core to the foundation of our local communities, Kate knows that Ruby’s mission is more important than ever. No plans to recreate Ruby’s purpose, Kate seeks to double down on the human connection and reinforce Ruby’s founding vision by using technology as a super power to enable our Rubys to be that stellar first impression and empower them to build trust and foster long-term relationships between our customers and their clients in a hundred different ways.

Equally committed to Ruby’s culture, Kate believes that the best organizations are decentralized with passionate leaders working together in company-wide collaboration driven by a holistic

sense of pride and ownership. In other words, Kate doesn’t think of Ruby as her company — it’s everybody’s company. You have her commitment that Ruby will continue to discover new ways in which we can help small business owners achieve their biggest dreams.

Stephanie has always been a people person. Which is a good thing, considering she now oversees the hundreds of people that make up our Services, Customer Success, People Operations and IT teams … essentially, the teams that deliver our best in class service and support, and the teams that support a Ruby along their employee journey.

Throughout her career, Stephanie has served in executive roles in customer success, business operations and people leadership, with a proven track record for driving growth and development for successful start-up companies. Part of what drew Stephanie to Ruby was it’s distinctive people-first operating philosophy: engaged and empowered employees are more likely to deliver a customer experience that makes a difference to the tens of thousands of small businesses utilizing Ruby’s products and services. It is Stephanie’s passion and personal mission to make sure Ruby never wavers from its signature people-centric approach as she continues to implement new practices and programs to help the business grow and scale.

A born-and-bred New Yorker, Stephanie and her family have made their way west from Washington D.C., and now happily call the Pacific Northwest home.

Jace is not your average accounting focused CFO. He’s an analytical-minded creative with a penchant for business intelligence and an eye toward the future — not the next step, the next two steps.

While spreadsheets and KPIs are part of the job, for Jace, they are only as good as the story they tell. That’s why his first order of business when joining Ruby was building a business intelligence team and data machine that delivers real-time insights, empowering Ruby to do more for its small-business customers while investing into technology and scaling the employee culture that drives the main quality differentiator of the legendary Ruby service.

Having started his career at Intel through several strategic Finance positions, he then pivoted to lead finance at a flash sales retail start-up that had to reinvent its marketing tactics and merchandise assortment on a daily basis, all through leveraging data analytics.  Jace knows a thing or two about growing a human-powered tech company.  And as he seeks new ways to expand what Ruby can do for small business, Jace uses his metrics to ensure Ruby decisions are not just driven by the data — but driven by the heart.

Inspired by Ruby’s mission to create real, meaningful, personal connections in today’s increasingly technology-focused, virtual world, Katharine seeks innovative ways to use products and technology to close the virtual distance that separates us all — and make the world a smaller place.

To the traditionally tech-minded, Katharine’s approach seems ironic for someone who leads product and technology. To Ruby, it’s the driving force behind rebuilding its technology from the ground up to improve features and functionality and empower small businesses to foster long-lasting customer relationships through genuine, personal interactions.  

While Katharine’s career path has been varied – from a software engineer to an international MBA at Oxford University to product management roles at AAA and Ancestry.com (and a two brief stints as a small business owner)) — her affinity for organizations that aim to help others has been constant. And it’s a mission she holds true in her personal life as well: Recipient of the first-ever PDX Women in Technology Awards, Katharine has been recognized as the Best Contributor for her work with PDXWIT, App Camp for Girls and the PDX Mentorship Program.

Rebecca is an expert in building and leading teams through unparalleled growth. She has spent her career leading sales and marketing teams, building go-to-market strategies, launching new products and scaling businesses across functional, business and geographic boundaries. Rebecca leads with a human-first approach and has been loyal to small businesses since working for an independent optometrist in high school. Naturally, Ruby was a perfect fit – for a number of reasons from the culture, to the values, and the mission to help small businesses survive and thrive.

As the head of sales and marketing, Rebecca is responsible for creating awareness around Ruby’s unique offerings and their intrinsic value for small businesses. Through partnerships with relevant business associations, Rebecca not only builds deep connections with the small business communities Ruby serves, she continually looks for new ways to address their challenges, meet their needs and help them be successful at every stage of their business journey.

Rebecca’s passion for driving success and giving back extends into her off-hours as well. In addition to her philanthropic work for the American Cancer Society and supporting several local charities in her hometown, she recently co-founded and launched a Chicago-based non-profit called Building Up, a professional community of women for women dedicated to building each other up through mentoring, education, knowledge sharing and giving