Kris Pennella

Kris Pennella serves as the Head of AI Portfolio Incubation & Innovation Solutions at Microsoft, leading a team focused on generative and intelligent AI software development. In addition, Kris holds the position of Managing Director at Golden Seeds, where involvement includes angel investing in women-led companies and contributions to the Due Diligence Committee for B2B Enterprise Services. At Ideate Co. LLC, Kris has been the CEO & Managing Director since 2013, providing advisory services for start-ups in their growth phases. Previous experience includes senior roles at Red Hat, where Kris directed strategic portfolio solutions and led innovation efforts. Additional leadership roles span multiple organizations, including financial oversight at THE POSTRGESQL.US ASSOCIATION and operational leadership at 2ndQuadrant. Kris began a career in food production as CEO and Founder of Little Pots & Pans Co., and held earlier positions in product development at Thomson Reuters and application development management at AIG. Education was obtained at Pratt Institute with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communication Design.