Kay Koplovitz Co-founder & Chairman, Springboard Enterprises

In 1999, Kay Koplovitz co-founded Springboard with the intention of tackling the founder pipeline and the investor challenges women-led businesses faced. This culminated in Springboard’s first demo day in 2000 where 22 out of the 26 participants received funding. Women helping women build their companies and create jobs is having an impact on our economy.

As Chairman of Springboard Enterprises, the nation’s premier platform for connecting women with venture capital, Kay spends much of her time and energy helping women find venture capital to fund their companies.

Chelsie Lee Alumna Speaker, NYFTLab ’19

Chelsie Lee is a Strategic Retail and Technology Executive who specializes in global and domestic business strategy and execution. Most notably credited as the founder of Shipsi, the technology platform serving as a conduit between last-mile delivery networks and providing retailers with same-day, next-day and scheduled delivery. Shipsi was acquired by Auctane, a Thoma Bravo company, in 2021.

Scope of expertise includes product innovation, sales and business development, go-to-market strategy, supply chain optimization, capital raising, marshaling the combined talent of a broad team of subject matter experts and executive leaders, buying/planning in corporate retail, and leading enterprise B2B sales teams in the retail technology sector.

Chelsie is a fierce advocate for identifying problems and leveraging high-impact growth strategies, as well as a frequent publisher of retail-focused thought leadership as seen in Nasdaq, Entrepreneur Magazine, The Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. She is a member of several founder centric communities, Techstars Alumni, Ernst and Young Entrepreneur Of The Year Nominee and honored as one of The Top 50 Leaders of Austin for 2022.