JAYE CONNOLLY-LABELLE

Jaye Connolly-LaBelle serves as chairman and chief executive officer of RippleNami, Inc., a global technology company that is redefining blockchain and mapping. RippleNami is dedicated to connecting to the unconnected through its proprietary, revolutionary visualization platform that consolidates big data, easily providing organizations and users with information that matters. In just under six months, RippleNami positively impacted 30+ million users (including farmers, women, children, refugees and veterans) in Africa and the United Kingdom.

Connolly-LaBelle brings more than 30 years of leadership experience to her role, which she garnered from various positions held in the finance and mergers and acquisitions areas, as well as in key C-level roles she served in at both private and publicly traded corporations. In her leadership role with RippleNami, she is responsible for the development and execution of the Company’s long-term strategy with an emphasis on creating shareholder value.

Connolly-LaBelle is experienced in leading publicly-traded as well as privately-held companies and start­ups. Her public company experience spans key roles at six publicly traded corporations. Over the course of her career, she led 18 accretive acquisitions, adding over $2 billion to revenue. Connolly-LaBelle also possesses significant IPO experience.

Previously, Connolly-LaBelle served as president and chief executive officer of PathCentral, Inc., which was acquired by XIFIN; president and chief executive officer of A-Life Medical Inc., which was acquired by UnitedHealth Group; vice president of business development and mergers and acquisitions at InSight Health Corp.; and director of internal audit at LabCorp.

RippleNami is an internationally recognized award-winning company. Since 2015, RippleNami received over fifty awards from top organizations such as Entrepreneur Magazine for America’s Best Company, Thomson Reuters for Africa Startup Challenge, International Business Awards for Data Visualization and Fast Company for Best Developing World Technology. RippleNami was selected to the Prosper Women Entrepreneurs Accelerator program, focused on increasing women entrepreneurs' access to growth capital and building the number of women investing in early-stage capital markets and Capital Innovators Accelerator program, one of the top 10 seed startup accelerator programs in the U.S.

In 2018, the Company and Connolly-LaBelle were named Most Admired CEO, Top 50 Influential Leader and Top 500 Business Leaders in San Diego; International Company of the Year; Company of Year; World’s Most Innovative Tech Start-ups; Innovation of the Year; Asia-Pacific Innovation in Apps; World Startup of the Year; International Business Team of the Year; Best Mapping Provider and Changing Africa.
In 2017, the Company and Connolly-LaBelle were named Business Women of the Year by San Diego Business Journal; CEO World Award winner in three categories of the 5th Annual 2017 CEO World Awards for Female CEO of the year; Corporate Social Responsibility Program; and Start-Up of the Year. RippleNami was a two-time gold winner in the 6th Annual Best of Biz® Awards for Corporate Social Responsibility and in the Silicon Valley US Awards for Female Executive of the Year. In addition, the Company and Connolly-LaBelle were named STEVIE® Award winner in two categories of the 14th Annual Stevie Awards for Women in Business: Start-Up of the Year and Best Product of the Year, STEVIE® Award winner in three categories of the 15th Annual American Business Awards: Best Data Visualization Technology, Executive of the Year and Women of the Year and in two categories of the 14th Annual American Business Awards: Startup of the Year and Tech Startup of the Year. Also in 2016, RippleNami was named STEVIE® Award winner in four categories of the 14th Annual International Business Awards: Best Data Visualization Technology; Startup of the Year; Corporate Social Responsibility Program of the Year; and Women of the Year and winner in three categories of the 13th Annual International Business Awards: Business Product Startup of the Year; Business Services Startup of the Year; and, Corporate Social Responsibility Program of the Year – in the Middle East and Africa. In addition, Connolly-LaBelle was named Business Women of the Year by the San Diego Business Journal, honoring the exceptional women who have made a difference in San Diego’s business, cultural and civic scene.

Furthermore, the Company was named a gold winner in the startup of the year category for information technology software of the 8th Annual Golden Bridge Awards® and two time winner in Best Product of the Year and Management Team of the year of the 9th Annual Golden Bridge Awards®.

In addition, the Company and Connolly-LaBelle earned three Stevie® Awards in the 2016 Stevie ®Awards for Women in Business competition for Business Product Startup of the Year; Female Executive of the Year; and Business Services Company of the Year. Connolly-LaBelle also was selected for the Women Who Mean Business Awards by the San Diego Business Journal, which recognizes dynamic women business leaders and role models who have contributed significantly to San Diego’s business landscape (in 2010 and 2015, Connolly-LaBelle was named among San Diego Business Journal’s Women Who Mean Business as well).

In 2010, Connolly-LaBelle was named Most Admired CEO by the San Diego Business Journal, and in 2009, she earned accolades as CFO of the Year in the Private Company category from the same publication. In 2010, on behalf of A­Life, she earned the "Innovation in Healthcare" ABBY Award from Adaptive Business Leaders, an organization that helps its member CEOs lead and grow successful companies. Other A-Life related accolades include the Red Herring North America Award in 2010 and under Connolly-LaBelle’s tutelage, that company was named to 2010 Inc. Magazine’s 5000 list of the fastest-growing, private companies in America.

In 2009, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2018, Connolly-LaBelle reached finalist status in the Athena Pinnacle Award program, which honors extraordinary women, men, companies, organizations and educators who personify Athena San Diego’s mission of fostering the personal and professional growth of women through mentoring, education, recognition and leadership training thereby enhancing competitiveness and opportunity for women in the San Diego business community.

Connolly-LaBelle earned her Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from Texas Tech University. For the past 15 years, she has served as board member and treasurer of Walden Family Services, a private, non-profit California corporation, founded in 1976 to provide quality care for abused and neglected children in residential group homes. Most recently, she joined the board as Promises2Kids, a leading nonprofit organization founded over 35 years ago as the Child Abuse Prevention Foundation.
She is a graduate of the FBI Citizen Academy and member of the Alumni Association, a nonprofit organization separate and apart from the FBI, which supports the community outreach efforts of the FBI by encouraging the development, growth and effectiveness of the chapters; and, serves as the official governing body, interface and liaison between FBI Headquarters and the chapters. Here, she supports community outreach for the underserved demographics. She is a member of the Financial Executive Network Group; San Diego Economic Development Roundtable; Adaptive Business Leaders; and, Kappa Kappa Gamma Alumni Association and has been cited as a Who’s Who in Managed Care.

Connolly-LaBelle is also a speaker and mentor for college and graduate women students headed into the workforce. She engages in this mentorship through programs at various colleges, including, University of San Diego, San Diego State, Claremont McKenna and University of California San Diego.