Kirthiga Reddy is a founder, investor, and technology executive with more than twenty years of experience leading transformative, future-defining initiatives. She is the Co-Founder and CEO of OptimizeGEO, a pioneering Generative Engine Optimization company helping businesses thrive in the new era of AI-driven discovery. The company is backed by global thought leaders from Fortune1000 and startups alike, including Carolyn Everson, Stacy Brown-Philpot, Grady Burnett, Nuseir Yassin, Greg Kahn, Tawana Murphy Burnett, Mauria Finley and Shiv Singh.

Kirthiga is deeply committed to social impact. She founded the global movement AIKiran with INK Global Foundation in partnership with the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India. AIKiran’s mission is to empower a million women, youth and differently abled through mentorship, AI learning pathways, and community leadership.

Previously, Kirthiga was the first female Investing Partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers (SBIA), manager of the $100B+ SoftBank Vision Fund. At SBIA, she focused on frontier, enterprise, and health-tech investments while managing a portfolio of over $5B, and served on the Board of Directors for WeWork. She was also part of the Investment Committee for Emerge, a global accelerator supporting companies led by underrepresented founders.

Before SBIA, Kirthiga served for over six years as Managing Director, Facebook India & South Asia, beginning as Facebook’s first employee in India. She later held additional leadership roles overseeing key high-growth regions including Mexico, Brazil, Indonesia, South Africa, and the Middle East.

She has contributed to global business leadership as Former Chair of the Stanford Business School Management Board, and currently serves on the Board of Trustees of Syracuse University.

She was Founding Investment Partner at the F7 seed fund, supporting mission-driven founders shaping the future, and President of Athena Technology II, the third in a series of all-women-led SPACs dedicated to bringing exceptional leadership talent, access to capital, and transaction expertise to companies that are poised to become market leaders. She co-founded Liftery, an initiative focused on transforming the landscape for working women and accelerating the careers of ten million mothers.

Kirthiga holds an MBA from Stanford University, graduating with highest honors as an Arjay Miller Scholar; an M.S. in Computer Engineering from Syracuse University; and a B.E. in Computer Science from Marathwada University, India. She has been named to ADWEEK’s AI Power 50, Fast Company’s Most Creative People in Business, and Fortune India’s Most Powerful Women, among many other honors.