As a Xennial, born with an analog childhood, and digital adulthood, Leesa Soulodre is a serial entrepreneur who has invested her lifetime on the frontiers of DeepTech pioneering, digital transformation and innovation. Leesa has served over 400+ multinationals and many startups in 19 sectors across Europe, the Asia-Pacific, and the Americas.

In Founder and CxO leadership roles, Leesa had led companies from seed to USD 14B into new markets, pioneered deep technology, accelerated top lines before exits, and supported the raising of over USD200M in Seed to Series C investments. She has had one IPO, supported several successful exits and knows the hard knocks of lessons learned.

As Founder and General Partner of R3i Capital and R3i Ventures, Soulodre supports many of the world's most promising early-stage deep tech companies in accelerating their growth.

With her purpose to "make a difference", Leesa has had 15+ years of Digital Director and Board Advisory experience in the not-for-profit, academic and private sectors. Today Leesa serves on the boards of R3i, the Australian not-for-profit, RunwayHQ and the Artificial Intelligence Asia Pacific Institute. She is also the Board Advisor/Observer to her portfolio companies. Leesa empowers her boards with best-practice corporate reputation strategies, risk management, cyber governance, digital transformation and market access acceleration.

Leesa has held three government-appointed advisory roles: as an Expert Evaluator for the European Research Agency Horizon2020 Fund for SME ICT Disruption, as Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR) to the Canadian High Commission Tech Accelerator in Singapore, and the Australian High Commissioners' Landing Pad in Singapore. Leesa has served as an international Ambassador for the Australian CSIRO (Commonwealth Science and Industrial Research Organization) IC Global Network. Today she supports the IEEE Entrepreneurship network.

Leesa has been a career-long champion of women through her engagement in 2XCollaborative, Beyond the Billion, Women in VC, GMI3D, Women in Technology, 30% Club and Women on Boards. As a Partner of She Loves Tech, Soulodre owns the long-term organizing licenses for Western Europe, Nordics, Southern Europe, Monaco, Switzerland, Korea and Japan - and the Community licenses in the US, Canada, UK, Australia, Taiwan and New Zealand. She Loves Tech is a platform designed to level the playing field for female founders in securing access to capital.

A Post Graduate lecturer for over a decade, Leesa serves as a Clinical Professor of Practice on the MBA and EMBA Programs of SMU Cox Business School, Singapore Management University, IE Business School and SMU Executive Education. She has served as a lecturer in the future of hospital management, cyber risk governance and digital transformation in the SMU - Singapore Institute of Directors Program and the digital transformation of the Singapore Government SMU - Civil Service College Innovation Programme. She has also served as an International Ambassador for the Australian CSIRO (The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) IC Global Research network.

Leesa holds a Global Executive MBA from TRIUM ( NYU, HEC, & LSE) and a Master in Management (Marketing) from USQ. She studied Sports Marketing, Sustainability Strategies, Risk Management, and Technology Entrepreneurship at Wharton, Harvard, the Australian Graduate School of Management, and Stanford University.

Leesa is a Certified Reputation Manager of the Reputation Institute, Member of the Global Association of Risk Professionals, TBLI Group, and Global Women-VC.

Awards

• F4S Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2021

• F4S Media Amplifier Award 2021

• F4S Celebrator of Uniqueness Award 2021 - The community member who includes and actively embraces the uniqueness and diversity of others in their words and actions.

• TBLI Hero, Netherlands, 2020 - a Family Office network industry award highlights those who consistently sacrifice to create an economy based on well-being.
• High Commendation Australian Alumni Singapore, Singapore, 2016
• High Commendation - USQ Alumnus of the Year Awards, University of Southern Queensland, Australia, 2016
• Doing Business in Asia Awards, Scholarships Australia, Melbourne, 2015
• Deans Teaching Honor Roll, Singapore Management University, Singapore, 2014
• Innovation Finalist, Women in Technology Awards UK, London, 2011
• Building Brand Awareness, Telstra Corporation, UK, London, 2008
• Board Readiness, Women in Technology Lifetime Achiever Awards, Brisbane, 2004
• Quantum Leap, National Sales Award, Telstra Corporation, Sydney, 2000