Former CareerOne boss Karen Lawson has been appointed CEO of corporate startup accelerator Slingshot, following a five-month stint as the company’s head of innovation for it corporate scaleup program.
Slingshot connects startups and entrepreneurs with large corporates to accelerate commercial outcomes. Over 50 startups have participated in the company’s programs, which have achieved a combined market capitalisation in excess of $60 million.
Lawson has over a decade of experience working in executive roles within Australia’s technology sector. Prior to serving as the CEO of online job marketplace CareerOne, Lawson worked as Yahoo!7’s General Manager of Business Development and Partnerships.
She also has received a number of accolades, including BRW’s Most Innovative Company 2014, UN Women’s Entrepreneurship Ambassador, and Australian Growth Company 2015
“Over my career, I’ve learned the importance of reinvention and innovation and how it can make or break a legacy business,” she said.
“Slingshot plays a unique role in helping corporates innovate. Driving transformation is extremely challenging. It starts with us building the innovation capital within a business. Startups bring ideas, corporates bring scale. Enabling collaboration between these huge forces in our economy is how we turn ideas into impact, on a global scale.”
Craig Lambert, Cofounder, Slingshot welcomed Lawson’s appointment: “As our business grows and the opportunity expands, its critical our leadership reflects the original values and passion for the innovation space. Karen is all those things and more.”