Kathryn Money is a strategic senior business executivewith 20 years of experience scaling consumer and retail businesses from early stage through IPO. Serving as CFO, COO & President and on the Executive Team, while reporting to CEOs for 16 years – she provides governance and a seasoned operator’s lens to the boardroom. Kathryn brings valuable insights gained from scaling operations, launching industry leading products, P&L oversight, and M&A executions. She works closely with founder-led CEOs and Boards, guiding companies through key inflection points, growth, product direction, and retail expansion. Kathryn is qualified to serve on a Board’s Audit Committee. 

Most recently, as SVP and Executive Leadership Team member at Brilliant Earth, Kathryn provided corporate governance and strategic direction across Merchandising and Retail Expansion for the leading retailer of ethically sourced jewelry – growing revenues 18X, from $25M to $445M. She led the launch of thousands of in-house designed products across multiple new categories, including differentiated mission-driven offerings such as blockchain and carbon-capture diamonds, the brand’s first patented iconic collection (for which she holds two design patents), and designs for a Jane Goodall collaboration. Under her leadership, the fine jewelry category generated 50X revenue growth. 

During her 10-year tenure, Kathryn scaled the business from an early-stage company with 35 employees—to a high growth business of 700 employees. She led omnichannel showroom expansion from 1 to 40 retail locations end-to-end, with a focus on ROI and disciplined capital and investment strategy. She held P&L responsibility, and through strategic operations, pricing, and cost optimization, her teams drove 1300 bps gross margin expansion post-IPO, delivering consistent quarterly profitability.

Notably, Kathryn served on the Executive Leadership Team through Brilliant Earth’s IPO, supporting IPO readiness including analyst calls, presentations and earnings guidance. Following IPO, she partnered with the Board on strategically maturing the business for public company governance and oversight. Kathryn advised the Board regularly on growth strategy, retail expansion, and product and design direction. As an ELT member, she worked on operational initiatives, succession planning, reporting, and communications. She also served as a company spokesperson, articulating the brand’s value proposition and serving as a trend and product expert during media interviews. 

Prior to Brilliant Earth, Kathryn served as CFO and COO & President at earlier stage consumer companies – where she led end-to-end business building and scaling, providing governance, and risk management—overseeing P&L, finance, capital allocation, forecasting, strategy, and operational execution. As CFO of Orion Telescopes & Binoculars, she spearheaded an acquisition strategy to significantly grow the business and expand into new categories. Under her leadership, Orion saw growth of ~13% CAGR. 

Previously, as COO & President of founder-led jeweler, Melissa Joy Manning, Kathryn led all aspects of business operations, strategic and financial planning, business development, and people. 

Kathryn led a bold ecommerce strategy, launching a digital DTC business that reshaped the company’s wholesale model and generated 10% of revenue in its first year. Under her leadership, the company achieved 135% sales growth and 900 bps gross margin expansion. 

Kathryn brings a foundation in financial and data-driven analysis, grounded in her early career in investment banking (M&A) at SG Cowen and middle-market private equity at DB Capital (PE arm of Deutsche Bank). She completed 7 transactions across business models and industries. She serves as Board Member of Women for Women International, where she sits on the Audit and Finance Committees. Kathryn enjoys traveling, alpine and backcountry skiing, hiking, trail running, and music. She was recently certified as a NOLS Wilderness First Responder, and is currently recording her debut album in the Americana music genre.