Andrea Kates // Team
Andrea Kates joined Soaring Ventures to expand the reach and impact of her expertise in business growth. Since 1989, Andrea led SUMA Partners, a consulting firm that focused on the “inside-out” DNA of a company and the “outside-in” market perspective with an emphasis on corporate expansion.
From finance to high-tech, in both business-to-business and consumer/retail arenas, Andrea was the principal in charge of more than 250 Fortune 500 Company global and national strategic projects (Royal Dutch Shell, Hewlett-Packard, Humana, Hyatt Hotels, Audi of America, KPMG, XO Communications, MCI/Worldcom, ATT/Cingular, Brinker International, Johnson & Johnson) and led smaller firms (ERGOS Technologies, Blue Lance, LifeSpex) through expansion stages to achieve hyper-growth through market expansion, joint venture and IPO.
Andrea has collaborated with industry leaders to produce and present innovative “road shows” (Oracle, IBM, Yankelovich, Fast Company) that feature rapid prototyping of business strategy. She is on the advisory board of ZEA, a Seattle-based consumer health company and is a member of TED, a global community dedicated to innovation in Technology, Entertainment and Design.
Andrea is an honors graduate of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and the Executive MBA program at University of Houston.