CEOX was formed in 2019 to confront the challenge no other organization is taking on: gender equity in the CEO seat.

While many organizations support women in leadership or the boardroom, no single organization is working to progress women in the CEO role – which is critical to ensuring that women can not only rise but reach the highest levels of leadership. The CEO seat is the real broken rung that hinders success for women at every level. 

We are a mission-driven and community-oriented organization. Since our founding, CEOX has partnered with leading VC firms to change the faces of C-suite leadership.

We have placed dozens of CEOs, C-Suite and board roles, and supported hundreds of women in their career journeys.

Luann Abrams

Founder & CEO

Luann Abrams is the founder of CEOX, an organization whose mission is to elevate women into CEO and board roles. She is a partner in The Abrams Group, advising, investing in, and supporting the people, companies and causes that will “leave it better.” Prior to starting CEOX, she ran FoundersPad, an early-stage venture fund with a dedicated mentorship program in Bend, OR. She was the inaugural member of the Women in STEAM group led by the Technology Association of Oregon (TAO), whose mission is to support and encourage women in male-dominated industries for a gender-balanced future. She is a founding board member of Strengthening Central Oregon Political Action Committee (SCOPAC) with the mission of recruiting and supporting under-represented groups to run for political office.

Luann has a background in aerospace engineering and spent most of her 15 years in aviation working for a start-up aircraft company in Bend, OR. Here she led the certification engineering program at Columbia Aircraft where she oversaw the certification of several aircraft models and ensured that all designs met applicable regulations. Due to her diligence and integrity she was granted the authority to sign off on regulatory compliance on behalf of the FAA prior to aircraft delivery.

When she is not working and living the Bend life with her husband and two sons, you will find her curled up with a good book and a hot cup of coffee. 

Invite Luann to speak at your next event to inspire and educate your entire company about the value of women leaders.

Renee Hartmann

Partner, CEOX Europe

Renee has worked as a brand owner, retail operator, consumer researcher and branding and market entry strategist for the last 25 years, with a specialty in helping consumer brands expand internationally. 

Renee is based in Portugal and is the Co-Founder of CLA, which counsels luxury and consumer brands on international expansion and strategy, ranging from market entry to consumer research and digital engagement. The company has a deep background with the China market and Asia. 

Renee also serves as an advisor at Coresight Research, helping retail clients accelerate growth and innovation around the intersection of technology and retail. Renee is also a Co-Founder of C2 Collective, advising early-stage startups on go to market strategies, fundraising and growth acceleration. 

Renee was previously COO of the Shanghai-based streetwear brand, Eno, which was named one of the ten Most Innovative Companies by Fast Company. She started the investor relations practice for Ogilvy & Mather China, and was an equity research associate at Putnam Investments covering the consumer and retail sector. 

Renee holds a BBA from Emory University’s Goizueta School of Business, and an MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.  She holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation, and was named one of CNN’s “Top 20 People to Watch in Shanghai” in 2010. Renee serves on the Asia Pacific Board of Advisors for Duke University, is a board member of the Dual Immersion Foundation and a Member of the Virtual Advisory Board. 

Joanna Furlong

Executive communication strategist

Joanna Furlong is an executive communication strategist, thought leadership coach, and writer. She guides executives and entrepreneurs in discovering and owning their voice, message, and values. In today’s fast-paced world, having a compelling and consistent brand is crucial to attract and engage the right audience – it all begins with knowing your thought leadership pillars and confidently sharing your distinct perspective with the world.

Joanna has spent more than 15 years in a variety of marketing and communications roles, driving brand cohesion, sales enablement, executive communications, and content for venture-backed startups and small to medium-sized businesses in diverse industries. Throughout her career, C-suite executives have consistently relied on Joanna to provide candid feedback and transform their ideas into compelling stories for all audiences and purposes, from speeches to communications with boards, venture capitalists, and the media. Joanna previously led marketing and communications for Athena Alliance, a virtual community for the top executive women in business. She is based in San Diego, California. 

Lori Heino-Royer

Senior advisor

Lori started her career as an accountant, when she quickly realized that she was more interested in delivering results than accounting for them. In her nearly 20 years at Daimler Trucks she held executive roles in technology, strategy and innovation. She advises on how to shape your future with value-add technology.Lori is a board member for Portland State University’s Alumni Association. She has a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Cincinnati and an MBA from Portland State University. Lori holds the following credentials Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Project Management Professional (PMP) and Certified Foresight Practitioner (CFP).

Why CEOX is important to me: Working in an industry that has historically had few women for the majority of my career has given me a unique perspective on how important it is to support and be supported by other women.

Robin Tompkins

CEOX Ambassador

As an accomplished attorney, Robin took her drive and talents and built olive hill, a professional consultancy specializing in executive coaching and board placement services for women, people of color and under-represented communities. Prior to founding olive hill, she spent five years practicing law for the government, fifteen years as corporate counsel for a Fortune 1000 public utility, seven years in the financial services field, and three years in entrepreneurial endeavors. Over her three decades living and working in the Pacific Northwest, she developed a broad array of local, regional, and national relationships. She has worked with foundations, corporations, and NGOs on various issues in her capacity as a corporate executive, state commissioner, board member, advocate, and citizen. Her years of experience as a coach, lawyer and manager have refined an intuitive understanding of when to push clients out of their comfort zone and when to pause and acknowledge accomplishments. Robin is driven by helping clients discover their values and empowering them to use that knowledge to fulfill their potential.

Maura Connor

CEOX Ambassador

Maura Connor is an operations executive who has built and led high-performing teams in the educational technology, publishing, workforce development, and healthcare industries. Her experience falls across both for-profit and non-for-profit entities; from small founder-led and PE-backed companies to larger private and publicly traded corporations. She has led the strategic execution of corporate initiatives; product strategy and management; elearning solution development; transformation and process improvement; product marketing; and client experience services. Driven by a passion to help visionaries and founders grow their companies and reach their goals, Maura recently founded Catalytic Solutions, LLC to provide fractional leadership services for busy CEOs to mitigate the chaos of everyday operations in their businesses. 

Maura balances career and an active family life with her husband and four children. She spends nearly all her free time outside--gardening, hiking, sailing, or pursuing her artistic talents in nature.

For years, Maura has found fulfillment by mentoring numerous women in their professional roles. She has also enjoyed mentoring girls in their personal development through her volunteer work with the Girl Scouts. Serving as an Ambassador for CEOX gives Maura another forum to develop and elevate women to leadership roles that can truly and positively impact our society.

Heidi Haneberg

CEOX Ambassador

With 30-years under her belt, Heidi has significant experience in leading industry associations and large events. She has also worked in a few tech companies and start-ups. Heidi brings a focus on teamwork and a collaborative approach to determining vision and strategy, using frameworks and cadence to execute, and aligning culture to ensure success of the strategy. Heidi founded Vector Velocity, LLC to help companies do just that.

She has led significant change initiatives such as onboarding Apple, reorganizing siloed organizations for multi-million dollar global organizations, and instilling project management and agile structures. Heidi has led and grown several of the top 50 trade shows in the US, facilitated strategic planning for for-profit and nonprofit organizations and is a champion of creating high-performing teams and inclusive cultures.

She has an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and enjoys leveraging the power of connections to support and help women succeed in business.

Courtney Muller

CEOX Ambassador

Courtney Muller lived in 8 states before she was 14 years old. Which might be the reason she loves the travel and pace of the events industry! Courtney joined Urban (bought by Clarion in 2016) Expositions in 2014 as Executive Vice President and is currently Chief Corporate Development and Strategy Officer. She is also the President of Manifest, a new large-scale event launch being produced by Connectiv, a live events studio that focuses on technology and how it is transforming industries.She has worked as head of the International Committee for IAEE and is a current board member of SISO (Society of Independent Show Organizers). Courtney was one of the leaders that created SISO Women, was the first Chair and continues to be a driving force behind this women’s group. She is recognized as a champion for women in the trade show and events industry and works to elevate and mentor women at every level of the industry.Through the years Courtney has been regarded for her ability to build strong relationships with association partners and customers with her creative approaches to growing business exemplified by her strong leadership and team building skills.   Courtney is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She enjoys gardening and cooking and adores the natural beauty of her island home in North Carolina. She and her husband and dog live on the Topsail Island Sound and only steps from the beach! They have three grown children and two grandsons. 

Traci Keen

CEOX Ambassador

Traci is an accounting and finance expert by trade. She has the unique ability to solve complex problems and thrives at the intersection of creativity and analytics. She is a strategic partner, executor, and skilled relationship builder. She was an industry agnostic consultant for 10 years and has also worked in the startup space and corporate restructuring. She is an avid athlete and painter in her free time.

Judy Samples Helmke

CEOX Ambassador

As owner of c3 Linkage, Judy Samples (Helmke) has over thirty five years of experience in leading major organizations through strategic planning, organizational change, leadership development, and organizational analysis and design. Her career began at Providence Health & Services/Alaska and continued in increasing leadership roles for Providence Health & Services/Oregon Region. After a thirty-three-year career with Providence, she started c3Linkage. She works closely with senior executives and leaders to affect key organizational and/or developmental change and outcomes, to provide executive leadership coaching, and to facilitate processes that achieve organizational goals. With a strong background in human resources leadership and strategic management leadership, Judy provides unique perspectives and abilities in helping for-profit and non-profit organizations of all sizes and backgrounds.

Monica Johns

CEOX AMBASSADOR

Monica is an executive-level business advisor, program management leader, Wharton MBA, and Certified Scrum Master/Product Owner with a passion for empowering product development teams and ensuring customer satisfaction. She provides exceptional leadership, guiding teams toward creative, effective collaboration while enhancing speed of execution through continuous improvement of business processes, team performance, and removing impediments. She is experienced in implementing product enhancements and expansion into global markets for technology products.

Monica's corporate expertise includes positions at GE, Corning, GM, New York Air Brake, and Harsco. Her global experience includes driving the expansion into European markets for rail safety technology products and managing a global product development team for a system deployment in Brazil.

Sarah Fink

CEOX Ambassador

Sarah Fink is currently the AVP of product strategy at TimelyMD where she's a member of the leadership team and oversees the product roadmap for 4 product lines. Sarah has a BA from Lewis and Clark College in environmental studies, a J.D. from Seattle University, and is also admitted to the Oregon Bar Association. In 2007, after several years in real estate and land use law, Sarah pivoted her career into tech and digital strategy.

An entrepreneur at heart, Sarah co-founded an eCommerce company PlayOutdoors in 2008  and has since Sarah focused her career on brand development, growth marketing, product marketing, leading sales enablement programs, and connecting the dots across customer success, revenue, operations, and product initiatives.

Sarah credits her success to the mentors and supporters along the way, many of whom were other women who understood the inequities women face as they grow in their careers and get closer to the boardroom.  Sarah is excited to join CEOX as an Ambassador to help remedy those inequities and support Luann's mission to elevate women into CEO roles. 

Matt Abrams

Advisor

Matt is an experienced Investor, Advisor, and Board Member. He has spent over 25 years in the enterprise software industry serving as an operator leading product management, engineering, customer success, and industry standards teams. Before moving into Venture Capital, Matt led a global engineering team at Oracle.

Matt serves as a Strategic Innovation & Technology Advisor to several organizations and startup founders. He currently serves on the board of Northwestern's Master's of Science in Analytics (MSiA) program as well as the World Sustainability Foundation, whose mission is to lead the development of advanced technologies aimed at mitigating the impacts of climate change. 

He works across a range of technologies and industries that enable him to "create aha moments", "connect dots that others don't see", and to "constantly be able to see 24-48 months ahead of where others are". He is passionate about helping others achieve more meaningful lives and strives to leave it better than he found it. When he's not doing all of that, you can find him in the backcountry of Oregon.  

Lior Kogot

ADVISOR

Lior is the Chief Customer Services Officer at NeuroBlade. Lior is a seasoned engineer who has worked in the tech industry for over 30 years, most recently with Oracle as a Data Engineer and Analytics Expert and at ALTMAN as the Technical Lead responsible for database architecture. Prior to Oracle, Lior worked at HyperRoll Inc (acquired by Oracle) as the VP of Services. Lior began his career in technology while with the Israeli Navy where he studied Computer Science and Software Engineering. During his career, Lior has held multiple advising roles to start-up companies in California, Oregon and Israel in addition to volunteering his time to various charitable groups. Lior is based in Bend, Oregon and advises numerous start-ups on data architecture.