Jaye Connolly

Jaye Connolly-LaBelle is an American business executive, best known as the president and chief executive officer of RippleNami, Inc., a technology company specializing in blockchain and data visualization solutions. With a career spanning over three decades, she has held leadership roles in finance, mergers and acquisitions.

Early life and education

Connolly earned a Bachelor of science degree in accounting from Texas Tech University.

Career

Connolly served as the chairman of the board for Caeum Resources, Inc., a carbon credit company focused on aggregating African carbon offsets.

She previously ran an AI healthcare technology company that was later sold to Optum, as a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group. She is the current CEO and chairman of RippleNami, Inc., an African focused technology company.

Early career in the healthcare sector

Before joining RippleNami, Connolly accumulated experience in the healthcare sector. She began her career in finance and audit, serving as Director of internal audit at Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings (LabCorp), where she implemented the company's corporate wide compliance, audit and ethics program. She later served as vice president of business development and mergers and acquisitions at Insight Health Corp.

Connolly then transitioned to chief executive officer roles. She was President and CEO of A-Life Medical, Inc., a provider of computer assisted coding products for healthcare industry. Under her leadership, the company was acquired by UnitedHealth Group in October 2010, becoming the core technology of OptumInsight's business.

She also served as CEO of PathCentral, Inc., a pathology technology company, which she sold to XIFIN, Inc. in August 2013. She also held a position of chief operating and financial officer at Indepeda, Inc.

Throughout her career, Jaye has led over 18 acquisitions, adding over $2 billion in revenue and possesses IPO experience having served in key roles at six publicly traded corporations.

Board memberships

Connolly serves on the board of San Diego Athena, an organization dedicated to fostering the personal and professional growth of women. She is a former board member and treasurer of Walden Family Services, a nonprofit Providing care for abused and neglected children, and has joined the board of Promises2Kids.

From 2016 to 2018, she served as an independent director on the board of Ominto, Inc. Connolly is also a mentor and speaker for college and graduate women students entering the workforce, engaging with programs at the University of San Diego, San Diego State University, Claremont McKenna College and the University of California, San Diego.

She currently serves on the following boards:

  • RippleNami, Inc., (Chairman and Chief Executive Officer)
  • RippleNami Uganda, (Chairman)
  • Complete Patient Care, (Chairman, and Chair, Nomination Committee)
  • Athena, (Vice Chairman, On Boards Program and Global Expansion)
  • Wembly Mo Foundation, (Board Advisory)

Career at RippleNami (from 2015)

In 2015, Jaye became the chairman and chief executive officer of RippleNami, Inc.The company's mission is to "connect the unconnected" by providing real-time information to users in developing nations, including farmers, women, children, refugees and veterans.

Within 18 months of operation, RippleNami's technology reportedly impacted over 30 million people in Africa, 1 million livestock, and 2.8 million veterans in the United Kingdom by aiding middle income growth efforts and improving access to information.

Awards and recognition

Under Connolly's leadership, RippleNami has received a number of awards and recognitions.

These include recognition from:

  • Entrepreneur Magazine for America's Best Company.
  • Thomson Reuters for the Africa Startup Challenge.
  • Fast Company for Best Developing World Technology.
  • International Business Awards (Stevie Awards) in multiple categories, including Best Data Visualization Technology, Startup of the Year, and Corporate Social Responsibility Program of the Year

Connolly has also received individual honors which among others include the following;

She was named Business Woman of the Year by the SanDiego Business Journal in 2017, and was a finalist for the Athena Pinnacle Award on multiple occasions between 2009 and 2018. Earlier in her career, the same publication named her Most Admired CEO in 2010 and CFO of the Year in 2009.

Publications

  • Carbon Credits are [...]