Kira Makagon leads global product, user experience, engineering, and operations. She is a critical driver in defining RingCentral’s product strategy and in bringing to market RingCentral’s robust communications and collaboration solutions. Makagon is also passionate about superior user experiences. Throughout her career, she has pioneered multiple breakthrough industry solutions and companies, garnering a reputation as a visionary product and business leader.
Before joining RingCentral, Makagon founded and served as CEO and president of Red Aril, a real-time audience and media optimization platform acquired by Hearst Corporation. Prior to that, she co-founded and held executive and board positions at flagship online marketing and CRM companies, including Octane Software, acquired by E.piphany, and Scopus Technology, acquired by Seibel.
Makagon holds a bachelor's degree in computer science from the University of California, Berkeley, and an MBA from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. She serves as an advisor to entrepreneurs and early-stage companies, including Illuminate Ventures, and is a member of the Board of Directors at Calix.
As well as being a prominent and frequent speaker at many industry events, Makagon has received numerous awards, including a 2018 San Francisco Business Times Forever Influential Honor Roll award, a 2016 Silver Stevie for Female Executive of the Year, a 2016 Most Influential Women in Business from the San Francisco Business Times, a 2015 Women of Influence from the Silicon Valley Business Journal, and a 2015 Golden Bridge Business and Innovation award.
