Victoria Ransom
{{Short description|New Zealand entrepreneur}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Victoria Ransom
| image = Victoria Ransom.jpg
| alt =
| caption =
| nationality = New Zealander
| education = Bachelor of Arts, Master of Business Administration
| alma_mater = United World College, Macalester College, Harvard Business School
| occupation = Entrepreneur
| known_for = Co-founder and CEO of Wildfire Interactive
| partner = Alain Chuard
}}
Victoria Ransom is a serial entrepreneur from New Zealand. She has developed three companies including Wildfire Interactive, a social marketing SaaS company, where Ransom was chief executive officer until it was sold to Google in 2012.{{cite web |url=http://fortune.com/2012/10/19/victoria-ransoms-wild-ride/ |title=Victoria Ransom's wild ride |last1=Coster |first1=Helen |date=October 19, 2012|publisher=TIME Magazine |access-date=September 28, 2015}}{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/27/business/victoria-ransom-of-wildfire-on-instilling-a-companys-values.html?_r=1 |title=If Supervisors Respect the Values, So Will Everyone Else |last1=Bryant |first1=Adam |date=January 26, 2013 |work=New York Times |access-date=September 28, 2015}} Ransom currently resides in Palo Alto.{{cite web |url=https://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2015/05/12/google-shopping-leader-decamps-for-jawbone/ |title=Google Shopping Leader Decamps for Jawbone |last1=Barr |first1=Alastair |date=May 12, 2015|publisher=Wall Street Journal |access-date=September 28, 2015}}
Ransom was listed as one of Fortune's Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs{{cite web |url=http://fortune.com/2012/08/31/who-are-the-2012-most-powerful-women-entrepreneurs/ |title=Who are the 2012 Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs? |last1=Sellers |first1=Patricia |date=August 31, 2012|publisher=Fortune Magazine|access-date=September 28, 2015}} as well as one of their 40 under 40 in 2012.{{cite web |url=http://fortune.com/40-under-40/2012/victoria-ransom-19/ |title=40 Under 40 2012|publisher=Fortune Magazine|access-date=September 28, 2015}} In 2015, she was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.{{cite web |url=http://www.weforum.org/young-global-leaders/victoria-ransom |title=Victoria Ransom Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Wildfire Google|publisher=World Economic Forum |access-date=September 28, 2015}}{{cite web |url=http://www.nbr.co.nz/victoria-ransom |title=RANSOM Victoria Technology |publisher=National Business Review |access-date=September 28, 2015}}
Education
Ransom was raised on an asparagus farm in Scotts Ferry, near Bulls, New Zealand.{{Cite news|url = http://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standard/news/8962421/Rangitikei-woman-makes-rich-list|title = Rangitikei woman makes rich list|date = 25 July 2013|access-date = 10 January 2016|newspaper = Manawatu Standard}} In her final year at Whanganui Girls' College,{{Cite journal|last=Scherer|first=Karyn|date=1 September 2012|title=A king's ransom|url=http://www.listener.co.nz/current-affairs/profile/a-kings-ransom/|journal=The Listener|access-date=11 April 2012}} she won a scholarship to attend international high school United World College in New Mexico.{{cite web |url=http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/1364d1d4-0d5a-11e2-97a1-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3lH4K68S1 |title=Ten Questions: Victoria Ransom |last1=Clarke |first1=Charlotte |date=October 8, 2012 |publisher=The Financial Times Limited |access-date= September 28, 2015}} She then attended Macalester College, where she earned her BA in psychology and graduated summa cum laude in 1999. Ransom received her MBA from Harvard Business School in 2008.
Career
After graduating from Macalester, Ransom moved to London where she worked as a business consultant. Later, she moved to New York City and worked for investment banking firm Morgan Stanley. She left the company in 2001 and founded Access Trips, an adventure travel company in New Zealand. Ransom co-ran Access Trips for five years before returning to the US to attend business school.{{cite web |url=http://www.sramanamitra.com/2012/03/29/from-new-zealand-to-silicon-valley-victoria-ransoms-wildfire-journey-part-1/ |title=From New Zealand To Silicon Valley: Victoria Ransom's Wildfire Journey |last1=Mitra |first1=Sramana |date=March 29, 2012 |publisher= sramanamitra.com |access-date=September 28, 2015}} While at Harvard Business School, Ransom co-developed a distributed booking system for small and medium size travel companies, resulting in a summer at Highland Capital Partners as an Entrepreneur in Residence.{{cite web |url=http://www.thenextwomen.com/next-women-list/item/victoria-ransom |title=Next Woman List: Victoria Ransom|publisher=The NextWomen |access-date=September 28, 2015}}
In 2008, Ransom founded Wildfire Interactive, a social marketing software company initially developed to help promote Access Trips. Ransom ran Wildfire as chief executive officer and grew the company to 400 employees in four years.{{cite web |url=http://www.macalester.edu/news/2013/02/the-winding-road-to-wildfire/ |title=The Winding Road To Wildfire |last1=Rebeck |first1=Gene |publisher=Macalester College |access-date=September 28, 2015}} In 2010, she sold Access Trips.{{cite web |url=http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/219911 |title=The Spark That Fuels Wildfire Interactive |last1=Shinal |first1=John |date= June 28, 2011 |publisher=Entrepreneur Magazine |access-date= September 28, 2015}} In 2012, Google bought Wildfire for a reported $450 million and Ransom became the Director of Product at Google.{{cite web |url=http://www.slideshare.net/ovrdrv/google-world-infographic |title=Google World - Facts and Stats|date=25 July 2013 |publisher=LinkedIn Corporation |access-date=September 28, 2015}}{{cite web |url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/69495285/googles-kiwi-multimillionaire-on-how-she-did-it |title=Google's Kiwi multimillionaire on how she did it |last1=Dudding |first1=Adam |date= June 21, 2015 |publisher=Fairfax New Zealand Limited |access-date=September 28, 2015}}
She was named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for New Zealand in 2011.{{cite web |url=http://www.rasmussen.edu/degrees/technology/blog/5-women-who-are-revolutionizing-the-tech-industry/ |title=5 Women Who Are Revolutionizing the Tech Industry |last1=Bird |first1=Kendall |date=March 18, 2013 |publisher=Rasmussen, Inc |access-date=September 28, 2015}}{{cite web |url=http://coofwomen.biz/news/entrepreneur-of-the-year/ |title=Entrepreneur of the Year 2012 |publisher=Co.OfWomen |access-date=September 28, 2015}} In 2013, she was invited to the White House by Barack Obama to receive a "Champion of Change" award recognizing her contributions as an immigrant entrepreneur.{{cite web |url=http://www.ibabuzz.com/politics/tag/victoria-ransom/ |title=White House honors local immigrant innovators |date= May 29, 2013 |publisher=MediaNews Group |access-date=September 28, 2015}} In 2015, she was awarded the World Class New Zealander award along with former New Zealand Prime Minister, Helen Clark.{{cite web |url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/69907501/helen-clark-wins-kea-world-class-new-zealand-award |title=Helen Clark wins Kea World Class New Zealand Award |last1=Anthony |first1=John |date= July 2, 2015 |publisher=Fairfax New Zealand Limited |access-date= September 28, 2015}} In 2016, she was NEXT Woman of the Year in the Business and Innovation category.{{Cite web|date=October 14, 2016|title=NEXT Woman of the Year Winners 2016|url=https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/CU1610/S00182/next-woman-of-the-year-winners-2016.htm|access-date=2021-06-06|website=www.scoop.co.nz}}
In 2020, Ransom co-founded Prisma, a remote education startup.{{cite web |url=https://finance.yahoo.com/video/online-learning-pods-gain-popularity-165550618.html |access-date= 29 March 2021 |title=Online learning pods gain in popularity as schools face precarious reopening|date= 13 August 2020 }}
Personal life
In college she met Alain Chuard, also a Macalester student and Ransom's future business partner. The two married in March 2013 and had a daughter in 2014.{{cite web |url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10835387 |title=NZ startups can thrive, says Ransom |last1=Fletcher |first1=Hamish |date=September 21, 2012 |publisher=NZME Publishing Limited |access-date=October 13, 2015}}
References
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Category:New Zealand women chief executives
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:Harvard Business School alumni
Category:People educated at a United World College
Category:Macalester College alumni
Category:People educated at Whanganui Girls' College