Kay Whitaker, CFO

Kay Whitaker has over 40 years of experience leading accounting and finance teams from Big Four accounting firms to nonprofit organizations and tech start-ups, with two successful exits. A few of her career highlights include being named the IBJ CFO of the Year while managing the Central Indiana Community Foundation’s $650M endowment portfolio. Kay also led a successful IPO for First Internet Bancorp, and in total has raised over $3B in capital.

As a founder and managing director at LiftBridge, Kay believes entrepreneurs deserve strong finance to turn their ideas into thriving businesses. Since she founded LiftBridge in 2020, Kay has focused on showing clients how to sync their business story with their numbers for effective board/investor/team communications. She joins her clients’ leadership teams offering guidance on compensation, go to market strategy, and margin analysis.

Kay, along with her co-founders Kathy Kinder and Ashley Vukovits, won the 2022 Mira Award for Service Partner of the Year. The judges for the Mira Awards, presented by TechPoint, ‘determined LiftBridge’s effectiveness with its clients is likely to have a lasting impact on the success of the Indiana tech ecosystem startups and scale-ups well past the critical five-year survival mark’.

Kay begins each client relationship with a financial road map to chart their capital needs to support their growth strategy. Her experience as a portfolio manager and board member/advisor brings a unique investor perspective for her clients.

Kay is an MBA and CPA Inactive working in a range of industries which include Hardtech, Fintech, Cleantech, Healthcare and Not-for-Profit. Kay has brought her finance skills to social entrepreneurship launching a microlending program. She proudly serves on the Indy Humane Endowment Board.  She loves adventure travel and is always ready for a hike.