Portland virtual receptionist company Ruby is changing leadership with the exit of CEO Kate Winkler.
The move comes under new owners who quietly acquired the company in November of 2022 from its previous private equity backer Updata Partners. Ruby would not disclose who the new owner of the company is.
“In November 2022, Ruby successfully completed a sale and 100% transition of ownership to a privately held company. Together, with our new owner, we are focused on developing plans to create more value for our customers and committed to maintaining our quality and best-in-class services to the small business community,” said Nicole Morales, director of brand marketing, in a written statement.
The day-to-day operations of the company will be led by the existing executive team.
The statement concluded by noting that as a privately held company Ruby would not be issuing any other further statements.
In a LinkedIn post last week Winkler looked back on her three years at the helm of Ruby and described it as hitting “the job lottery” when she took over from retiring founder Jill Nelson.
“So why leave now?” she asked in the post. “Well, my chapter is complete.”
Ruby provides virtual receptionist and chat services for more than 14,000 businesses across the country. Prior to 2020 the company was fully office-based with its receptionists working in one of three locations in the Portland area. However, Covid-19 forced the company to shift to remote work and it proved effective.
The company has more than 700 employees across 22 states. About 300 employees are in Oregon and Washington, the company said in a statement. Ruby has spread its employee base through both acquisitions, such as Missouri-based ProfessionalChat in 2019, and as it has embraced remote work.
In her LinkedIn post Winkler highlighted company results she was proud of over her tenure including:
- Growing revenue 39%
- Growing EBITDA 56%
- Surviving a global pandemic with zero layoffs
- Rebuilding the operations for remote work and rebuilding infrastructure
- Executing on an equity, diversity and inclusion strategy to support an employee base that is 76% women, 37% LGBTQ+ and 26% BIPOC
Winkler thanked Ruby customers, Updata and the staff for their trust and support of Ruby over the years.
And to the team she said, “Thank you for embracing me three-plus years ago, and asking me hard questions on Day 1 and equally hard questions this week. Thank you for vigorously protecting an amazing culture that results in world-class service. Thank you for bringing your best selves, your unique selves to work every day.”
Ruby is frequently one of the fastest-growing companies in the region. In 2021, it had revenue of $70.7 million.
