Our Team
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HireEdge began as one parent's desire to help her own kids explore their own career aspirations. Today, the HireEdge team is a group of senior executives with MBAs from the world's leading business schools and years of industry experience in Fortune 500 companies and VC and PE-backed start-ups.
Our Mentor-Coaches work directly with college students, recent graduates, and their parents to guide them through our proven process for career launch success.
Our Advisors help shape our process, offer their industry, functional, and company expertise to our clients and help them make meaningful connections through their extensive networks.
Laura Fortner
Founder, CEO, Mentor-Coach
Laura is the founder and CEO of HireEdge. She founded the company in 2018 to create services dedicated to the mission of helping students and recent graduates launch their careers. Prior to starting HireEdge, Laura spent her career in global media companies including MTV Networks, Nickelodeon, Turner Broadcasting and CNN, and venture-backed startups including CafeMedia and Team Whistle (Whistle Sports). She has over 25 years of experience launching new businesses, and hiring and managing young people in sales, marketing, business development, programming, production, strategy and research roles. She is also a parent of a recent college graduate, a current college student, and a current high school student.
Laura holds a BA in East Asian Studies from Princeton University and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.
Karen Zucker
Mentor-Coach
Karen spent most of her career as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs. In addition to executing M&A and financing transactions, she played an active role in the firm’s hiring, review, and compensation processes. Karen also worked in JP Morgan’s private equity investment group, investing in tech and telecom companies. For the past five years, Karen has worked as an advisor to two boutique executive search firms, focused on hiring for both financial services and early-stage technology companies.
Karen holds a BA from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. She was a four-year varsity coxswain for the women’s crew team and is currently a member of Princeton's Dean’s Advisory Council. Karen has an MBA from the Harvard Business School where she was a Baker Scholar.
Catherine Bohutinsky Lee
Advisor
Catherine is an entrepreneur and investor focused on Real Estate Tech, FemTech and other early stage technology companies. She started her career as an engineer, followed by strategy consulting at Bain and Company, where she worked in their private equity practice. She then worked in private equity and investments at Seaver Kent & Company, Stadium Capital Management and Sterling Stamos. Most recently, Catherine founded several real estate investment funds and a market leading real estate brokerage firm in the Bay Area.
Catherine has an MBA from the Harvard Business School, a Master’s degree in engineering from M.I.T. and an undergraduate degree in civil engineering from the University of Kansas.
Lori Ingerman
Advisor
Lora (Lori) Ingerman is a retired general management and marketing professional with 25 years of experience in the OTC and consumer healthcare divisions of pharmaceutical leaders Schering-Plough Corporation and Merck & Co. She led the globalization of Merck’s consumer healthcare division by establishing and building the ex-US business across international markets. Her domestic career spanned Marketing, Sales Management, e-Business Development, and Compliance. Lori’s Marketing experience includes numerous new product launches, Rx-to-OTC switches, and forming joint ventures and alliances with outside partners. Brands under her purview included the Coppertone line of sunscreens, the Claritin line of over-the-counter allergy medications, the Rx-to-OTC switch of MiraLAX laxative products, and the international expansion of Dr. Scholl’s footcare products.
Lori has an MBA from Columbia Business School and an undergraduate degree in English Literature from Bucknell University.
Danielle Korins
Advisor
Danielle Korins is a Chief People Officer and Senior HR Leader who has led organizational growth and change in Medical Devices, Banking, Media and Pharmaceuticals; pivoting in the last ten years to VC and PE-backed companies. Danielle has scouted, hired, developed and coached hundreds of executives across the world, including CEOs, Managing Directors, Board Members, Regional Leaders in EMEA and APAC, and their teams. Now that her own children and her friends' and colleagues' children are navigating the college internship and post-college career search, Danielle has a passion for helping early career students and adults find their first and next roles and find something they love. She has continued to learn by pursuing a certified coaching program as well as Birkman and Hogan Assessments.
Danielle holds a BA in Business Administration from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and completed an Executive Business program at MIT Sloan School of Management.
David Palmieri
Advisor
David is a senior Product Management executive and General Manager who has spent his career driving digital transformation at both Fortune 500 companies and high growth start-ups. He is currently Division Vice President and General Manager for the Workforce Management Solutions division of ADP, the world’s largest provider of human capital management solutions. Prior to ADP, he held senior Product Management and General Management positions at Pearson, LexisNexis, and Dun & Bradstreet, and served as the Chief Operating Officer at Centric Digital, a private-equity backed consulting firm that specialized in driving digital transformation in traditional businesses and as Chief Executive Officer of US Legal, a leading provider of products and services for the consumer legal services market.
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David holds a BA in Business Administration from Franklin & Marshall College and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.
Dev Sethi
Advisor
Dev is a sports, media and tech executive who has spent the majority of his career at the intersection of sports and digital/social. A 2023 Sports Business Journal Forty Under 40 Honoree, Dev most recently oversaw sports partnerships and programs at Meta. Prior to his time at Meta, Dev served as Chief of Staff at Complex Networks, and led partnership efforts at Team Whistle and Google/YouTube.
Dev is from McLean, Virginia and graduated from Flint Hill School in 2002. He was honored with the privilege of serving as Flint Hill's 2023 Commencement Speaker. He received his bachelor's degree at the University of Notre Dame.
