Edison Partners on Tuesday said it elevated Kelly Ford from partner to chief operating officer to grow and scale the firm.
Ford’s promotion recognizes 20-plus years of building high-growth businesses, making things work and scale and leading management teams to successful outcomes, including seven exits. During her eight years with Edison, Ford has worked with more than 55 portfolio companies, been involved in 15 financings, served as director at 11 companies and pioneered the Edison Edge operating platform.
The newly created position is the first of its kind in the Princeton-based firm’s 36-year history. With the promotion Ford adds to her career-long trademark of never holding a role that someone held before her.
In Ford’s new role, she will oversees the operations, including the Edison Edge value creation platform, investment development, finance, portfolio operations and marketing.
“This well-deserved promotion recognizes Kelly’s tremendous contributions to Edison thus far. Expanding our executive team by promoting Kelly will help us scale, and acknowledges the excellence and value we expect from the Edison Edge platform and best-in-class portfolio operations,” Chris Sugden, managing partner, Edison Partners, stated. “Kelly’s 20-plus years of leading management teams to successful outcomes make her the ideal person for the new COO role. She understands how to unlock the potential of great people by creating amazing teams through execution and process excellence.”
Ford’s appointment fulfills the need to increase the breadth and depth of the Edison senior team’s capabilities as the firm’s assets under management increases. It is also a continuation of Edison’s momentum in 2022, which includes the final close of the Edison X fund; continued investment in underserved geographies such as Texas, Alabama and North Carolina; and the addition of five operating partners to support portfolio company growth and execution.
“With our vision for the firm, and its 36 years of success, I am thrilled to step into this role and take our operations to the next level,” Ford said. “This is a high-performing, high-commitment team that does whatever it takes to build value with our portfolio companies and deliver great outcomes for our limited partners. It’s in this spirit that we’ll also continue to innovate and scale how we support our portfolio companies.”
