Katherine Manuel is a seasoned executive with over 20 years of experience leading innovation and transformation initiatives. Her specialty is bridging the language gap between technologists and the C-suite. She currently is the Chief Operations Officer at House of Blueberry, the leading fashion house in the metaverse. Katherine serves as an operating partner of IDEA Fund Partners, a venture capital firm in North Carolina’s Tech Triangle, and is a guest lecturer at Duke University on innovation and strategy. Katherine spent over a decade at Thomson Reuters, culminating her time by building a new organization focused on shifting the company from acquisition- to organic-oriented growth. This encompassed defining the vision, developing the team and creating international programs that reached employees, customers and partners. Under her guidance, the innovation fund she ran invested in over 100 ideas and experienced over 300% ROI within three years of launch.