Kate Doerksen

Kate Doerksen (pronounced “Dirk-sin”) is a seasoned entrepreneur with a passion for building technology businesses that are change agents for industries and make the world a better place. She is currently the CEO and Cofounder of Sage Haven, a safer messaging app for kids with AI-powered safety tools for parents, which she started in 2023 with her sister, Anne Pizzuti. 

Previously, Kate was CEO and Cofounder of Ditto which she ran for over 10 years before it was acquired by 1-800-Contacts in 2021. Under Kate’s leadership, Ditto grew to become a global leader in augmented reality virtual try-on and AI recommendation technology in the vision industry, which was licensed to leading optical retailers all over the world. Their technology allowed eyewear to be more easily sold online, enabling a drastic reduction in the price of eyeglasses, for Ditto’s 70M annual users. 

Kate received her MBA from Stanford in 2011. Prior to Stanford, she spent two years as a private equity investor at Wind Point Partners in Chicago and two years as a mergers and acquisitions investment banking analyst at Citi in New York City. She earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Entrepreneurship from Ball State University, where she launched her first venture, Hoopla, an online marketplace for college basketball recruiting. She was a Division 1 women’s basketball standout at Ball State, where she won a host of awards, including MAC Player of the Year, NCAA Academic All-American of the Year, NCAA Indiana Woman of the Year, and All-American Honorable Mention. She moved on from Hoopla to pursue a brief stint in the WNBA with the Connecticut Sun. She was inducted into the Ball State Hall of Fame in 2014. She was also a high school basketball standout at Reitz Memorial High School and was inducted into their Hall of Fame in 2017.