Catherine Connelly is a marketing leader, entrepreneur, and engaging speaker.Catherine co-founded The Meet Group, a NASDAQ-listed social dating and livestreaming company connecting millions of active users globally. The Meet Group was acquired in a $500 million sale in 2020. Catherine served as SVP Marketing leading marketing and communications, across its portfolio of social entertainment apps and livestreaming and creator economy solutions.As a passionate storyteller, Catherine leads strategic initiatives that engage audiences. Through engineering virality, Catherine grew MeetMe from nothing to millions of active users. While at The Meet Group, she was instrumental in growing apps like MeetMe and Tagged into two of the top 10 dating apps in the U.S, as measured by consumer spend and downloads and creating a platform that touches over 10 million monthly active users.Catherine’s 18 years of experience includes co-founding myYearbook, creating what would eventually become The Meet Group, and leading brand strategy and performance marketing for The Meet Group through a series of mergers, acquisitions and rebrands. Catherine also works closely with the Oasis Consortium and is a council member at Women In Dating; organizations that are working to reduce online toxicity, and bring safety and belonging into the digital dating and community space. Catherine graduated from Georgetown University and holds an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. She was named the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award Winner for the Philadelphia Region in 2011. Catherine has been reported on extensively on CNBC, Wall Street Journal, MTV, ABC News, Fox News, CosmoGIRL, BusinessWeek, the San Francisco Chronicle, and CBS.