Chris Kay

Chris Kay is President and a co-founder of WaHa, where he leads strategy, operations, R&D, and business development. He is a serial entrepreneur with multiple successful exits and experience spanning software, consulting, enterprise data centers, ice storage systems, medical devices, and microbiome analysis and probiotics. He has a passion for identifying, building, and releasing technologies that deliver transformational value and make a difference in the lives of the people who use them, their communities, and the planet. Chris and Frank Ramirez, WaHa’s CEO, previously co-founded two companies: Ice Energy Inc., a cleantech energy storage company sold to a private equity firm, and Endūr Inc., a developer of 24/7 mission-critical computing infrastructure sold to Calpine Energy. At Ice Energy, Chris was VP of R&D and led development of the company’s initial product, the Ice Bear 50, which won the 2004 ASHRAE Innovation Award for Energy Management; he is a co-inventor on four patents. At Endūr, he was VP of Campus Development, where he authored the business plan that secured a $26M Series B investment and then repositioned the company’s value proposition around on-site power solutions.

Chris purchased Integware in 2004 and grew it 20x in six years, earning recognition as one of the initial Colorado Companies to Watch. During this period, Gus Lee and Diane Elliott-Lee featured Chris as the subject of chapters 1 and 4 of their book, Courage, the Backbone of Leadership. He later sold the software business to Dassault Systèmes and merged the consulting business with Kalypso. After the merger, Chris joined Kalypso and led the life sciences practice, doubling its revenue. He has worked with multiple medical device, biotech, and pharmaceutical companies to raise capital, develop business plans, improve operations, and execute M&A.

Chris spent the first 17 years of his career at Hewlett-Packard in roles ranging from software engineer to R&D manager, CIO, and chief architect at HP Consulting. He graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington with a BBA in Systems Analysis on a partial jazz and classical bass scholarship. Married for 40 years with two grown children, he lives with his wife and two small dogs in Colorado and enjoys hiking, biking, and playing bass when he can: at church, in a blues band, and with the community orchestra. He volunteers with My Happy Place Fort Collins, where his wife serves as director; the organization creates room makeovers for people facing chronic or terminal illness.