President and COO, RingCentral | Independent Board Director
San Francisco Bay Area
11K followers
500+ connections
About
Kira Makagon serves as President and COO where she leads marketing, strategy, investment arm, global product, user experience, engineering, and operations. She has been a critical driver in defining RingCentral’s product strategy and global reach that has put RingCentral at the forefront of the communications and collaboration market, leading to rapid YoY growth from pre-IPO to over $2.4+ billion in ARR.
From 2012 on, Makagon led a number of market-first product innovations at global scale, such as RingCentral's mobile-first cloud PBX with integrated video meetings capabilities. She launched RingCentral's open platform, allowing for customizable workflows through open APIs. Makagon led the acquisition of a team messaging solution, making RingCentral the first cloud communications provider to have a truly unified solution across messaging, video and phone. Under her leadership, RingCentral brought to market AI-powered omnichannel contact center, enhancing the customer experience for businesses worldwide.
In 2021, she focused on launching RingCentral Ventures™, RingCentral's corporate ventures arm, which partners with exceptional founding teams and leading venture capitalists to reimagine the future of work through communications and collaboration. With RingCentral Ventures well on its way, Makagon expanded her responsibilities and resumed her leadership of the innovation organization.
Makagon has received numerous awards, including a 2021 Aragon Research Women in Technology Award; a 2020 Silver Stevie for Most Innovative Woman of the Year – Technology; a 2019 Gold Women World Award for Excellence in Industry Woman of the Year: Cloud Computing/SaaS/Internet and more.
Makagon is a regular lecturer at UC Berkeley and participant in industry panels & podcasts.
Makagon has pioneered multiple transformational technologies and has advised entrepreneurs and early-stage companies. Prior to RingCentral, she founded and served as CEO & president of Red Aril, a real-time audience and media optimization platform, acquired by Hearst Corporation. Makagon co-founded and held executive & board positions at Octane Software, acquired by E.piphany for $3.2B - making it one of the first Unicorns in the valley, and Scopus Technology, acquired by Siebel.
Makagon is an independent board director and serves as a member of the Board of Directors at Calix and American Technion Society.
Articles by Kira
Activity
11K followers
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Kira Makagon shared thisWhat happens when context fails to travel between systems or across platforms? In his latest piece, Akshay Srivastava explores why AI returns diminish when customer conversation details get lost. Disconnected context also impacts support teams. Every time context disappears, agents must manually reconstruct key details that waste valuable time and undermine confidence in their tools. Read Akshay’s full insights and takeaways here: https://lnkd.in/gUiRVp37 #AIinWorkDay
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Kira Makagon shared thisCalling a business used to mean bracing for a phone tree and hold music. Now, you can explain what you need in plain language, and an AI agent takes it from there, end to end. The agent also learns from every conversation to improve the next. Our customers VGM Group, Inc. and JTR Insurance Agency, LLC are seeing the impact of that shift firsthand, with fewer callers hanging up and more time back for the customers who need it most. Voice has always been the most human way to reach a business. It’s becoming the most intelligent way, too. I shared more on where agentic voice AI is heading in the San Francisco Business Times: https://lnkd.in/gvH39phA.
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Kira Makagon shared thisI��m grateful to have joined Jewish Silicon Valley's Leadership Breakfast last week. We talked about what it takes to build a career in tech and where AI is headed next as the pace of innovation continues to accelerate. My take: AI is already changing lives, but you don't need to be a technical expert to put these tools to work. Stay curious, set thoughtful guardrails, and be willing to adapt as you learn more. So glad to be part of this community. I'm already looking forward to connecting again soon.
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Kira Makagon shared thisRingCentral AI Changemakers highlights leaders who are driving results by focusing on how AI can empower their people. REE Medical's Scarlet Wheeler built a way to audit 120,000 monthly compliance calls without adding headcount, freeing her team to spend more time supporting veterans. Brandon Mulnix of Prism Controls reduced time spent logging calls into the CRM by 95%. And Cartelligent's Jessica Carstens Wolfman, MBA helped her team take first-call connection rates from 22% to nearly 100%. Congratulations to Scarlet, Brandon, and Jessica. I look forward to seeing what you’ll do next. https://lnkd.in/gWJ5XMRn
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Kira Makagon shared thisThe Detroit Pistons found a smart way to put AI to work for their fans. Their staff used to get buried in calls at the end of every season - "What time do doors open?" "When's the next game?" Now AI handles those in seconds, so their team can focus on the fans who need a real conversation. Faster answers. Less burnout. More time for the moments that actually need a person. That's the kind of AI story I want to keep telling: technology that hands people back their time so they can do their job well. 🏀 Proud this is happening on the RingCentral platform.
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Kira Makagon shared thisSmall businesses run on conversations, and each one carries crucial context that can improve the next. RingCentral with Claude for Small Business makes your conversation data accessible and actionable right where you already work. It turns interaction context into next steps, so an after-hours voicemail or chat message becomes a qualified lead with a reply drafted by morning, and a customer's full history is on screen before the renewal call. That's valuable time owners get back to spend on growing the business.Kira Makagon shared thisSmall business owners wear a lot of hats and don't have time to dig through every customer call or message to figure out what needs their attention next 🧢🎩 We’re putting those conversations to work inside Anthropic's Claude for Small Business. This partnership gives small business owners a clear pulse on their business, so they spend less time digging for answers and more time taking action and growing their business. For example, owners can ask a direct question within Claude like 'Which customers still need a follow-up?' and Claude will pull the information from their RingCentral conversations, draft and send a follow-up message, and close the loop with a single prompt. Do even more in Claude with RingCentral. Get connected here: https://lnkd.in/gMWJ9xtP
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Kira Makagon shared thisEvery call, text, and chat carries signals about a customer: who they are, what they need, what happened last time. Today, RingCentral announced a plugin for ChatGPT and MCP connectors for Claude, bringing voice, SMS, and chat data directly into the LLMs teams already use, so businesses can put that context to work securely. I love how Michelle Morgan at IDC framed why this matters: "RingCentral opening its communications data this way is a signal of where the market is headed: agents and employees pulling from the same connected context, instead of each working from a different, incomplete picture." That's exactly it. The businesses winning with AI right now are the ones whose people and AI agents are already working from the same picture. Read more on how we're helping businesses turn conversations into action: https://lnkd.in/evCrAvPA
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Kira Makagon shared thisProud to share that RingCentral was named to Business Insider America's Most Innovative Businesses 2027 list. This recognition reflects the work our teams have done to reimagine how businesses communicate and engage their customers with AI at the core. We're moving past simple automation into experiences that are more intelligent, personalized, and impactful. Excited to continue pushing boundaries and driving business outcomes for our customers.
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Kira Makagon shared thisThe New York Mets are replacing their legacy, on-premise phone system with RingCentral's cloud platform. The move changes how the club connects with fans and how staff collaborate across the front office and the ballpark. Looking forward to seeing it take shape throughout the rest of this season and beyond.Kira Makagon shared thisThe New York Mets have drafted RingCentral to modernize fan engagement and ticket sales with our industry-leading business communications solution. Now they can: ⚾ Connect all 800 employees on one platform with RingEX ⚾ Drive fan-friendly engagement with RingCX ⚾ Provide dedicated and advanced support as they scale Let's go Mets! 🔵🟠 Read the full announcement: https://lnkd.in/g6Rmn94q. #RingCentralCustomer #LGM
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Kira Makagon liked thisKira Makagon liked thisYou already turn to Claude every day. Now it can see the conversations that make up your business. We’re bringing your communications data directly into Claude for Small Business, so a question as simple as "Which customers still need a follow-up?" gets you an answer, a draft, and a send, without digging through a single thread. Last chance to register for tomorrow’s webinar! https://lnkd.in/gcetiadJ
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Kira Makagon liked thisKira Makagon liked thisYour business’s calls and texts hold vital context your AI tools have never been able to see. But we changed that. This month, we opened RingCentral’s voice, SMS, and chat data to ChatGPT and Claude. The LLMs your business already uses can now pull answers straight from your own conversations. For one of our customers, Cam Lothridge, an OrangeTheory Fitness franchise owner, that meant a 50% lift in lead response rate. His staff went from 45 minutes of scrolling texts to under five minutes of clear next steps. Curious what your AI could do with your own conversations? Our latest newsletter breaks down what this means for your business ⬇️We connected RingCentral to the AI tools you already useWe connected RingCentral to the AI tools you already use
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Kira Makagon liked thisKira Makagon liked thisThe 2026 MLB Postseason is officially here! ⚾ Congratulations to two RingCentral customers, the Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago Cubs, on earning their spots in the playoffs. We’re proud to be part of their lineups and excited to see what they do in the postseason. Good luck and play ball! 👏
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Kira Makagon liked thisKira Makagon liked thisWhat if you could ask Claude, “Which customers still need a follow-up?” and get the answer from your RingCentral conversations? RingCentral and Anthropic are coming together for a live webinar to show how businesses can put their calls, messages, and customer conversations to work directly inside Claude. Join us to see what’s possible with RingCentral for Claude and how AI can help teams spend less time searching for information and more time taking action. Register here. https://lnkd.in/gE5ynj3S
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Kira Makagon liked thisKira Makagon liked thisYour customers don’t want AI. They want their problem solved. John Finch of RingCentral explains how agentic and voice AI can help customer service teams resolve issues faster, use real-time context, and bring in human agents when needed, creating smoother, more personalized experiences without losing the human touch. Watch the full conversation: https://lnkd.in/dUrYp-FT #TalkCMO #AgenticAI #CustomerExperience #VoiceAI #CustomerService
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Kira Makagon liked thisWhat an incredible showcase of innovation! 🚀 Ringathon 2026 brought out the creativity, curiosity, and entrepreneurial spirit across our teams. Exciting to see how quickly ideas can move from imagination to impact. Congratulations to all the participants and a special shoutout to our winners!Kira Makagon liked thisRingathon 2026 is a wrap at RingCentral India! 196 ideas. More than 200 participants. 14 finalist teams took the stage at the Grand Finale. This year's theme was "Connected Intelligence: AI Agents at Work." Teams built agents and workflow automation for our Voice AI platform (AIR, AVA, and ACE) and our broader UCaaS portfolio. The wide range and originality of the ideas were remarkable, matched by compelling presentations, production-ready prototypes, and thoughtfully designed demos that brought each vision to life. Congratulations to our winners: 🏆 Winner: Team Watchdog (Aishwarya Dwivedi and Eshwar T S) 🥈 Runner-Up: Team CE Copilot (Nikita Bisht, Aneesh Punichithaya, and Chaya N Kunder) 🥈 Runner-Up: Team Smart Script Studio (Shrikar Swaroop, Jitendra Jaria, T Naga Tarun, Kaustubh Limaye, and Ankur Kishore) 💡 The Curator's Choice: Team AI Swarm (Rohit Agarwal, Aravind Harihar, Atul Singh, and Anshul Parashar) Thank you to every participant who brought an idea forward, challenged conventional thinking, and transformed possibility into something tangible. And thank you to the judges, mentors, organizers, and everyone behind the scenes who made this celebration of innovation possible. Ringathon 2026 was a powerful demonstration of what we can achieve when we imagine boldly, build together, and turn ideas into impact. We can't wait to see which of these ideas we build next.
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Kira Makagon liked thisKira Makagon liked thisPhone trees and hold music have ruled business calls for decades. Their time is up ⌛ In a new San Francisco Business Times article, Kira Makagon, RingCentral President and COO, explains how Agentic Voice AI has turned the phone call into the quickest path to answers and action. AI agents can now pick up and resolve requests on the spot. When a caller needs a person, your team takes over with the full story already in hand. As Kira puts it: "Voice always has been the most human way to reach a business. What's new is that it's becoming the most intelligent way, too — and, for the first time, the warmth of a real conversation and the speed of a system that understands and acts are the same call." What that means for the future of customer engagement and conversation intelligence: https://lnkd.in/gRrrRu6G.The most human way to reach a business is becoming the most intelligent - San Francisco Business TimesThe most human way to reach a business is becoming the most intelligent - San Francisco Business Times
Experience
Licenses & Certifications
Honors & Awards
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Women Leaders of Conversational AI
Project Voice 2023
Project Voice recognizes women leaders for innovation in conversational AI and voice technology.
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2021 Aragon Research Women in Technology Award
Aragon Research
Aragon Research is an independent research and advisory company founded in 2011. Aragon provides business and IT executives with the actionable insights they need to navigate technology's ever-evolving impact on business.
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Top 100 Women Leaders In Technology Of 2021
Women We Admire
Women We Admire provides news and information on today's women leaders in business, entertainment, sports, motherhood, medicine, law, and many other fields.
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2020 Silver Stevie Award for Most Innovative Woman of the Year – Technology
Stevie® Awards for Women in Business
The Stevie® Awards are the world's premier business awards. They were created in 2002 to honor and generate public recognition of the achievements and positive contributions of organizations and working professionals worldwide. In short order the Stevie has become one of the world's most coveted prizes.
The Stevie Awards for Women in Business are open to all organizations worldwide, and recognize the achievements of women executives, entrepreneurs, and the organizations they…The Stevie® Awards are the world's premier business awards. They were created in 2002 to honor and generate public recognition of the achievements and positive contributions of organizations and working professionals worldwide. In short order the Stevie has become one of the world's most coveted prizes.
The Stevie Awards for Women in Business are open to all organizations worldwide, and recognize the achievements of women executives, entrepreneurs, and the organizations they run.
Stevie Award judges include many of the world's most respected executives, entrepreneurs, innovators, and business educators. More than 1,000 professionals worldwide participate in the Stevie Award judging process each year. All Stevie Awards entrants have access to all judges' comments about their nominations. -
2019 Women World Awards Gold Winner for Excellence in Industry, Woman of the Year (Cloud Computing/SaaS/Internet)
Globee Business Awards
The Globee Awards are a set of eleven business awards competitions staged annually. They were created in 2003 to recognize accomplishments and contributions of companies and business executives and professionals worldwide.
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2018 Innovation Award for Team Collaboration by Aragon Research
Aragon Research
Aragon Research is an independent research and advisory company founded in 2011. Aragon provides business and IT executives with the actionable insights they need to navigate technology's ever-evolving impact on business.
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2015 Golden Bridge Business and Innovation Award
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2015 YWCA Silicon Valley Tribute to Women Award
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2016 Bay Area CIO Awards finalist
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2018 San Francisco Business Times Forever Influential Honor Roll
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SF Business Times Most Influential Women in Bay Area Business for 2015 and 2016
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Silicon Valley Business Journal Women of Influence in 2015
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