Opendoorz, a leading professional business network for business leaders, has announced a new ownership and leadership team to drive its continued strategic growth.

The Oxfordshire business has confirmed that Caroline O’Connor and Kate Harriott have invested in the company and will form the new senior management team along with its founder Cathy Dunbabin.

The combined experience of the all-female-ownership group is designed to future-proof the business and fuel its long-term growth plans. The restructuring was planned to follow the recent retirement of co-founder Sonia Kearns.

Caroline O’Connor, who also owns Fourth Born, a marketing consultancy, has taken a 15% stake in the business and the company’s operations manager Kate Harriott 10%, with Cathy Dunbabin becoming a majority shareholder.

placeholder image — Opendoorz leadership team

Founded 14 years ago Opendoorz has become one of the region’s most successful professional business network, with its members sharing more than £17M in revenue to date.

Cathy Dunbabin said: “This is an exciting and significant step forward in Opendoorz’s growth journey. Caroline and Kate strengthen our board-level experience, will reinforce our offering, value for members, and help develop the business via strategic expansion.

“I’m proud of our growth to date, thank Sonia for an amazing 14 years together and now look forward with renewed gusto, vision and commitment to go to the next level.”

Opendoorz operates 11 groups within its 150-strong membership across Oxfordshire and its surrounds, providing a community of like-minded business owners, with a focus on fostering meaningful relationship-based business networks.

Caroline, who has been an associate director within the membership for several years, will be communications director and Kate, who has driven all things operations at Opendoorz for eight years, step up to operations director.

The network covers Oxfordshire, plus parts of Gloucestershire and Buckinghamshire.

Caroline said: “I understand the value of a trusted professional network and have built my marketing business via my strength of that network, so the opportunity to invest in the business I’ve been an active part of for many years was the perfect alignment.

“We have a strong synergy as a leadership team, with combined skillsets that together create an excellent basis for growth. I’m looking forward to helping drive Opendoorz to new heights and developing our thriving business community.”

Kate added: “I’m proud to take the next step in my career at Opendoorz and receive the recognition of a promotion, but also the opportunity to strengthen my long-term commitment to the business by becoming a shareholder.

“We have a clear vision for growth and delivering enhanced value for our members and I can’t wait to deliver it.”

Opendoorz has also developed a reputation for supporting local charities via its membership and having fun alongside helping its members’ businesses thrive.