Karina DuQuesne

Karina DuQuesne is the Chief People Officer and General Counsel at Ironhack, a global edtech company building the next generation of emerging tech talent. Miami-born and raised, Karina is committed to creating an inclusive tech ecosystem in South Florida. After spending almost a decade in New York working as a financial analyst at Goldman Sachs and obtaining a law degree, Karina returned home to Miami in 2014 and to build a career at the intersection of business, law, and technology.

Karina has extensive experience advising high growth tech companies and investment firms on how to scale and make opportunistic acquisitions. She has successfully closed over 15 leveraged buyout transactions totaling over $2 billion in enterprise value across various sectors, including various acquisitions financed through syndicated debt offerings. Prior to Ironhack, she served on the executive team of a global enterprise Saas company located in Miami, FL and navigated a merger of equals that included legal and operational restructuring across 6 different countries.

Passionate about bridging the gender gap in technology, she founded the Ironhack Women in Tech Collective, an initiative focused on raising awareness of the gender gap and intentionally creating opportunities for women to break into and build their careers in the tech sector.

She earned a Juris Doctor and Certificate in Dispute Resolution from Benjamin N. Cardozo School in New York City and a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. She is a member of the Cuba Study Group and has been recognized by The Daily Business Review as Counsel on the Rise and is a recipient of the Attorney Ad Litem Award for Lawyers for Children America. She is also an active angel investor.