MIT Entrepreneur-in-Residence
Macauley Kenney is an experienced leader for early/mid stage-startups, with a focus on building efficiency and financial success for mission-oriented organizations. Her accomplishments range from presenting at the TechCrunch Battlefield to mentoring for MIT's emerging technologies, and her work has been featured in Forbes and Engineering4Change. Macauley is currently an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at MIT, and the advisor to SurgiBox, Inc., a medtech company building innovative, ultraportable operating rooms for use in austere settings. Macauley holds a master's in Technology and Policy from MIT, and a certificate in sustainability from the Sloan School of Management.
I have overseen or conducted numerous recruitment rounds, including the growth of my company from 17 to 50 people over a 2 year period. During that time I designed multiple interview structures, screenings, and outreach, with a focus on equality and removing bias.
I've built three startups and mentored over 50 ventures at the idea stage. My professional expertise is in how to understand the market need before building the product.
I've managed remote teams spanning 5 different countries and 7 time zones. Much of this work was pre-pandemic, and I led the company in crafting it's remote work policies, including COL adjustment, leave, and working hours.
Understanding the user can make or break a venture; I've lead market surveys, focus groups, and interview to achieve understanding of the pain points, decision factors, and prevalence.
I regularly use asana for both personal task tracking as well as managing multiple product workstreams within my companies. I have also been responsible for integrating Asana into workplace culture.
As COO, I have overseen and orchestrated the production of our medical device from design for manufacturing (DFM) through to regulatory approval. Familiar with ISO13485 requirements, as well as medtech V&V steps for CE Mark and FDA.
Macauley is an executive leader at SurgiBox, a medical device venture creating novel surgical technologies. At SurgiBox, she oversaw the launch of the first ultraportable operating room, a Time nominated invention, taking the product through the design for manufacturing process and into use on the battlefield in Ukraine. Macauley teaches entrepreneurship, with a focus on commercializing hardware, at MIT. She is also the author of two patents on OR technology.
The Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship advances knowledge and educates students in innovation-driven entrepreneurship in a manner that will best serve the world in the 21st century. The focus of our education is MIT students to whom we provide proven frameworks, courses, co-curricular programs, state-of-the-art facilities, advisory services, and processes to create a rigorous, practical, customized, and integrated educational experience.
SurgiBox has developed the first ultraportable operating room, for use in austere conditions. In partnership with Doctors Without Borders and Air Force Special Operations command, our flagship technology fits into a backpack and enables safe surgery any time, any place.
• Collaborated with Head of Investments on ESG narratives and investment thesis for Donor Advised Funds (DAFs) • Leveraged OECD and IMP frameworks to create unique evaluation criteria for future and ongoing investments
• Co-designed exploratory research study to quantify the ROI of patient-centric activities in healthcare • Conducted 60 stakeholder interviews with senior members of government agencies, non-profits, and health services • Analyzed and synthesized findings from multiple sources of data, including secondary research, to uncover strategic insights
•Senior leader responsible for strategy and operations across five countries during a high‑growth period •Led expansion planning and operating model design supporting major revenue and personnel growth from $700k to $2.7M in two years
• Co-created and taught sessions on human centered design (HCD) for an immersive product creation seminar • Facilitated a group of local and international professionals through idea generation and prototyping using HCD principles • Led rapid prototyping of revised design, product was selected for future work by Population Services International
• Designed and conducted original research on Ugandan start-ups to explore the impact of financial support on corporate growth • Mapped ecosystem behavior and characteristics through exploratory research and case-study methodology • Interviewed 40 stakeholders including founders, government officials, NGOs and product users in Uganda and the United States • Managed project logistics including budget expenditures, timelines and deliverables, and stakeholder relationships • Co-authored publications on viable business model strategies and potential means of support from investors ad policymakers
• Analyzed and defined beachhead market in East African transportation through market research and consumer interviews • Designed novel phone-sharing system which enabled GPS tracking during deliveries to increase back haul efficiency
