# Maria Katris

> Maria Christopoulos Katris is the Chicago-based founder and CEO of Built In. Raised around her Greek immigrant parents' neighborhood pharmacy, she built and sold a nanny-placement agency before joining a fledgling Chicago tech community as its first employee in 2011. She helped turn that local network into a recruitment and employer-brand platform, led a $22 million Series C in 2019, and is now steering the company toward measuring how employers appear in AI answers and search.

- **Role:** Founder and CEO at Built In
- **Organizations:** Built In, TiE Midwest, Nanny Boutique, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Huron Consulting Group, Arthur Andersen
- **From:** Mount Prospect, Illinois, United States
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** BS, Miami University, MBA, Northwestern University - Kellogg School of Management
- **Known for:** Built and sold Nanny Boutique while earning an MBA., Helped transform Built In from a Chicago social network and local blog into a global technology-talent platform., Led a $22 million Series C in 2019, then described as Chicago's second-largest technology funding round raised by a woman CEO.

## Career timeline

- **2000-2002** — Worked as a consultant at Arthur Andersen.
- **2002-2004** — Worked as a consultant at Huron Consulting Group.
- **2004-2005** — Served as a strategic analyst at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
- **2005-2007** — Founded and later sold Nanny Boutique while completing her MBA.
- **2009-2011** — Led TiE Midwest as executive director and became immersed in Chicago's entrepreneurial community.
- **2011** — Joined Built In as its first employee and began leading the company.
- **2012-2013** — Helped take the local model beyond Chicago with launches in Colorado and Los Angeles.
- **2015** — Named a finalist for the Chicagoland Chamber's James Tyree Emerging Business Leadership Award.
- **2019** — Led Built In's $22 million Series C, led by Updata Partners with participation from MATH Venture Partners.
- **2020** — Built In entered the Inc. 5000 after reaching more than 130 employees, 1.7 million monthly visitors and 1,800 clients.
- **2024-2025** — Built In expanded internationally while Katris argued that recruitment had evolved into a marketing discipline.
- **2026** — Led Built In's push into AI Employer Intelligence, focused on how employers are described across AI answers and search.

## Achievements

- Built and sold Nanny Boutique while earning an MBA.
- Helped transform Built In from a Chicago social network and local blog into a global technology-talent platform.
- Led a $22 million Series C in 2019, then described as Chicago's second-largest technology funding round raised by a woman CEO.
- Guided Built In onto the 2020 Inc. 5000 list.
- Recognized by Crain's Chicago Business in its 40 Under 40 program.
- Named a finalist for the 2023 1871 Outstanding Tech CEO Award.

## Latest updates

- **2026-07** — Appeared on Endeavor Greece's Outliers to discuss her Greek-American upbringing, the origins of Built In and the changing role of work in personal identity.
- **2026-02** — Built In detailed its AI Employer Intelligence platform for monitoring and improving how large language models describe employers.
- **2025-05** — Discussed recruitment as marketing, candidate journeys and employer-brand measurement on The Changing State of Talent Acquisition podcast.
- **2024-09** — Spoke at RecFest USA about the shift from sourcing toward employer branding and community-building.

## Links

- Website: https://builtin.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maria-christopoulos-katris-35b91b7
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/mariakatris

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/maria-katris
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-09-27