Keri Gilder is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at Colt. Appointed to the role in May 2020, Keri is responsible for executing Colt’s strategy which centres around putting the power of the digital universe in the hands of its customers – wherever, whenever and however they need.

Before becoming CEO, Keri was Colt’s Chief Commercial Officer, leading global teams across sales, presales and marketing, as well as working closely with the wider organisation to ensure Colt delivered for its customers. Prior to joining Colt, Keri held several leadership roles at Ciena but was most recently its VP & General Manager EMEA, responsible for guiding Ciena’s EMEA service provider and enterprise customers, as well as partners.

Named CEO of the Year 2024 at the TMT Finance Awards; People’s Choice Woman of the Year by Network X; CEO of the year at the World Communications Awards; Outstanding Female Executive (Pacific Telecoms Council); Outstanding Contributor (Layer123 awards) and a leader that ‘has the ability to move mountains’ (Global Telecoms Women’s Network), Keri is passionate about promoting Inclusion and Diversity to ensure Colt is a business where everyone feels they can bring their true selves to work. In addition, Keri brings this passion to the wider industry as the Chair of the TM Forum’s Diversity & Inclusion Council and President of the Global Telecom Women's Network.

Earlier in her career, Keri worked in multiple roles for Lucent Technologies, and she has also worked for Hughes Aircraft as a Network Engineer.

Keri has a Bachelor of Business Administration degree with an emphasis in Management Information Systems (MIS) from New Mexico State University.

Keri lives in London with her husband and two children and is based at Colt’s head office in London.