Erica McMannes is COO and co-founder of Instant Teams. Erica found her calling in Silicon Valley in 2012, as a founding member of 3 startups focusing on user acquisition and community growth. She has been an Active Duty Army Spouse for 20 years and found the mobility and freedom as a remote professional to be something she wanted to replicate for more people. Erica is an expert at leading teams in a remote environment and starting and running a successful business as a military spouse and female founder. Instant Teams is a remote team marketplace providing remote  customer support and operations pipelines for companies with military-connected talent located globally in every timezone enabling 24/7 support.

Erica holds a Bachelors of Science in Human Ecology from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville and a Masters Degree with honors in Human Ecology from Kansas State University. She is an alumni of the FI, Patriot Boot Camp, V-WISE, and BlueStartUps programs, and also a two- time winner of grant led startup pitch competitions. Erica has led conversations on military spouse employment and remote culture in various events including Hubspot’s Inbound Conference, 2 time presenter at the Military Influencer Conference, the Department of Defense’s Annual Military Spouse Employment Partnership Summit and also serves on the Hampton Road’s StartWheel Board of Directors.