2012 We Own it Summit Speakers

Terry Barclay is the President and CEO of Inforum, one of the largest women’s business forums in the United States with over 2,000 members.  She recently designed and launched inGAGE, Inforum’s initiative to position Michigan as the Midwest hub for high-growth women entrepreneurs. inGAGE programs guide women in the earliest stages of idea validation and technology commercialization; give women-led ventures access to a global network of advisors and investors; and increase the number of women angel investors in Michigan.  Terry Barclay is also an active angel investor supporting the growing number of Michigan start-up companies.

Dr. Helga Breuninger. Director of the Breuninger Foundation Born 1947 as fourth generation of the Germany-based family enterprise Breuninger Department Stores in Stuttgart, Helga prepared herself for succession and started her academic education with business administration. However, her father didn't believe in female successors. Helga continued her academic career with a PhD in clinical psychology and established her own research institute on learning therapy. Since 1980 she acts as the director of the Breuninger Foundation. Female leadership and emotional competence is one of the foundation's research issues. In 1995 Helga started her own consulting firm, the Helga Breuninger Consulting GmbH to empower female leaders and female successors.

Pascal is Director of Mozilla's Open Innovation group and WebFWD, where he works with the wider community inventing the future of the Web. He loves technology and believes that the Internet is deeply impacting mankind. Prior to Mozilla, he led eBay's Platform Solutions Group, launched a consulting practice to help entrepreneurs with their strategy & operations and invested into startups, among other things. Craig Newmark (Craigslist) described Pascal as "a social change maker to watch."

Pascal frequently speaks about and consults Fortune 500 companies on Open Innovation, mentors entrepreneurs at TechStars, Seedcamp, The Unreasonable Institute and many other places.

When he doesn't work you can find him running, teaching pro-runners Pilates or preparing espresso shots. 

Dr. Patricia Fletcher is a software executive at SAP, currently focused on go-to-market and innovation efforts.  Through the past 14 years at SAP, Dr. Fletcher has built an extensive network that spans across the business’s multiple global lines of business, international partner ecosystem, large enterprise customers, and academic thought leaders, among others.  Through various entrepreneurial leadership and business development roles, Dr. Fletcher has successfully helped launch competitive, value-based offerings, business practices, and go-to-market models.  Dr. Fletcher began her career as a business consultant in California and England; helping small and mid-sized firms in California and England successfully drive global expansion through organic and M&A growth strategies. 

Dr. Fletcher, a highly sought after speaker and published author on the topics of women executives and entrepreneurs in the technology industries, value-based governance, business intelligence and analytics, enterprise integration, and human capital management, holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Phoenix, an MBA from the Richmond School of Business in London, England, and a Doctorate of Management from the University of Phoenix.  Dr. Fletcher’s dissertation, a phenomenological study of women who hold board of director positions in life sciences and technology businesses, uncovered several new and dynamic factors among women who have achieved the ultimate in leadership positions in the most male-dominated industry in the world.  Most of the participants in Fletcher’s ground-breaking research were successful serial entrepreneurs dedicated to promoting innovation and diversity in their markets.  Dr. Fletcher has continued to focus on the role of women entrepreneurs in technology and innovation through on-going research, and active leadership and participation with key leadership and entrepreneurial associations including ASTIA and the Path Forward Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

DIVYA GUGAMI, CEO, BEHIND THE BURNER

Divya started her business career in Investment Banking at Goldman Sachs and then moved on to private equity and venture capital at Investcorp International and FirstMark Capital. Currently she serves as the CEO of Send the Trend (www.sendthetrend.com) which offers curated fashion accessories for women online. She also serves as CEO of Behind the Burner (www.behindtheburner.com) a culinary media brand focused on tips, tricks and techniques for food, wine, mixology and nutrition.

Send the Trend was acquired by QVC, a home shopping network and e-commerce site. Here is an article that was recently posted on Tech Crunch: http://techcrunch.com/2012/02/23/qvc-acquires-personalized-e-commerce-site-for-fashion-accessories-send-the-trend/

Divya currently advises several startups and established brands with board level roles. She appears regularly on MSNBC: Your Business, NBC Weekend Today and NBC Nonstop. She has also been a guest on FOX & FRIENDS and has been featured in The New York Times, BusinessWeek, TIME Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, The Deal, Crains, among several other publications. Divya contributes to The Huffington Post, TODAYshow.com, Daily Beast, MSN's Glo, The Nest Magazine and Woman's World.

She is the author of the book Sexy Women Eat: Secrets to Eating What You Want and Still Looking Fabulous, published by HarperCollins.

Divya was honored as a 2010 Game Changer by The New York Enterprise Report and will be receiving an award as one of the Top 50 Outstanding Asian Americans in business. Additionally, Divya is on the Board of Directors for New York Entrepreneur Week, a non-profit movement formed around a single belief: entrepreneurs change the world. She also enjoys teaching entrepreneurs at The Founder Institute.

In addition to a B.S. from Cornell University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, Divya holds a degree from the French Culinary Institute.

LORRAINE HARITON, SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR COMMERCIAL AND BUSINESS AFFAIRS, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT

Lorraine Hariton is the U.S. State Department’s Special Representative for Commercial and Business Affairs. Ms. Hariton has more than 25 years of experience in the IT sector in Silicon Valley. She served as President and CEO of Apptera from 2003 to 2005. She served as the CEO of Beatnik from 1999 to 2002 where she repositioned the company as a leader in the wireless. Ms. Hariton also spent 15 years at IBM serving in a number of executive capacities. Ms. Hariton has an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a B.S. in Mathematical Sciences from Stanford University.

ANA HARVEY, ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR FOR WOMEN'S BUSINESS OWNERSHIP, U.S. SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

As the U.S. Small Business Administration’s assistant administrator for women’s business ownership, Ana Recio Harvey oversees the agency’s efforts to promote the growth of women-owned businesses through programs that provide business training and counseling, access to credit and capital, and multiple business and networking opportunities. 
 
Harvey manages a nationwide network of women's business centers that provide training and counseling to hundreds of thousands of entrepreneurs in nearly every state and two U.S. territories. Her office also works with representatives in every SBA district office to oversee operations of the women’s business centers and to coordinate services for women entrepreneurs.

After working as a translation consultant from 1991 to 2000, Harvey established Syntaxis, LLC, a highly successful SBA 8(a)-certified multilingual communications company with clients from Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations.  Harvey successfully grew her company from a single English-to-Spanish translation agency into a full-service multilingual communications firm with 75 employees handling communications and translations in 25 languages.

While still managing her company, Harvey served for two years as Latino programs director for Cultural Tourism DC, where she developed relationships with community-based organizations and Latino audiences in the Washington DC Metropolitan Area. 

In 2007, Harvey was named president and CEO of the Greater Washington Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, a post she held until President Obama appointed her to lead the Office of Women’s Business Ownership.  At the Chamber, she set the direction and provided the leadership that helped the organization fulfill its philosophy, mission and strategy, and enabled it to achieve its annual financial goals and community objectives.

Harvey holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Houston.

SUE LAWTON, DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION & INNOVATION

Formerly the Executive Director for Europe and part of the WEConnect International team since its inception, creating the first UK pilot, building the Canada program and expanding WEConnect throughout Europe, Sue is now the Director for Education and Innovation. Sue has broad business experience in both public and private sector organizations, across gender and enterprise development and has worked extensively in the area of not-for-profit business development and microfinance. She has worked within the UK, the USA and Central America. Sue has an MA Human Resource Management, an MA Social Enterprise Management and is a Chartered Member of the Institute of People Management. She is also a Visiting Fellow at the Small Business Research Centre at Kingston University.

JO ANNE MILLER, MANAGING DIRECTOR, GOLDEN SEEDS

Prior to joining Milk Street Ventures, a secondary direct venture capital firm, Jo Anne was a Principal at Nokia Innovent, a seed-stage investing team within the Nokia strategy organization. In this role, Ms. Miller was responsible for management of the portfolio and the Nokia business relationships. Prior to Nokia, Jo Anne was the President and CEO of Gluon Networks, a start-up providing next-generation converged voice and data switching and management systems for local telephone service providers. Jo Anne has more than 29 years of telecommunications and computer industry experience, including senior executive, engineering management, and research roles at JetCell, an indoor wireless/VoIP company (acquired by Cisco Systems), AirNet Communications, a wireless infrastructure company, Tellabs, and AT&T Bell Laboratories. Ms. Miller has a BS in Mathematics from the University of Michigan, an MS in Computer Science from the University of Colorado and an MBA from the University of Chicago. Jo Anne is also an angel investor with SandHill Angels and leads the Golden Seeds - San Francisco Angel Investor Forum. She serves on the boards of Synergy,Inc., Inteliinet Technologies, Astia and MentorNet.

CAREN MAIO, CEO AND CO-FOUNDER, NESTIO.COM

Caren Maio is the CEO and Co-Founder of Nestio.com, one of the eleven companies in the first TechStars NYC class. Having become deeply acquainted with the nuances of apartment hunting, Caren and her co-founders created Nestio, the easiest way for renters to organize and share their apartment search. Prior to Nestio, Caren lent her business expertise to corporate sales positions at powerhouse brands Nike and The Wall Street Journal. Caren graduated from New York University with a dual-degree in Brand Building and Publishing. She was recently named one of the 15 Women to Watch in Tech by Inc.com. Caren is coming up on her 10th year living in Manhattan and currently renting her 750th apartment in this city. Okay, not really, but she’s moved a lot.

LESA MITCHELL, VICE PRESIDENT, EWING MARION KAUFFMAN FOUNDATION

Lesa Mitchell is a vice president with the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. She has been responsible for the Foundation’s frontier work in understanding the policy levers that influence the advancement of innovation from universities into the commercial market and the new relationships between philanthropy and for profit companies. Under Mitchell’s leadership, the Foundation is defining and codifying alternative commercialization pathways, and identifying new models to foster innovation. Mitchell was instrumental in the founding of the Kauffman Innovation Network / iBridge Network, the Translational Medicine Alliance, the National Academies-based University-Industry Partnership and leader in the replication of innovator-based mentor programs across the U.S. In addition, Mitchell serves on the boards of the Regenerative Medicine Foundation and the University of Kansas Institute for Commercialization.

Prior to joining Kauffman, Mitchell spent twenty years of her career in global executive roles at Aventis, Quintiles, and Marion Laboratories and ran an electronic clinical trials consulting business in support of global pharmaceutical clients.

EWING MARION KAUFFMAN FOUNDATION

The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation (www.Kauffman.org) works with partners to encourage entrepreneurship around the world. The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation is working to further understand the phenomenon of entrepreneurship, to advance entrepreneurship education and training efforts, to promote entrepreneurship-friendly policies, and to better facilitate the commercialization of new technologies by entrepreneurs and others that have great promise for improving the economic welfare of the world.

The Foundation works with leading educators and researchers nationwide to create awareness of the powerful economic impact of entrepreneurship, to develop and disseminate proven programs that enhance entrepreneurial skills and abilities, and to improve the environment in which entrepreneurs start and grow businesses.

Dr. Teresa Nelson holds the Elizabeth J. McCandless Professor of Entrepreneurship Chair and is Director of the Entrepreneurship Program at the Simmons College School of Management, offering one of three MBA programs for women in the world. Her teaching, research, and consulting focuses on issues of entrepreneurship and global business, most particularly around start-up and growth company governance and top management team dynamics. She has also been engaged for more than a decade with global business issues, including especially China and the European Union.

Cindy Padnos is the founding managing director of Illuminate Ventures (www.illuminate.com), a high-tech focused venture capital firm based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Illuminate invests in innovative companies led by committed and talented teams, particularly those that are inclusive of women entrepreneurs. A core tenant of the firm’s strategy is that team diversity enables higher levels of innovation and overall investment performance, proof points of which are well documented in a recently released whitepaper entitled High Performance Entrepreneurs: Women in High Tech.

Ms. Padnos has a demonstrated a track record of performance both as an investor and as an entrepreneur. Prior to founding Illuminate, she was an investing director of Outlook Ventures’ early stage focused $140 million tech fund. Previously, as an operating executive, Ms. Padnos helped deliver several successful outcomes For example she was founder and CEO of venture-backed software company Vivant through its acquisition by a public company, CEO of Acumen and VP of marketing at Scopus Technology leading up to it successful IPO.

Ms. Padnos received her MBA, with honors, from Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School of Business and her undergraduate degree, magna cum laude, from the University of Michigan. She serves as an advisor to non profits such as Astia and Women 2.0.

Toya Powell is the Director of Government Engagement at the U.S. Black Chamber, Inc., focusing on Advocacy, Access to Capital, Contracting, Entrepreneur Training, and Chamber Development to promote economic empowerment for small businesses and chambers nationwide.  Prior to this role, Toya was a Real Estate Economist at Property & Portfolio Research, Inc. in Boston, MA, monitoring commercial real estate markets.  She was also a Business Opportunity Specialist at the U.S. Small Business Administration, reviewing applications for firms seeking Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB) certification. In addition, Toya was an Economist with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, where she researched and analyzed import, export, and exchange rate data in the International Price Program.  A Realtor in Washington, D.C., and Maryland, she worked with Long & Foster Real Estate Inc. 

Toya is a native of the Washington, D.C. area and earned her B.A. in Economics from the University of Maryland-College Park.

Rosie Rios serves as the 43rd Treasurer of the United States.  She has direct oversight over the U.S. Mint, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and Fort Knox and is a key liaison with the Federal Reserve.   In addition, the Treasurer serves as a senior advisor to the Secretary in the areas of community development and public engagement.  She is especially passionate about supporting Women in Finance and issues of Main Street in the economic recovery.

Prior to her confirmation as Treasurer, Rios worked at MacFarlane Partners, where she was Managing Director of Investments.  Working with MacFarlane Partners’ development and global capital partners, Rios played a central role in facilitating equity transactions for large mixed-use development projects in major urban areas. In November of 2008, Rios took a leave of absence from MacFarlane Partners to serve on the Treasury/Federal Reserve Transition Team and is a graduate of Harvard University.

ALICIA ROBB, SENIOR RESEARCH FELLOW, EWING MARION KAUFFMAN FOUNDATION

Dr. Alicia Robb is a Senior Research Fellow with the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and a Research Associate with the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her research interests are entrepreneurial finance and entrepreneurship by women and minorities. In addition to numerous journal articles and book chapters, she is the co-author of Race and Entrepreneurial Success published by MIT Press and is currently working on her second book on financing strategies for women-owned businesses to be published by Stanford University Press. Her current research is on women’s entrepreneurship and innovation in the U.S., as well as women’s entrepreneurship in the U.S. and Australia.

Sharon has been CEO of Astia since 2007 previously serving as COO since 2004. Sharon has an unwavering passion and a uniquely well-suited background to drive forward the organization’s mission of propelling women’s full participation as entrepreneurs & leaders in high-growth businesses, fueling innovation & driving economic growth. Under her guidance, the Astia community of investors, entrepreneurs, & industry leaders has grown ten-fold & now spans North America, Europe & India. Under her leadership, the organization received a half a million dollar investment from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the largest foundation for entrepreneurship globally. Previously, Sharon founded SJ Vosmek & Associates and held management positions at American Express & in the office of US Senator DeConcini. Ms. Vosmek was invited to participate in The White House Women’s Entrepreneurship Conference and The Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship. In January 2011, Astia was chosen to join the White House’s StartUP America initiative, developed to celebrate, inspire, and accelerate high-growth entrepreneurship throughout the nation. Astia is the only organization included that focuses on women-led start ups. Sharon has a master’s in public policy and administration from the University of Wisconsin, Madison and a bachelor’s in political science from Arizona State University.

ALICE WANG, FOUNDER & CEO, SPARK BOX TOYS

Alice is the Founder and CEO of Spark Box Toys, an toy rental company that brings the best educational and learning toys to kids. Previously Alice was a Principal at Learn Capital, an early stage venture capital fund focused on incubating and investing in the education industry. Alice began her career at the United Nations in Beijing. She has been an investment banker and private equity investor. Alice is a graduate of MIT. Though much neglected, her hobbies remain: running, sailing, diving and photography.

JULIE WEEKS, PRESIDENT & CEO, WOMENABLE; CHAIR OF THE BOARD, ASSOCIATION OF WOMEN'S BUSINESS CENTERS, USA

Julie Weeks is the President and CEO of Womenable, a for-profit social enterprise that works to enable women’s entrepreneurship worldwide by improving the systems – laws, policies, programs and research-based knowledge – that support women’s enterprise creation and growth. Weeks is one of the world’s leading experts in the field of women’s enterprise development, with experience in both the private and public sectors in the areas of research, public policy and program management.

Prior to launching Womenable in 2005, she served as Executive Director of the National Women’s Business Council, a federally-funded bipartisan policy advisory body created by the U.S. Congress to serve as an independent voice of women’s entrepreneurship and an advisor to the President, U.S. Congress and the U.S. Small Business Administration on women’s entrepreneurship issues. Weeks has also served as the Director of Research and Managing Director of the Center for Women’s Business Research, the Deputy Chief Counsel for Statistics and Research at the U.S. Small Business Administration, and was Vice President for Research and Public Policy at two market research firms.

Weeks has a BA in Political Science from the University of Michigan, and a Master’s degree from that same institution in Political Science with a concentration in research methodology.

ADRIANN WANNER, FOUNDER & PRESIDENT, EVOJETS LLC.

Adriann abandoned conventional industry practices and defied all odds when, at the age of 25, she founded evoJets, a national provider of luxury jet charter services. By blending progressive online marketing strategies with an unparalleled dedication to safety and service, she was able to grow her company into an industry leading platform and aviation model that has since been widely replicated.

Appointed to Inc Magazines prestigious “30 Under 30” list as one of the most promising young entrepreneurs of 2011, Adriann is passionate about encouraging entrepreneurship in our youth and about narrowing the entrepreneurial gender gap. Her company evoJets was voted the Best Private Jet Service in 2011 by Inc magazine and was recently showcased as one of the Coolest Startups in America.  Adriann received a BA in marketing and finance from the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business. 

@AdriannWanner

DANIELLE WEINBLATT, FOUNDER AND CEO, TAKE THE INTERVIEW

Danielle Weinblatt is the Founder and CEO of Take the Interview. Prior to Take the Interview, she was a private equity professional and the Junior Recruiting Captain for Cornell University during her time at Citigroup. Danielle is a member of Springboard Enterprises, a network of female technology CEOs and an Advisor to DreamIt Ventures Israel, an incubator supporting Israeli startups. She has been a speaker and lecturer at Harvard Business School and Cornell University and has been featured in Inc. Magazine and on Fox News to discuss topics such as video technology, job creation, startups, and the future of HR technology. Danielle holds a Bachelor of Science, summa cum laude, in Applied Economics from Cornell University and achieved Honors at Harvard Business School.