Meeting other dynamic women business leaders and entrepreneurs.
Connecting with academic and business leaders recruiting for your business.
Learning from aspiring entrepreneurial and intrapraneurial students.
Learning about current research and trends on women starting businesses.
What will you get from this conference?
Walk away inspired by the stories and expertise of the keynotes.
Breakout sessions designed to facilitate discussion on the most important issues facing women today
Get face-to-face with key corporate decision makers during a matchmaking session hosted by the Small Business Administration
Join us!
Meeting other dynamic women business leaders and entrepreneurs.
Connecting with academic and business leaders recruiting for your business.
Learning from aspiring entrepreneurial and intrapraneurial students.
Learning about current research and trends on women starting businesses.
What will you get from this conference?
Walk away inspired by the stories and expertise of the keynotes.
Breakout sessions designed to facilitate discussion on the most important issues facing women today
Get face-to-face with key corporate decision makers during a matchmaking session hosted by the Small Business Administration
Join us!
You could be meeting other dynamic women business leaders and entrepreneurs. Connecting with academic and business leaders recruiting for your business. Learning from aspiring entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial students. Learning about current research and trends on women starting businesses.
You could walk away inspired by the stories and expertise of the keynotes. Breakout sessions designed to facilitate discussion on the most important issues facing women today. Get face-to-face with key corporate decision makers during a matchmaking session hosted by the Small Business Administration.
Join us at the Women Redefining Entrepreneurship & Leadership Conference on February 6 for these opportunities & more.
Thank you to our sponsors: Entrepreneurship @ Cornell & 76West.
Interested in becoming a sponsor? Get more information.
Our event wouldn't be possible without each of you.
Interested in becoming a sponsor? Get more information.
8am
Registration and breakfast
9am
Opening Address
Ariana Blossom, Director of Passenger to Pilot: Empowering Women Entrepreneurs Program at Rev: Ithaca Startup Works
9:15am
Morning Keynote
Laura Danckwerth, President of eBay's Women in Technology and
Director of Software for StubHub.
How do you follow your passion, trust in your strengths and show others what you're capable of accomplishing in the face of adversity or doubt? How do you navigate your personal career to become comfortable with risk and reach for challenges with confidence? Laura¹s keynote will share the lessons she has learned about opening doors and what it took to navigate to her dream job. Join us for an honest discussion of what holds us back, what helps us succeed, and how to find comfort in authentic leadership.
10:30am
Panel: Biases and Stereotypes Women Face
Featuring Susan Fleming, Deb Streeter, and Michele Williams
What impact do gender stereotypes and bias have upon women’s ascent to and success in leadership roles? Is there any truth to the female underperformance hypothesis or is there a female advantage? This panel of experts on gender and entrepreneurship will discuss some the barriers that undermine women’s social capital and hold women back from succeeding in business. We will also explore strategies and tips for overcoming these barriers in the field of entrepreneurship and beyond. This panel will help you unlock the potential for a “female advantage” that leaders and entrepreneurial teams can truly leverage.
11:30am
Networking Lunch
1:00pm
Panel: Scaling Up Your Small Business
Moderated by Joanne Lenweaver, featuring Chelsey Kingsley of Kingsley Quality Woodworking, Heather Lane of Purity Ice Cream, and Amy Zarbock of Ithaca To-Go
2:00pm
Breakout Sessions
Sessions will focus on topics relating to women navigating the business marketplace. Our sessions include: Building A Powerful Brand with Dee Marshall, Executive Presence with Heather Couvillon Lufburrow, and Work / Life Balance Across Generations with Julie McPeek.
2:00pm
Small Business Administration - Matchmaking
The SBA will host a matchmaking session, in which small businesses can network with regional companies and the government. Pre-register by selecting the SBA Matchmaking checkbox in the registration form.
3:30pm
Zen-Trify Your Life In Minutes: How to Harness Energy, Hack Stress and Heal Imbalance in Minutes
With Michelle Courtney Berry. Attendees will learn how to perform easy stress-busting and experience the benefits of deep relaxation techniques such as breath work, acupressure and deep meditation.
4:00pm
On the Faultline: How Visionary Women Entrepreneurs Will Help Big Business Survive the Meteoric Speed of Change
Evening Keynote with Angelique Rewers, The Corporate Agent
Five forces are converging in ways that are disrupting Big Business at its core. In this keynote session, Angelique shares what those five forces are and gets underneath this disruption, showing how the big shifts are creating unprecedented opportunity for visionary women entrepreneurs. She will also explain why the currency of the new economy is agility, and how we need to think fundamentally differently about how Big Business collaborates with Small Business.
4:30pm
Cocktail Reception & Networking
Laura is the software engineering leader of the StubHub Catalog, Ads, Merchandise, Social and Sell domains focused on building captivating experiences for our fans. As the 2014/2015 President of eBay Women In Technology (eWIT) she has put together programs that engage women by providing crucial technical and leadership capability development. eWIT also heavily engages the Silicon Valley community to support the growth of girls in exploring careers and skills development in technology. During her previous 10 years at PayPal, Laura, an engineering director, was passionate about building world-class technology platforms and recruiting and growing top talent engineers and leaders. Laura was the 2012/2013 Chair of the PayPal Technology and eBay CIO Office Mentoring Program where she connected hundreds of protégés with knowledgeable mentors each year. Previous to her career in software she was a Director of Operations at First Data and Client Executive at EDS.
Angelique is a seasoned entrepreneur and business leader, and is the founder and CEO of The Corporate Agent—a company that helps entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, and startups navigate the process of securing lucrative corporate contracts. Prior to founding The Corporate Agent, Angelique was the President and Owner of Bon Mot Communications LLC, Principal Communications Consultant with Constellation Energy, Communications Manager at Northrup Grunman, and Manager of Corporate Communications at Bearing Point. Experience with such Fortune 500 companies has positioned Angelique to advise businesses on how to become a trusted vendor of large corporations. In 2010, Angelique was awarded the Platinum Excellence Award from the Millionaire Protégé Club, and her work has been featured in a number of management books.
Michele is an Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Industrial and Labor Relations School at Cornell University. Her research focuses on the creation and development of cooperative, high-performance interpersonal relationships, and how interpersonal processes (such as perspective taking and emotion) contribute to trust and cooperation in team-based relationships. Michele also conducts research on women in management, examining the influence of gender composition on project teams and team success. Michele has consulted for public and private organizations such as Booz Allen Hamilton and the Massachusetts General Hospital, and is the co-author of Four Capabilities Leadership Assessment—an online 360 degree assessment used to enhance leadership potential. Michele received her PhD in Organizational Behavior from the University of Michigan, her MA in Education from Columbia University, and her BA in Psychology from Johns Hopkins University.
Deb is the Bruce F. Failing Sr. Professor of Personal Enterprise and Small Business Management in the Department of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University. Deb’s research interest include: models for teaching entrepreneurship, use of digital media in teaching, and gender issues in entrepreneurship. Deb received the Olympus Innovator Award in 2007, the Constance E. and Alice H. Cook Award in 2004, Professor of Merit Award in 2002, and was named influential to a Merril Scholar in 1999, 2000, and 2003. She was also awarded the CALS National Food and Agriculture Sciences Excellence in College and University Teaching in 2001, among many other teaching accolades. Deb received a MS and PhD in Agricultural Economics from the University of Wisconsin Madison, completed her BA at the University of Connecticut.
Susan is a senior lecturer at the Cornell School of Hotel Administration, and is also a faculty sponsor for the Hospitality Business Plan Competition. She teaches courses on entrepreneurial management and women in leadership, and her research focuses on women in leadership positions in U.S. society. Susan previously worked on Wall Street, serving in a number of roles at Morgan Stanley, Insurance Partners, and Capital Z Financial Services Partners. She is also an entrepreneur, having founded a startup in Ithaca, NY, and has served on the board of directors for public, private, and non-profit companies. Susan received her MS and PhD from the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University, and her BA from the University of Virginia.
Chelsey is the CEO and co-founder of Kingsley Quality Woodworking. Her company exists to build clients’ visions with extraordinary craftsmanship and to foster the skills and legacy of her trade. Their customers include homeowners, builders, restaurateurs and educational institutions.
Chelsey created her own educational path with unique apprenticeship positions and work with multiple small businesses in the arts, healthcare and food manufacturing. In her first year as CEO she led the company to an 85% increase in sales. Chelsey has a passion for business and is a champion for women starting & growing businesses they love.
Joanne is the Director of the WISE Women’s Business Center in Syracuse, NY—a program of the Martin J. Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University. Women Ignited the Spirit of Entrepreneurship (WISE) assists women entrepreneurs through training and educational events, and provides one-on-one free business counseling. In 2010, WISE was selected as an SBA “Women’s Business Center of the Year”, and in 2012 Joanne was recognized with a Red Cross “Women Who Mean Business” award and the Falcone Center “Excellence in Entrepreneurship” award. An entrepreneur in her own right, Joanne holds a degree from the University of Buffalo.
Amy is the co-founder and co-owner of Ithaca To Go, a restaurant marketing firm and technology platform which coordinates food delivery throughout Ithaca, NY since 2011. Amy has been a driving force in the growth of Ithaca To Go and is proud the company is locally owned and operated. Ithaca To Go has grown to encompass a network of over 50 restaurants and a large workforce of customer service professionals and delivery driver partners. Amy is passionate about helping other business owners reach their full potential and is an active member of REV: Ithaca Startup Works, a program to support female entrepreneurs in the Ithaca business community.
Ariana is the creator of and program director for Passenger to Pilot: Empowering Women Entrepreneurs hosted at Rev: Ithaca Startup Works. She has also run her own business, Blossom Coaching, LLC for the past six years helping mid-sized companies reduce conflict. In addition, she’s coached small business owners, mid-level managers, executives, and individuals seeking to improve their lives. She is available to speak on issues such as, glass ceiling challenges, managing positive conflict in the workplace, and on managing work and life balance.
A sought-after international speaker, published author, certified Coach and TV Lifestyle Personality, Dee Marshall is Managing Director at Raise The Bar, LLC a WBENC Certified company who services primarily Fortune 500 corporations and individual who are high-level, high-profile and high-ranking. She is Founder of Girlfriends Pray Inc. an international non-profit organization of over 100K women (currently in three countries and over 26 US markets) and Marshall is also contributor for Essence Magazine. Her speaking credits span from small to large audiences around the world. Although she has been covered by numerous media outlets to include ABC, MSNBC, Fox, WMAR, WATC, Praise 102.5, 98.7 Kiss, Black Enterprise, Upscale, ShePreneur, Rolling Out, Kingdom Alive, Gospel Today and Heart & Soul Magazine, her most visible television role is resident Life Coach on TV One Makeover Manor.
Michelle Courtney Berry's award-winning company Courtney Consulting Enterprises, LLC is dedicated to empowering entrepreneurial leaders, C-level executives and women to ‘hack stress for EPIC success.’ Her clients run the gamut from Ivy-League universities, to the Fortune 500, to start-ups and top leaders in health, industry, sports, publishing and hospitality. Michelle is also an author, hiking leader, fitness enthusiast and workplace stress expert featured on PBS, CBS, ABC, NBC, iHeartMedia, Clear Channel radio and in Gannett newspapers. The Founder of the registered trademarked Working Well, one day at a time® method and the Life Flow Plan™ coaching system, Michelle devotes her life to helping leaders recover from overwhelm, heal, find authentic balance and claim their right to true happiness.
Heather G. Lane has been President and co-owner of Purity Ice Cream Company since 1998. She has been upholding and improving an Ithaca tradition of Classic Goodness over the past 18 years. The past two years have been a time of growth and renovation for Purity Ice cream. In March 2015 Purity introduced weekend breakfast…Purity Pancakes. The expansion includes a 75 seat dining room that opened its doors and quickly became a wildly popular breakfast spot in Ithaca. This January completes the final expansion plans opening Monday – Friday for Purity Lunch.
In addition to serving happiness at Purity Ice cream Co Heather enjoys getting students excited about business and has been a part-time lecturer at Ithaca College School of Business.
The art of creating a satisfying customer experience that is also profitable has been Heather’s pursuit and passion for years. Getting better at it all the time is her enduring goal!
Heather Couvillon Lufburrow is the CEO of Lufburrow & Company, a Woman-Owned Small Business (WOSB) located in historic Havre de Grace, Maryland. Like good food, risk is meant to be shared. This is a philosophy Heather embraces and brings to clients, team members and the community. Lufburrow & Company rapidly develops and deploys quality, reliable software solutions. Heather has carefully evolved this capability to deliver innovative solutions on aggressive schedules for our clients in government, commercial and non-profits organizations. Heather is a strong proponent of flat, empowered teams and practices within her firm, promoting aspiring leaders and agile teams. Across the community, Heather is an active volunteer and role model for aspiring executives and technologists. As an engineer with a defense background, Heather is passionate about promoting technical leadership. She served as President of the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of Women In Defense (WID) and founded their annual RW3 leadership conference.
Julie is a 1983 graduate of the Dyson School. She started her career at Procter & Gamble and progressed through a variety of roles in her 18 years at the company. In 2001 Julie left P&G to found Provisor Marketing with her business partner Kate Jones (’86). At Provisor, Julie and Kate focus on marketing strategy and brand management services for small and mid-sized consumer products brands. Julie has worked with a number of brands across a variety of categories such as healthcare, personal care, beauty care, food and retail. Julie is adjusting to the “empty nest” after raising three daughters with her husband Jeff, a 1982 Cornell grad. They currently reside in Deer Park, IL.