Reshma Saujani is a lawyer, politician and founder of the tech organization Girls Who Code. She was previously the Deputy Public Advocate at the Office of the New York City Public Advocate. Reshma Saujani attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she graduated in 1997 with majors in Political Science and Speech Communication. She attended the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, where she received a Master of Public Policy in 1999, and Yale Law School, where she received her Juris Doctor in 2002.
Amanda Eilian is the Co-founder and President of Videolicious. Amanda Eilian received her undergraduate degree from Georgetown and her MBA from Harvard.
Ben and Judy Benjamin are the owners of Ben and Judy's Sugarhouse which they founded in 1982. This maple sugar business began as a hobby and has grown over the years to involve more of the extended family.
Ben and Judy Benjamin have oil-fired evaporators, reverse osmosis machines and other equipment meant to speed up the task of reducing 40 gallons of sap to one gallon of syrup. After sap turns to syrup, Judy Benjamin takes over, making value-added products such as maple cream and granulated maple sugar.
Nadja Schnetzler is the CEO and Co-Founder of BrainStore and the author of "The Idea Machine". In the Swiss company BrainStore, ideas are produced in the same way as products - made-to-order and on a conveyor belt. The BrainStore ideas machine is an innovation model which functions on engineering principles and makes this idea generation possible. Nadja Schnetzler studied at the Ringier School of Journalism in Zurich, Switzerland.
Sandra Day O'Connor was the first woman and the 102nd person to sit on the Supreme Court of the United States. She retired from her position on January 31, 2006. O'Connor majored in economics at Stanford University and graduated with high honors. She continued her graduate work there. It was during her work as editor on the Stanford Law Review that she met John Jay O'Connor III, also attending law school at Stanford. In 1952 she graduated from law school, again with honors, and soon thereafter was married to John O'Connor. Despite her excellent scholastic record, it was difficult for women to find positions as lawyers. Her husband practiced law for a few years before they decided to build a home in north Phoenix. Their first child, Scott, was born in 1957. Two more sons joined the family in 1960 and 1962. In 1965, Sandra Day O'Connor went to work on a part-time basis for the Arizona attorney general's office. In 1969 she was appointed to the state Senate and was subsequently re-elected to that position. In 1973 Sandra Day O'Connor was the first woman to serve as the majority leader of a state Senate. In 1974 Sandra Day O'Connor was elected to a position of trial judge for Maricopa County and 5 years later was appointed by then Governor Bruce Babbitt to the Court of Appeals. On July 7, 1981 President Reagan announced that Sandra Day O'Connor was his appointee to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court left by Associate Justice Potter Stewart's retirement. She was confirmed by a Judiciary Committee vote of 17 to 1 and won approval by the U.S. Senate by a vote of 99 to 0. Justice O'Connor was regarded as a consummate compromiser; her goal on issues was simply to achieve a majority vote. She is considered to be tough and is a conservative, but not as tough or conservative when it comes to women's rights and children. O'Connor made it clear that she believes a court's role, including that of the Supreme Court, is to interpret and not to legislate. She has been referred to as the most influential women in America. In July 2005 Sandra Day O'Connor announced that she would retire from her position as a Supreme Court Justice as soon as a replacement was appointed. Justice Samuel Alito succeeded her on January 31, 2006.
As CEO and cofounder of Dancing Deer Baking Co. Trish Karter marries her creative, artistic, environmental, community and business interests. Situated in Boston's inner city, Dancing Deer has received the food industry's equivalent of the "Oscars" many times over, Inc. Magazine's listing in the top 100 Inner City companies, FleetBoston's 2002 Small Business Leadership Award for Innovation, 2001 and 2005 Chamber of Commerce Award for Excellence, Fortune Small Busniess Best Bosses Award 2005, 2000 SBANE New Englander Award for Innovation, 1999 Brand Design Award from the American Institute of Graphic Artists and many other honors. All Dancing Deer employees are shareholders and its philosophy is that when people are happy it shows in the food. The company partners in a philanthropic venture called the Sweet Home Project, with the Paul and Phyllis Fireman Foundation. Dancing Deer donates 35% of the retail price from the Sweet Home product line to programs to end family homelessness. In 2002 Karter was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Wheaton College in Norton, MA for her accomplishments. She also holds a master's degree in public and private management from Yale University.
Barbara and Steve Smith purchased Meadowsweet Farms in 1995 to create a family business in Lodi, NY.
Since the family has taken over the operations, several aspects of the business have changed. The original product mix of 50% yogurt and 50% milk (sold to processors) has been modified and expanded to meet market demand. The current product mix includes locally-sold beef and dairy products (yogurt, kefir, cheese, and raw milk). All of these products are organically produced.
Springboard Enterprises is a national non-profit organization dedicated to accelerating women's access to equity markets.
One goal of the organization is to provide "Venture Capital Forum" programs. These forums are designed to increase investments in women-led firms and facilitate new deal flow to investors. Springboard targets women-led high-growth businesses in the technology and life sciences industries that seek seed, first or later stage funding. Women entrepreneurs must have a senior leadership position in the company and hold a significant equity stake in their company.
This case includes "pitch" presentations made by female entrepreneurs to investors present at Springboard's 2003 Midwest Forum. Entrepreneurs/companies include:
Springboard Enterprises is a national non-profit organization dedicated to accelerating women's access to equity markets.
One goal of the organization is to provide "Venture Capital Forum" programs. These forums are designed to increase investments in women-led firms and facilitate new deal flow to investors. Springboard targets women-led high-growth businesses in the technology and life sciences industries that seek seed, first or later stage funding. Women entrepreneurs must have a senior leadership position in the company and hold a significant equity stake in their company.
This case includes 16 "pitch" presentations made by female entrepreneurs to investors present at Springboard's 2003 New England Forum. Entrepreneurs/companies include:
In addition, there are clips from a lecture given by Tom Davenport. He is Director of the Accenture Institute for Strategic Change and a Senior Fellow of HBS Interactive, a research and education arm of Harvard Business School. He is a widely published author and acclaimed speaker on the topics of information and knowledge management, reengineering, enterprise systems, and electronic business and markets.
Rhonda Gilmore began her career at the furniture design company Herman Miller. In the mid-1980s Gilmore founded her own sole proprietorship, Rhonda Gilmore Design Consultant, in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Gilmore closed her business after six years to return to school and pursue a teaching career. Currently, Gilmore is a lecturer in the Department of Design and Environmental Analysis at Cornell. Rhonda Gilmore received her B.S. from the University of Cincinnati in 1982 and her M.A. in Interior Design from Cornell University in 1994.