Rachel Trimarco is the Founder & CEO and Bridal Flower Divas. Trimarco planned and designed every detail of her own 300 person, lavish Hampton wedding. After receiving several astronomical quotes from florists, Rachel knew that she could find a way to avoid paying premium prices for the elegant floral décor she envisioned. She found an incredibly talented floral designer with over 25 years of experience to execute her floral scheme and used her business skills to negotiate with distributors. She ended up with couture floral arrangements for a fraction of the quotes she received from florists. After seeing her work and learning how little she paid, numerous friends and acquaintances requested her help in planning their own weddings. This gave her the inspiration for a discounted, designer bridal flower boutique. Trimarco's career has included financial sales, event planning and television production. After gaining experience in the corporate world, Trimarco decided to pursue her true passion, interior and event design. She combined her business acumen, planning and production experience, and flair for design to start Bridal Flower Divas. Rachel Tirmarco received her undergraduate degree from Cornell University.
Jennifer Dulski is the President and COO of Change.org Prior to Change.org, Dulski led the product management team for shopping and product ads at Google. She joined Google in 2011 when it acquired Dealmap, a company Dulski co-founded and served as its CEO from 2007 until its acquisition. Dealmap indexed over 400,000 local deals every day, totaling more than $10 million in savings available from hundreds of sources, including national brands, daily deal websites, local businesses and consumers. Dealmap has since been incorporated into Google Offers. Prior to Dealmap, Dulski served in multiple roles at Yahoo! from 1999 until 2007. Her last position was Yahoo's group vice president and general manager of local and commerce, where she led a $500 million plus portfolio of businesses and a 500 person team across the local and marketplace properties, including local, maps, shopping, travel, automotive and real estate. Additionally, Dulski founded and ran Summerbridge Pittsburgh (part of the Breakthrough Collaborative), a non-profit organization that launches high potential, underserved middle school students on the path to college and inspires high school and college students to pursue careers in education. Since 2008, she has chaired the board of the Silicon Valley site of Breakthrough. She also currently serves on the board of Little Passports, a global subscription commerce company inspiring children to learn about other countries and cultures. Jennifer Dulski received a MBA from S.C. Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University, and a Bachelor's degree in Psychology, also from Cornell University.
Cheryl Francis has been the Vice Chairman of the Corporate Leadership Center since 2002 and an independent business and financial advisor since 2000.
From 1995 to 2000, Francis served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company, a print media company. She currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Morningstar, Inc., HNI Corporation and Hewitt Associates.
Francis holds a bachelor's degree from Cornell University and a Master's degree in Business Administration from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business.
Sheena Lindahl is the author of the bestselling book,The Student Success Manifesto: How to Create a Life of Passion, Purpose, and Prosperity. Lindahl, along wit her husband, Michael Simmons, founded Extreme Entrepreneurship Education, LLC, while attending NYU in 2003. The pair have been named among BusinessWeek's "Best Entrepreneurs Under 25" in 2006. In addition, Simmons and Lindahl are the co-founders of Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour (EET), a collegiate tour bringing America's top young enterpreneurs to college campuses for a half-day conference to spread the entrepreneurial mindset. Started in fall 2006, the tour has visited over 60 schools nation-wide and has received the Innovation Award from the National Association of Development Organizations and the Program of the Year award from Northern Michigan University. Sheena Lindahl is a graduate of the Steinhardt School of Education at New York University.
Erin Barnes is an Executive Director at ioby.org. ioby connects donors and volunteers to environmental projects in their neighborhoods to inspire new environmental knowledge and action in New York City.
Erin Barnes has an undergraduate degree from University of Virginia and a Master's degree from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.
Maureen McGowan is the Director of HandCrafting Justice Inc., a project of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd. HCJ supports and assists women in the developing world in their efforts to create employment. A Sister of the Good Shepherd since 1965, she helped to found HandCrafting Justice in 1997, and has been serving as Director since 2004. Sister Maureen established the Good Shepherd Volunteer Program in 1993 and served as director until 2004. Prior to these ventures, she worked at Good Shepherd Services, supporting youth and families and as a director of training and formation for the Sisters of the Good Shepherd. Maureen McGowan holds a M.S.W. from the Wurtzweiler School of Social Work of Yeshiva University.
Summer Rayne Oakes is a model-activist, correspondent on Discovery Network's Planet Green, author of bestselling style guide Style, Naturally (Chronicle, 2009), and Editor-at-Large of ABOVE Magazine. As brand ambassador and sustainability strategist for both Portico Home and Spa, and Payless ShoeSource's zoe&zac line, her work keeps her busy on and off camera, advising and consulting on various aspects of design, production and practice. She is also Founder of SRO, LLC and the Co-founder/CEO of Source4Style - a B2B marketplace that allows designers - both fashion and interior - to search, compare and purchase more sustainable materials from around the world. Vanity Fair has named Oakes a "Global Citizen," Outside called her one of the "Top Environmental Activists," CNN hailed her as a "Young Person Who Rocks," Glamour anointed her "70 Women of Green," Cosmopolitan awarded her the "Fun, Fearless Female" Award, AMICA named her one of the "Top 20 Trendsetters under 40," and CNBC named her one of the "Top 10 Green Entrepreneurs of 2010." Summer Rayne Oakes is a graduate of Cornell University with degrees in Environmental Science and Entomology.
Clare Brett Smith is President Emerita of Aid To Artisans. Aid to Artisans (ATA) is a non-profit organization based in Hartford, Connecticut whose mission is to offer "practical assistance to artisan groups worldwide, working in partnerships to foster artistic traditions, cultural vitality, improved livelihoods and community well-being." ATA works with artisans in every region of the world through its product and market development programs, business skills training and Small Grants Program.
Smith served as President of ATA from 1986-2005. Prior to that, Smith owned and managed Primitive Artisan, a well-known import company specializing in handicrafts of developing nations. The company was sold in 1982.
Clare Brett Smith graduated from Smith College, where her major field was history and where she was Editor-in-Chief of the college newspaper.
Susan Youngblood joined IBM in 1992 and has held HR leadership roles in multiple business units including software, technology development and manufacturing, services, and sales. She currently serves as Director of Human Resources for the Tivoli software division which includes 7,000 people worldwide. Tivoli has a major presence in the United States, and also has software labs in Malaysia, Poland, China and the U.K. Youngblood has experience in varied HR specializations, such as employee/industrial relations, talent management, workforce planning, executive development and diversity. Susan Youngblood received her undergraduate degree in psychology from Vassar College and her master's degree in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University.