Summit Moderator

Club Pilates

Anne McNamara is the owner of five boutique fitness franchises in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine. She started her business ownership journey from the bottom up — first as a client, then an instructor, and eventually a studio owner. Anne takes pride in creating jobs in our local communities, running a team of 70 employees, mostly made up of women!

She is a proud native of Lowell, MA, and a graduate of Syracuse University. Anne formerly worked in television as a national news anchor and reporter, winning Emmy awards for her work. She encourages you to follow your dreams — and don’t be afraid to change them… often!

Keynote Speaker

Mei Mei Dumplings

Irene Li co-founded Mei Mei Dumplings in 2013 as a food truck business and has since built the company into a factory, cafe and classroom. Sustainable sourcing and fair employment practices, including open book management, have been central to the business from the start. A Boston native and Cornell University graduate, Irene has worked on farms, taught in prisons, and watched perhaps hundreds of hours of YouTube videos on food and cooking. Today, Irene’s focus is on building a new company, Prepshift, a tech-enabled coaching and workforce training firm that works directly with restaurants and partners with government and private entities to ensure a bright future for independent food businesses.

Irene is a Zagat and Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, six-time James Beard Foundation Rising Star Chef nominee, and 2022 James Beard Foundation Leadership Award winner. In 2023, Irene and her sister co-authored Perfectly Good Food: a totally achievable zero-waste approach to home cooking with W.W. Norton. Irene sits on the boards of The Food Project, Haley House, and Project Bread. She also supports Lovin’ Spoonfuls and co-founded Project Restore Us in 2020.

Keynote Speaker

Innovation Women

After starting Carlton PR & Marketing in 2008, Bobbie followed with her second company, Innovation Nights, a social media powered new product showcase that has launched more than 1500 new products. These companies have received a combined $4+ billion in funding. And company #3 is Innovation Women, an online “visibility bureau” for entrepreneurial, technical and professional women. In 2020 she purchased two additional companies, My Speaker Leads and Lioness Magazine.

Bobbie has been featured on CBS News, in the Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, USA Today and other major media. She was previously the head of global PR at two different enterprise software companies and the head of marketing for a book series devoted to providing positive role models for preteen girls. She’s inspired thousands of technical, entrepreneurial, and professional women to take control of their own visibility and has worked with event managers around the world to deliver diverse and inclusive events.

Partner Speaker

U.S. Small Business Administration

Lisa Gonzalez Welch, Economic Development Specialist has been with the Massachusetts Small Business Administration (SBA) for 30+ years. Ms. Welch is responsible for managing the Northeast region of the Commonwealth and serves as the Women’s Business Ownership Representative for the MA SBA District Office. Lisa works closely with community organizations, lending institutions, local/state government, developing programs and workshops, meeting one-on-one with clients and being the liaison between the small business entrepreneur and the SBA resource partners network.

Spotlight Speaker

BC Essentials Aromatheraphy Company

Beverly Buccheri is the owner of BC Essentials Aromatherapy Company located in Newburyport, Massachusetts. BC Essentials has been operating successfully for over 20 years featuring Aromatherapy, gifts for the home, jewelry and clothing. BC Essentials offers a carefully curated selection of retail products as well as top selling aromatherapy products. Also, Beverly is a certified aromatherapist and dedicated to creating the highest quality all natural aromatherapy products using only 100% pure essential oils from all over the world. Products are all hand blended and carefully packaged ensuring customer satisfaction and delight.

Spotlight Speaker

Breadcrumbs Creative

Tisha-Vonique has inspired over 1000 entrepreneurs, budding and established, in creating transformative blueprints. A self-described “professional soundboard”, she guides entrepreneurs to optimize resources by filling in the gaps that clutter their creative processes. As founder of Breadcrumbs Creative, Tisha unlocks the potentiality within her clients. Her coaching has amassed individual client wins in excess of $20k each and garnered statewide accolades. She, herself, earned International Communicator’s Awards and the Association of Women’s Business Centers’ National Advisor of the Year recognition.

Tisha holds an MBA, Lean Six Sigma distinction, multiple specialized certifications, and splits her time between Massachusetts and her home state of Texas. She continues to empower audiences as a dynamic coach, public speaker, and workshop facilitator across the US from a core purpose driven by her passion to champion individuals’ self-limiting beliefs into purpose-driven, successful action plans.

Spotlight Speaker

Chic Party Co

Liz White is an award-winning business owner and CEO of Chic Party Co. Chic is a culmination of Liz's retail, styling, and design background. She identified a gap in the market after struggling to find an unusual dessert option for an event at a client's new business launch. She knew she wanted to create a whole new way of experiencing events with a modern, mobile cart, gourmet confections and high-end styling. Viola! Chic Party Co was born, serving the Boston market, New York and most recently, Las Vegas.

Spotlight Speaker

Right at Home

Rosaleen Doherty is the CEO of Right at Home Boston and Maine, which she founded with her partner in 2002. Right at Home offers personalized senior home care services throughout Eastern MA and the Portland, ME area. Right at home provides nursing services, personal care, companionship and safety to over 1000 New England families each week. The business started with one small office in Beverly, MA with a handful of professional caregivers and nurses. Today, Right at Home has over 500 employees.

Rosaleen is on the Board of Directors of the MA Council for Home Care Aide Services, she is past president of the Rotary Club of Marblehead Harbor and past president of North Shore Women in Business.

Spotlight Speaker

New Chapter HI Services

As founder and CEO, Vicki has grown the business and embodies the spirit of resiliency and perseverance. New Chapter HI Services was formed in April 2013, funded with about $2300, now providing an ever growing range of clients including homeowners, property managers, real estate brokers, city and local governments across Massachusetts, and contracts with the U.S. Federal Government, with highly ethical, excellent quality and competitively priced painting and/or property maintenance options. Vicki realized that there a need for better home improvement services that customers could trust.

Vicki also has a passion and commitment to advance and empower young women. She practices resiliency by focusing on self-care, wellness, healing and empowering herself from within which positively impacts her business decisions.

Spotlight Speaker

Family Dinner

Erin Baumgartner is the CEO and cofounder of Family Dinner, a farmers’ market delivery business based in Eastern New England. Launched in 2017, Family Dinner works with local farmers and food purveyors weekly to find New England's best ingredients and deliver them to homes in the Greater Boston Area. They use data and predictive analytics to curate bountiful deliveries to their customers, reduce waste in the food supply chain and help small farmers be competitive at a larger scale.

Before transitioning to her full-time role at Family Dinner, Erin enjoyed a 11 year career at MIT in business development and directing lab operations, most recently as the Assistant Director of the MIT Senseable City Lab. The Lab focused on using data analytics to understand complex urban systems.