4th Annual Summer Solstice  “How Women Investors and Entrepreneurs Will Revive the California Economy”

Hey Divas,

Looking for some money, honey? Well, then this is the event you should attend if you live in Northern California.I won’t be there because I’ll be speaking at University of San Francisco. But my intern Melissa will be there. Introduce yourself! Here’s the details:

This premier event will bring together the Bay Area’s most talented minds to:
· Foster a collaborative atmosphere between women and the angel community
· Confront the critical issues facing women entrepreneurs and investors today
· Drive the recovery of the California economy
· Build businesses and invest in thought out ventures
· Explore compelling investment opportunities

In addition to a networking reception, attendees will hear brief presentations and a panel discussion regarding the larger role women investors and entrepreneurs need to play in the California economy. More than ever, the angel community is eager to attract women investors. Women investors are considered a largely untapped market that is critical to “financial and mentoring support for new companies.”

REGISTRATION
Please register at http://summersolstice.eventbrite.com $25 by June 26, $40 thereafter.

PANELISTS AND KEYNOTE SPEAKER
The Summer Solstice will feature a unique panel of business women who will discuss a myriad of issues confronting the entrepreneurial community today. The panel itself will be comprised of notable members and entrepreneurs from the Keiretsu Forum and Women’s Initiative.

AGENDA
5:30-6:30pm Registration, Networking, and Booth Exhibitors
6:45-6:50pm Welcome and Opening Remarks
6:50-7:10pm Keynote Speakers: Bank of America’s Amanda Wallis
Rashmi Sinha, Co-Founder and CEO of SlideShare
7:10-8:00pm Panel Discussion

Panelists and Keynote Speaker Bios
Julie Castro Abrams is a national leader in microfinance and women’s issues. She has been CEO of Women’s Initiative since 2001, following a non-profit career that spanned 20 years in Chicago. She led the transition of Women’s Initiative from a founder-led organization to a rapidly growing non-profit that has expanded throughout the Bay Area and increased the number of women trained and receiving microloans tenfold.

Greta Mowry is an active investor member of the San Francisco Keiretsu Forum chapter and a co-Chair of the Keiretsu Forum WISE (Women Investing in and Supporting Entrepreneurs) Committee. Mowry has close to 20 years of experience working with companies to identify and develop significant new sources of revenue. She began her career working in marketing strategy and new product development for several Fortune 500 companies, including Procter & Gamble, H.J. Heinz and Gap Inc. In 2000, she launched the growth strategy firm, Verge, and has since worked with both Fortune 500 companies and start-ups in the consumer products, financial services, online services, and retail sectors.

Rachel Sheinbein is a Senior Associate at CMEA Capital with the Energy and Materials team. Before CMEA, she was a consultant for start-ups in the areas of bio-plastics, solar and water treatment. For 9 years prior to consulting, Sheinbein worked in several positions at Intel Corporation — as a Chemical Engineer for industrial liquid waste systems, a Program Manager for Environmental Health & Safety, a Purchasing Analyst, and a Strategic Product Manager in the Information Technology group. Sheinbein is an active angel investor, focusing on clean technology, and co-chairs the Keiretsu Forum’s WISE (Women Investing in and Supporting Entrepreneurs) group. In addition, Rachel volunteers in various roles for California Clean Tech Open – a business plan competition that encourages the development of clean technology companies.

Rashmi Sinha is co-founder and CEO for SlideShare, the world’s largest community for sharing presentations and documents. SlideShare is growing rapidly (more than 18 million monthly uniques) letting everyone from marketers, conference speakers and academicians share presentations and connect with others. Rashmi has a PhD in Cognitive Psychology from Brown University and did research on search engines and recommender systems at UC Berkeley. She is a frequent speaker at conferences such as Web 2.0 Expo and Future of Web Apps. She writes a blog at rashmisinha.com about running a startup.

Amanda Wallis is the Managing Director, Market Executive for the Northern California and Nevada Regions of U.S. Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management. Wallis is a member of Bank of America’s San Francisco Leadership Team, comprised of the company’s top executives in the market. The team manages the bank’s ongoing relationships with local community leaders and organizations and makes decisions about how to use Bank of America’s resources to support the San Francisco community. With more than 30 years of financial services experience, Wallis joined U.S. Trust from American Express in London where she served as executive director, and Europe, Middle East, Africa Region Head of the American Express Private Bank. In that role she led a region with seven international locations. Prior to her role at American Express, Wallis spent over 10 years at the legacy Private Bank of Bank of America. During this period Wallis served in several leadership roles in San Francisco and London. In 2007 she was named one of the “20 Most Influential Women in European Wealth Management” by Global Investor Magazine.