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.
Muhammad Yunus is a Bangladeshi banker and economist. A former professor of economics, he is famous for his successful application of the concept of microcredit, the extension of small loans to entrepreneurs too poor to qualify for traditional bank loans. Yunus is also the founder of Grameen Bank.
In 2006, Yunus and the bank were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. In the prize announcement The Norwegian Nobel Committee mentioned: "Muhammad Yunus has shown himself to be a leader who has managed to translate visions into practical action for the benefit of millions of people, not only in Bangladesh, but also in many other countries. Loans to poor people without any financial security had appeared to be an impossible idea. From modest beginnings three decades ago, Yunus has, first and foremost through Grameen Bank, developed micro-credit into an ever more important instrument in the struggle against poverty."
Yunus himself has received several other national and international honors. He is the author of Banker to the Poor and a founding board member of Grameen Foundation.
Muhammad Yunus completed his BA and MA in economics at Dhaka University. He was offered a Fulbright scholarship in 1965 to study in the United States. He obtained his Ph.D. in economics from Vanderbilt University.
David Audretsch is an American economist. He is currently the Director at the Max Planck Institute of Economics, Jena in Germany. He is also the Ameritech Chair of Economic Developmentat the Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs and Director of the Institute for Development Strategies at Indiana University and a research fellow at the CEPR, London. He is also co-founder and co-editor of the academic journal on entrepreneurship and small business called Small Business Economics.
David Audretsch received his B.A. at Drew University in 1976, his M.S. in Economics in 1979 and later his doctorate in 1980 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Robert McMath originally started The New Product Showcase and Learning Center in 1968 as a new products reporting service by in 1968. It started with only a small percentage of the products on display in Canandaigua, New York. Over the years the NPSLC grew to nearly 70,000 products, put most of the products on display, took up over 6,500 sq. feet of space, and moved to various facilities in and around New York.
The new company, NewProductWorks, was formed by merger of the New Products Showcase and Learning Center of Ithaca, New York, and the new products practice of the Arbor Strategy Group. The two firms combined in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in the spring of 2001.
As part of NewProductWorks, the Collection is housed in a very modern and contemporary 7,400 sq. foot state-of-the-art facility. Approximately 70% of the Collection is on display at all times, with the remainder in accessible storage.
Robert McMath received his undergraduate degree from Johns Hopkins University.
C. Marshall Paul has more than 40 years experience in the pharmaceutical and market research industry and is president of ACNielsen HCI.
Marshall Paul started his career in 1962 as a marketing analyst for Merck & Co., Inc. In 1982, Paul built a new company, HCI, Inc. In November 1997, HCI was acquired by VNU and merged with its subsidiary PERQ Research. In January 2002, Marshall Paul was appointed president of ACNielsen HCI, a new company formed to help design and market the initiatives of other VNU subsidiaries, including HCI.
C. Marshall Paul graduated from Dickinson College and has a bachelor of science degree in Economics.
Randy Allen is Founder and CEO of Girls Explore. Girls Explore broadens the horizon of possibilities for girls through creating dolls that can be role models in major fields of science, sports, the arts, the humanities, and business and professions. Each role is a reflection of the woman who is a leader in her field. Prior to founding Girls Explore, Allen served as an executive vice president of Kmart and had become partner at Deloitte & Touche at a time when few women made it past the glass ceiling at major corporate consulting firms. Randy Allen is a graduate of Cornell University.
Bill Shore is the founder and executive director of Share Our Strength, a national nonprofit that inspires and organizes individuals and businesses to share their strengths in innovative ways to help end hunger. Shore is also the chairman of Community Wealth Ventures, Inc., a for-profit subsidiary of Share Our Strength that provides consulting services.
Shore founded Share Our Strength in 1984 in response to the Ethiopian famine and subsequently renewed concern about hunger in the United States. Since its founding, Share Our Strength has raised over $180 million to support more than 1,000 anti-hunger, anti-poverty groups worldwide.
Prior to founding Share Our Strength, Shore served on the senatorial and presidential campaign staffs of U.S. Senator Gary Hart (D-Colo.) He also served as chief of staff for U.S. Senator Robert Kerrey (D-Neb.)
Shore is also an author. His three books include Revolution of the Heart (1995), The Cathedral Within (1999) and The Light of Conscience (2004).
Shore earned his B.A. at the University of Pennsylvania and his law degree from George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
Harold Craighead is a Professor in the School of Applied and Engineering Physics at Cornell University. From 1989 until 1995 he was Director of the National Nanofabrication Facility at Cornell University. Dr. Craighead was Director of the School of Applied and Engineering Physics from 1998 to 2000 and Director of the Nanobiotechnology Center from 2000 to 2001. He served as Interim Dean of the College of Engineering from 2001 to 2002. In July of 2002, he returned to the Nanobiotechnology Center as Co-Director for Research. He has been a pioneer in nanofabrication methods and the application of engineered nanosystems for research and device applications.
Harold Craighead received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Physics from the University of Maryland, College Park. He received his Ph.D. in Physics from Cornell University.
Robert Verloop is Vice President of Marketing at Sunkist Growers, the grower-owned citrus marketing cooperative based in Sherman Oaks, California.
Verloop began his produce marketing career with the California Avocado Commission in Santa Ana, working his way up from Theft Prevention Manager to National Merchandising Director to Vice President. He also served as Vice President of Communication and Trade Relations for buyproduce.com.
Robert Verloop received his Bachelor's and his Master's degrees from California State Polytechnic University at Pomona.