About Us

We are access to opportunity for aspiring women-led businesses to scale their Leader EQ and Business IQ.

Our Purpose ​

We are access to opportunity​.

Our Vision​​

An ecosystem where the impossible is possible.

Our Mission​​

To create inspiring, actionable experiences and connections that fuel and steward excellence at scale.

EBW Evolution

Our Team

Today, more than ever it is critical that we propel women-led businesses to
scale and actively participate in their global economy to close the gender parity gap. We do this through the EBW growth-focused Business IQ and Leadership EQ development, coaching, and our proprietary and patent-pending ONE I IV matching technology. EBW, together with our global partnerships, corporations, capital providers, and inspired change-makers are making the impossible possible.

Debbie Braden

Vice President, Culture and Communications

Jim Brown

Chief Operating Officer & Chief Financial Officer, JD, MBA

Ingrid Vanderveldt

Founder/CEO, MBA, M.Arch

Dare Rosebery

Chief Experience Officer

Jim Fitzpatrick

Chief Information Officer,
M.SC

Mo Alsaedi

Web development

Alison Bagwell

Health Portfolio Advisor

Peggy Kohn

Product Architect

Susan Plaisance

Member & Special Events Concierge

Pam Pike

Bookkeeping/Payroll

EBW Economic Sector Success Stories

Fintech Innovations

VISA made a large-scale investment into the creation of a women’s innovation competition to identify and recruit women into fintech. But the organization found it difficult to secure participants and global representation. EBW sourced companies from our network and filled VISA’s pipeline with innovative women-led fintech businesses from sought-after countries including the winner of the competition whose business formed the basis of a $10 million innovation portfolio.

Innovation Pipeline

EBW is an ongoing supporter of the United States Patent and Trademark Office programs and initiatives to increase women and diverse leaders who would apply for intellectual property (IP) protection. IP industries account for 38.2% of the total US GDP and almost ¾ of US exports. Since working together, the lift in patents amongst women has increased from 16.6% to 17.3% in one 12-month period.

Manufacturing

CATERPILLAR looked to EBW to source a member of our global innovation network to increase awareness of how their products could appeal to women in Africa. EBW connected CATERPILLAR to Jackie Heinricher, a STEM entrepreneur and competitive racecar driver. Their $250K sponsorship of Jackie’s team delivered $10M in organic global marketing enabling CAT to immediately establish itself front-of-mind with women innovators.

A New Supply Chain

During COVID, EBW utilized its global network to hire a 6-sigma black belt mechanical engineer to oversee a soup-to-nuts global supply chain to deliver ready-made surgical gowns to the State of Illinois. The contract was over $18M and helped save millions of lives.

Healthcare Solutions

During COVID, EBW pivoted the network to equip interested and qualified women with the tools to launch and operate their own EBW Cares consultancy. This enabled them to deliver complete and custom COVID-19 personal protective equipment (PPE) solutions that were necessary into their local communities. This led to the first women-owned, women-led international PPE distribution platform later acquired by Shield Manufacturing.