The January Meeting Elected More VID Officers and Highlighted the WE NYC Initiative
Marti Spiranza addressing VID after Officer elections
On January 14th VID elected (re-elected) the remaining roster of officers and then heard from VID favorite Marti Spiranza about the Women Entrepreneur initiative to expand female entrepreneurship in New York City, with a special focus on under-served women and communities. You can see the Minutes of the entire meeting here.
First, the elections:
There was only one nominee for Treasurer–Frieda Bradlow
Kathy Slawinski was the one nominee for Recording Secretary
For Corresponding Secretary, the two nominees were Ed Yutkowitz and Jonathan Geballe. As there were two positions, the two were unanimously elected through acclamation.
The Executive Committee nominees were: Tony Hoffmann, Tom Connor, Alec Pruchnicki, Frank Savits, Eli Hausknecht, Mary Petretti, Lois Rakoff, Annette Zaner, Nat Johnson, Katharine Wolpe, Jen Hoppe, Allison Greenberg, Marlene Nadle, Nancy Shanbam, and Joe Gallagher. As there were fifteen positions open, all the nominees were unanimously elected through acclamation.
Also at the January meeting, Marti Spiranza discussed the impetus around the formation of the Women Entrepreneurs NYC launched last March by First Lady Chirlane McCray, Deputy Mayor for Housing and Economic Development Alicia Glen and Citi. Among the data collected in forming this program:
- Women Entrepreneurs employ more than 190,000 New Yorkers and generate approximately $50 Billion in sales.
- BUT, women lag significantly behind men who who head 1.5x the number of business; employ 3.5x more people; and have 4.5x more sales.
- 85% of women found funding to be a core issue in establishing their business; more than 70% of women felt they lacked the necessary skills; 75% cited the need and value of mentors.
WENYC has reached 1,500 women to date and forecasts reaching 5,000 over the next three years with a program that will provide access to capital, mentorship and networks, business skill building and networks for NYC’s growing number of women entrepreneurs.
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