Carolyn Kepcher

Carolyn Kepcher is the founder of Carolyn & Co. Media and WorkHerWay.com. She is formerly the Executive Vice President of the Trump Organization and Chief Operating Officer for Trump Golf Properties. Perhaps best known as Donald Trump’s right- hand woman on The Apprentice, Carolyn is regarded as one of the nation’s most successful and high-profile businesswoman. 

Her New York Times best-selling business book, Carolyn 101, is a must-read career advice book, offering practical workplace strategies alongside humorous and helpful anecdotes from her own experiences working with Donald Trump.

Having now moved beyond The Apprentice, Carolyn is a frequent speaker at prestigious seminars and conferences throughout the United States, and she has consulted with respected individuals such as Secretary of State, Hilary Rodham Clinton.  She has appeared numerous times on most major television shows, including the Today Show, CNN, Good Morning America, Good Day Today, MSN Today’s your Business, Fox Business and many others.  Carolyn is the 2010 Toastmaster’s Golden Gavel recipient for her excellence in leadership and communications.

Mistress of Ceremonies Yvonne Nava

Yvonne Nava

For the second year in a row, we are pleased to have Yvonne Nava from NBC Connecticut to serve as our Mistress of Ceremonies for our morning activities.  Yvonne is the co-anchor of NBC Connecticut News and can be seen weekday mornings on local channel 30.

Yvonne graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with degrees in broadcast journalism and business.  In college, she was recognized by Hispanic magazine for being an outstanding role model for Latinas.  She also devotes her time to mentoring young girls, the Connecticut chapter of the Lupus Foundation, Meals on Wheels and Family Life Education in Hartford.  Yvonne is also a strong supporter of the Latinas and Power Symposium which helps inspire Latinas to succeed.

Yvonne is the proud mother of a baby boy and calls him her greatest accomplishment to date!  Yvonne and her family are happy to be living in Connecticut and are enjoying all that New England has to offer.

Featured Speaker Kate Emery

Kate Emery

Kate Emery is founder and CEO of The Walker Group, one of Connecticut’s largest IT Services firms.  The Walker Group provides a comprehensive range of information technology services from systems support to virtualization.  Several years ago, Kate restructured Walker as a social enterprise, transforming its mission from maximizing shareholder profits to maximizing social contribution.  Among other commitments, any profits distributed by Walker must be divided equally between employees, the community, and shareholders.  

Kate is also the founder of reSET, the Social Enterprise Trust, a nonprofit whose mission is to promote, preserve, and protect social enterprise as a new, more sustainable and satisfying way of doing business.  reSET is actively engaged in making Connecticut a hub of social enterprise through its educational and advocacy work. After graduating Magna Cum Laude from the University of Connecticut’s Business School, Kate went on to earn her Master’s Degree in Management Information Systems at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Kate serves on the Board of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Hartford and reSET and often speaks passionately to entrepreneurs and innovative business leaders on the subject of social enterprise.