WDCEP Finishes PremierPlan Workshop Series and Announces Finalist Judges for PremierPlan
On May 6, 2009, the Washington, DC Economic Partnership’s BusinessPremier program held Presenting Your Business Plan to Investors, the final workshop in its three-part educational programming developed to support the District’s first $100,000 business plan competition, PremierPlan.
The workshop, which covered common mistakes when communicating before audiences, the art of persuasion and perspectives from an investor, was designed to assist all applicants, including the six finalists who will be selected from the pool of more than forty applications received this year.
These six finalists will compete for the $100,000 CAPCO investment on July 8th, 2009 in an oral presentation competition. The applicant’s knowledge of their business, their persuasiveness and other factors will be rated by a judging committee comprised of leaders from the regions entrepreneurial, business and political community (listed below).
2009 PremierPlan Business Plan Competition Judging Committee
• Dr. Errol Arkilic, Program Manager, Division of Industrial Innovation and Partnerships, National Science Foundation
• Douglas Beekman, Principal, Advantage Capital
• Telaekah Brooks, Chairwoman, Department of Business Management, Southeastern University
• Paul Broudrye, Store Manager, TD Bank
• Kwame R. Brown, At-Large Councilmember, Council of the District of Columbia
• Frank Ciatto, Partner, Venable LLP
• Peter Corbett, CEO, iStrategies Lab
• Tripp Donnelly, Founder & CEO, Repequity & Erinmoor Group
• Ben Dupuy, President, DC Coalition for Capital
• Jon Higgins, Vice President of Commercial Banking, Bank of Georgetown
• Paul Jorgensen, Founder, Jorgensen Law Firm PLLC
• Dr. Charles Mahone, Dean, UDC, School of Business & Public Administration
• Stephen J. Moore, President & CEO, Washington, DC Economic Partnership
Angie O’Grady, Chief Operating Director , Preferred Office
• Ada Polla, President & CEO, Alchimie Forever
• Jeff Reid, Executive Director, The National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship
• Valerie Santos Young, Chief Operating Officer, Office of Deputy Mayor for Planning & Economic Development
• Margaret Singleton, Vice President & Executive Director , DC Chamber of Commerce
• Mark Slusar, Director, Enhanced Capital Partners
• Lee A. Smith III, Director, DSLBD
• Adrienne Smoot, Partner, AVSmoot LLC
• Michael Wallach, Vice President & Chief Operating Officer. Anacostia Economic Development Corporation
The winner will be announced at the 2009 BusinessPremier Small Business Awards on July 22, 2009.