Gwen Pokalo Hart named Rising Stars Alumna of the Year 2024
Vermont office of the Center for Women & Enterprise Director Gwen Pokalo Hart has been named the recipient of the 2024 Rising Stars Alumnus of the Year.
A 2014 Rising Star recipient, Gwen has served as Director of Vermont's Women's Business Center, a technical assistance nonprofit, for eight years. She reopened the federal public-private partnership under the regional Center for Women & Enterprise in 2016 and has grown the institution to serve over 300 Vermont women entrepreneurs and small business owners per year through individual business counseling, group learning experiences, and procurement certification. Gwen also led efforts to build out the regional organization's Data and Policy Departments. It is a toss-up what's her favorite thing to do at work; getting to know some of Vermont's bravest, most creative thinkers & doers (our clients - small business owners!), collaborating with the awesome network of partners in the work, and creating accessible, enjoyable entrepreneur/finance programs all bring Gwen great joy. Gwen deeply believes that everyone has an innate entrepreneurial spirit, and that we can build an equitable future through creative community resourcing.
Gwen serves on the boards of All Brains Belong, Association of Women's Business Centers, Vermont Community Loan Fund, and the Vermont Seed Capital Fund, and is a Corporator for Mascoma Bank. She is in the first cohort of the Northeast Transition Institute's professional fellows program, where she is learning about business transition strategy and the power of worker/employee ownership.
Gwen holds degrees in Community Development & Applied Economics from the University of Vermont, where she first fell in love with the power and potential of Vermont community. She's worked in microbusiness incubation & retail (her passion), rural development research, and with people with developmental disabilities.
Her professional identity blends relatively well with her private one, though in her private life, Gwen tends to be much sillier than professional constraints allow. Gwen is the enthusiastic mom of George (2) and partner of Jason (a Montpelier High School Math Teacher). Though rich in interests and hobbies, Gwen is spending the majority of her time basking in fun with loved ones, learning to lead a more sustainable life, and soaking up Vermont autumn. The scariest book Gwen read recently was 'We Used to Live Here', her work bible is 'Emergent Strategy', and she has been carrying around 'Entangled Life' in her backpack for months.
