Ellen is the former President of Devonshire Custom Publishing, a Fidelity Capital company. Prior to that she was Senior Vice President of Fidelity Investments, holding various positions in marketing, strategic planning, systems planning and business management. Ellen also held brand management positions at Lotus Development Corporation, where she was in charge of Lotus 1-2-3, and The Gillette Company, where she marketed various personal care product lines.
Ellen has served on several boards including Harvard Student Agencies, Inc., Let’s Go Inc., The Center for Women & Enterprise, the Wellesley Centers for Women and the Wellesley College Business Leadership Council. She is also a member of the Board of Advisors of the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem and is a past board member and Treasurer of the Wellesley College Alumnae Association. She holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and an AB from Wellesley College where she majored in Mathematics.
Why CWE?
Having had a successful career in business, with the advantages of a first rate MBA and all the connections and credibility that brought me, I was drawn to the idea of helping women who were less fortunate, but who had the guts and determination to want to start their own business. This was something I never wanted to do myself, but I really admired others who did. I also knew that for many CWE clients, necessity as much as a desire to work for themselves makes them consider entrepreneurship. When I retired, I thought I might be able to use some of my skills to help these women.
I am as drawn to the importance of helping women get off welfare by starting a home-based business as I am by helping women with established businesses raise money from angel investors or venture capital. I like that CWE addresses programs and services to this entire spectrum of women, with the focus on teaching them and helping them to find all kinds of resources, including each other through their networking programs. So the mission excites me; and the successful delivery of that mission to our clients sustains my interest and support. And for those clients who find they aren’t ready to start a business, CWE educates them on personal finance, to put them in a stronger financial position. We don’t give any handouts. But if someone really wants to succeed, CWE will do everything it can to help that person to help herself.