Women Wednesdays Entrepreneur Series — it's not just for women...this NEW series is open to ALL entrepreneurs in the Kansas City metro area interested in attending. No matter what stage your business is in — whether a start up or an existing small business — WBC can help!
Online Event
Free
This is a VITURAL. To register for the IN-PERSON experience click HERE.
Join us for the half-day summit celebrating women business owners and aspiring business owners. We'll share tips on how to start a business, fund your business and grow your business. We will also highlight the entrepreneurial story of Kansas City entrepreneur, Jeanette Prenger, Founder and CEO of ECCO Select.
DATE: Thursday, August 24
TIME: 8:00am - 12:00pm
SUMMIT DETAILS:
Join us for the half day summit celebrating women business owners and aspiring business owners. We'll share tips on how to start a business, fund your business and grow your business. We will also highlight the entrepreneurial story of Kansas City entrepreneur, Jeanette Prenger, Founder and CEO of ECCO Select.
AGENDA:
8:00am - Continental breakfast/networking
8:45am - Welcome Remarks - Michael Barrera, District Director, Kansas City District Office, SBA
9:00am - Keynote Presentation - Jeanette Prenger, Founder & CEO, ECCO Select
9:30am - Steps to Starting a Business
10:15am - Funding Your Business
11:00am - WBE/MBE Certification
11:30am - The Business of Child Care
11:55am - Closing Remarks
PRESENTER BIOS:
Mr. Michael Barrera was selected to serve as the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) District Director for the Kansas City District Office in February 2021. As the District Director, Mr. Barrera is responsible for providing entrepreneur educational resources; the oversight of billions of dollars in federal contracting dollars; and billions of dollars in lending guarantees for small businesses in Greater Kansas City, Western Missouri, and Eastern Kansas.
Mr. Barrera is an experienced attorney with over 30-years of business, government, legal, and non-profit experience, and has an extensive history with the small business community. He previously served as the SBA’s third National Ombudsman from 2001 to 2005, where his office assisted small businesses who were subject to overburdensome federal regulations. He also served as the first director of the agency’s Business Match Making program from 2003 to 2005. Mr. Barrera served as an internal Ombudsman for SBA’s Office of Disaster Assistance employees, during the 2017 and 201 8hurricane relief efforts in Puerto Rico, Florida, and Texas. He was also past President and CEO of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Past President of the Hispanic Chamber of Greater Kansas City, past board member of Ellis Island/Statute of Liberty, co-founder and past President of the Hispanic Bar Association of Greater Kansas City, and he currently serves on the board of Guadalupe Center Inc. of Kansas City. He is also a past Centurion.
Mr. Barrera received his law degree from the University of Texas School of Law and a bachelor’s degree from Kansas State University. He was also educated at Harvard Business School and the Marshall School of Business at USC. He is a native of Kansas City, Missouri.
Judy Bumpus currently serves as Director of Client services at the Women’s Business Center in Overland Park, Kansas. The WBC helps develop, and mentor women-led businesses. In her role, Judy provides counseling services for women entrepreneurs and plans and facilitates training classes to assist starting and growing businesses. Judy, has taught child care business classes for more than 24 years. While working at First Step Fund a microenterprise program as the Program Manager, she helped with the Development of Your Family Child Care Business™ and has just revised the Child Care: It’s Your Business curriculum. Judy previously owned a consulting company which specialized in business and workforce skills development. She is a national speaker for both live and online training and has trained nationally.
The New Growth Women’s Business Center advances rural entrepreneurs in all stages of business development and growth. With a focus on the power and potential of rural women and men to employ themselves, provide jobs for others, and build their local economies and communities. It is a 15-county rural business assistance resource, including training, business planning, and financing.
Frost is not new to the work of community development corporation New Growth and its parent organization West Central Missouri Community Action Agency (West Central). She spent 17 years with the West Central Head Start program, first as a secretary and eventually the director of safety and compliance. She left West Central in 2019 to become the business teacher and Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) advisor at Osceola High School. She educated students on personal finance, business communications, entrepreneurship, yearbook, and web design.
She says, “I have come back to my passion of helping rural communities be successful. I have always lived in the rural community of Appleton City, and I love seeing new growth and development within my small community.”
In her personal life, Frost, who is a self-proclaimed lifelong learner, is family oriented and enjoys spending time with her three daughters and one grandson. She says she is excited to welcome two more grandsons to the family in the coming months. In her free time, you can find her attending her youngest daughters' sports games, watching movies, or out for a walk.
New Growth Women’s Business Center headquarters are at The Liston Center, 508 N. Main St., El Dorado Springs, but representatives also meet up with entrepreneurs at partner sites across 15 rural Missouri and Kansas counties.
The New Growth Women’s Business Center serves 13 counties in west central Missouri and two in southeastern Kansas. In Missouri: Barton, Bates, Benton, Camden, Cedar, Dade, Dallas, Henry, Hickory, Morgan, Polk, St. Clair, and Vernon counties. In Kansas: Bourbon and Crawford counties.
Jeanette is an executive, board member and advisor known for building and developing highly successful organizations, associations, companies and people. She is widely recognized for corporate, civic and philanthropic work at the local, regional and national levels, and is extremely effective in working with executive leadership and boards of directors through challenging markets and the demands of rapid growth.
She leverages expertise in quickly assessing situations, identifying issues and developing the right solutions to help businesses strengthen operations, revenue, profitability and competitive advantages. A collaborative leader, she is consistently sought out as a trusted strategic advisor and knowledgeable resource, and she’s respected for uncompromising integrity and expertise. She gains consensus among disparate groups, balances the strategic and operational requirements of the organization, and sees obstacles as opportunities for positive change. Jeanette leads with authenticity, recruits top talent, and builds and maintains long-term, loyal relationships with colleagues, clients and community leaders.
Notable achievements:
• Founded/built a world-class IT consulting, staffing and services firm to 300+ employees globally. Headquartered in Kansas City and Washington D.C., ECCO was created to deliver cutting-edge technology solutions that have streamlined services and manufacturing processes for Fortune 500 companies across industry sectors including: healthcare, transportation, fintech, utilities and the public sector.
• Chaired the Win-Win Initiative, a key platform of the Central Exchange, which is working to increase women’s representation on boards of directors and executive positions, driving innovation and growth for Kansas City-area companies.
• As a board member with Orphaned Starfish Foundation she assists in supplying broadband, hardware, software and tutors to over 13,000 children in orphanages in 29 countries.
Brande Stitt currently serves as Program Director for the Women’s Business Center in Fairway, Kansas. The WBC helps develop, mentor and fund women led businesses. She previously served as the Network Builder for KCSourceLink and Director of Small Business & Entrepreneurship for the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce. Brande received her Bachelor of Arts in psychology from Drury University in Springfield, Mo., and a Masters of Education in community/agency counseling from the University of Missouri-Columbia.
Find the event that's right for you or your business. These ECJC/OneKC events are open to the public and can be attended by anyone interested in starting or growing a business.
Online Event
Free
This is a VITURAL. To register for the IN-PERSON experience click HERE.
Join us for the half-day summit celebrating women business owners and aspiring business owners. We'll share tips on how to start a business, fund your business and grow your business. We will also highlight the entrepreneurial story of Kansas City entrepreneur, Jeanette Prenger, Founder and CEO of ECCO Select.
DATE: Thursday, August 24
TIME: 8:00am - 12:00pm
SUMMIT DETAILS:
Join us for the half day summit celebrating women business owners and aspiring business owners. We'll share tips on how to start a business, fund your business and grow your business. We will also highlight the entrepreneurial story of Kansas City entrepreneur, Jeanette Prenger, Founder and CEO of ECCO Select.
AGENDA:
8:00am - Continental breakfast/networking
8:45am - Welcome Remarks - Michael Barrera, District Director, Kansas City District Office, SBA
9:00am - Keynote Presentation - Jeanette Prenger, Founder & CEO, ECCO Select
9:30am - Steps to Starting a Business
10:15am - Funding Your Business
11:00am - WBE/MBE Certification
11:30am - The Business of Child Care
11:55am - Closing Remarks
PRESENTER BIOS:
Mr. Michael Barrera was selected to serve as the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) District Director for the Kansas City District Office in February 2021. As the District Director, Mr. Barrera is responsible for providing entrepreneur educational resources; the oversight of billions of dollars in federal contracting dollars; and billions of dollars in lending guarantees for small businesses in Greater Kansas City, Western Missouri, and Eastern Kansas.
Mr. Barrera is an experienced attorney with over 30-years of business, government, legal, and non-profit experience, and has an extensive history with the small business community. He previously served as the SBA’s third National Ombudsman from 2001 to 2005, where his office assisted small businesses who were subject to overburdensome federal regulations. He also served as the first director of the agency’s Business Match Making program from 2003 to 2005. Mr. Barrera served as an internal Ombudsman for SBA’s Office of Disaster Assistance employees, during the 2017 and 201 8hurricane relief efforts in Puerto Rico, Florida, and Texas. He was also past President and CEO of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Past President of the Hispanic Chamber of Greater Kansas City, past board member of Ellis Island/Statute of Liberty, co-founder and past President of the Hispanic Bar Association of Greater Kansas City, and he currently serves on the board of Guadalupe Center Inc. of Kansas City. He is also a past Centurion.
Mr. Barrera received his law degree from the University of Texas School of Law and a bachelor’s degree from Kansas State University. He was also educated at Harvard Business School and the Marshall School of Business at USC. He is a native of Kansas City, Missouri.
Judy Bumpus currently serves as Director of Client services at the Women’s Business Center in Overland Park, Kansas. The WBC helps develop, and mentor women-led businesses. In her role, Judy provides counseling services for women entrepreneurs and plans and facilitates training classes to assist starting and growing businesses. Judy, has taught child care business classes for more than 24 years. While working at First Step Fund a microenterprise program as the Program Manager, she helped with the Development of Your Family Child Care Business™ and has just revised the Child Care: It’s Your Business curriculum. Judy previously owned a consulting company which specialized in business and workforce skills development. She is a national speaker for both live and online training and has trained nationally.
The New Growth Women’s Business Center advances rural entrepreneurs in all stages of business development and growth. With a focus on the power and potential of rural women and men to employ themselves, provide jobs for others, and build their local economies and communities. It is a 15-county rural business assistance resource, including training, business planning, and financing.
Frost is not new to the work of community development corporation New Growth and its parent organization West Central Missouri Community Action Agency (West Central). She spent 17 years with the West Central Head Start program, first as a secretary and eventually the director of safety and compliance. She left West Central in 2019 to become the business teacher and Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) advisor at Osceola High School. She educated students on personal finance, business communications, entrepreneurship, yearbook, and web design.
She says, “I have come back to my passion of helping rural communities be successful. I have always lived in the rural community of Appleton City, and I love seeing new growth and development within my small community.”
In her personal life, Frost, who is a self-proclaimed lifelong learner, is family oriented and enjoys spending time with her three daughters and one grandson. She says she is excited to welcome two more grandsons to the family in the coming months. In her free time, you can find her attending her youngest daughters' sports games, watching movies, or out for a walk.
New Growth Women’s Business Center headquarters are at The Liston Center, 508 N. Main St., El Dorado Springs, but representatives also meet up with entrepreneurs at partner sites across 15 rural Missouri and Kansas counties.
The New Growth Women’s Business Center serves 13 counties in west central Missouri and two in southeastern Kansas. In Missouri: Barton, Bates, Benton, Camden, Cedar, Dade, Dallas, Henry, Hickory, Morgan, Polk, St. Clair, and Vernon counties. In Kansas: Bourbon and Crawford counties.
Jeanette is an executive, board member and advisor known for building and developing highly successful organizations, associations, companies and people. She is widely recognized for corporate, civic and philanthropic work at the local, regional and national levels, and is extremely effective in working with executive leadership and boards of directors through challenging markets and the demands of rapid growth.
She leverages expertise in quickly assessing situations, identifying issues and developing the right solutions to help businesses strengthen operations, revenue, profitability and competitive advantages. A collaborative leader, she is consistently sought out as a trusted strategic advisor and knowledgeable resource, and she’s respected for uncompromising integrity and expertise. She gains consensus among disparate groups, balances the strategic and operational requirements of the organization, and sees obstacles as opportunities for positive change. Jeanette leads with authenticity, recruits top talent, and builds and maintains long-term, loyal relationships with colleagues, clients and community leaders.
Notable achievements:
• Founded/built a world-class IT consulting, staffing and services firm to 300+ employees globally. Headquartered in Kansas City and Washington D.C., ECCO was created to deliver cutting-edge technology solutions that have streamlined services and manufacturing processes for Fortune 500 companies across industry sectors including: healthcare, transportation, fintech, utilities and the public sector.
• Chaired the Win-Win Initiative, a key platform of the Central Exchange, which is working to increase women’s representation on boards of directors and executive positions, driving innovation and growth for Kansas City-area companies.
• As a board member with Orphaned Starfish Foundation she assists in supplying broadband, hardware, software and tutors to over 13,000 children in orphanages in 29 countries.
Brande Stitt currently serves as Program Director for the Women’s Business Center in Fairway, Kansas. The WBC helps develop, mentor and fund women led businesses. She previously served as the Network Builder for KCSourceLink and Director of Small Business & Entrepreneurship for the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce. Brande received her Bachelor of Arts in psychology from Drury University in Springfield, Mo., and a Masters of Education in community/agency counseling from the University of Missouri-Columbia.
