2011 Dare To Dream Gala: Come Support Young Entrepreneurs!

Posted on April 6, 2011, by JD Kathuria, under Events.

Executive Director of Network For Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) for the D.C. region, Julie Kantor, discusses the 14th annual Dare To Dream Gala and how you and your business can get involved.

Please tell us about the 2011 Dare to Dream Gala organized by NFTE.

Bringing Washington’s Entrepreneurial ECO-SYSTEM together to support a new generation of entrepreneurs

NFTE DC Region’s Dare to Dream Gala is one of Washington DC’s biggest and most exciting networking events that supports youth entrepreneurship. In addition to networking with 800 top entrepreneurs and business leaders in the Washington area, you will have the opportunity to purchase products and services from student-owned businesses while enjoying cocktails and hors d’oeuvres. Here the students will demonstrate the lessons they have learned by exhibiting their businesses and by offering their unique products and services.

This is an evening full of passion, commitment, and hope where you see students Dare to Dream!

Why is this event important to the Washington community?

More and more leaders are understanding that NFTE is about job creation, dropout prevention, and making learning relevant to our youth.

So much has happened for NFTE this year and we want to share with you some of the excitement!

- The White House named NFTE a member of the Startup America Partnership

- The People’s Republic of China honored NFTE as a top charity, reaching over 25,000 youth

- The DC Region has served 24,700 youth and has 50 active classes this year in DC, MD and VA schools. Over 83% of last year’s local students ranked the NFTE program as more or equally important to any other class they were taking in school.

- Education Secretary Arne Duncan said at Aspen Ideas Festival that all America’s children should learn the lifeskilll of entrepreneurship and “There is no one in the country doing a better job than Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE).”

- Thomas Friedman, Pulitzer Prize winning author wrote “The President should vow to put NFTE in every low-income school in America.”

As you know NFTE is a world leader in promoting entrepreneurship and enables youth to achieve greater academic, personal, professional, and financial success. The NFTE program is highly successful as it has provided over 340,000 kids with entrepreneurship education since its founding. NFTE has 12 U.S. regional offices with programs in 21 U.S. States and has offices in 12 countries. 24,700 local students have completed NFTE’s Mini-MBA curriculum in their high schools and many received college credit for doing so.

What can attendees expect to find at this year’s gala?

On April 27^th we come together to celebrate youth entrepreneurship education. Attendees will enjoy meeting NFTE’s top students, certified entrepreneurship teachers, honorees and to enjoy networking with the great entrepreneurial ecosystem that NFTE brings together.

This year’s honorees include top 7 high school entrepreneurs from the region, four high school certified entrepreneurship teachers, Edie Fraser of Diversified Search and Diversity Best Practice (family founded Casual Corner), several ‘locally grown’ and outstanding entrepreneurs

Aaron Batalion – Living Social
Elliott Bisnow – Summit Series
Matt Curry – Curry’s Auto Service, Inc.
Seth Goldman – Honest Tea
Michelle Lee – STG International, Inc.
Mark Michael – Occasions Caterers
Ada Polla – Alchimie Forever
Warren Thompson – Thompson Hospitality

and our keynote will be Rodney Walker (NFTE alum featured in movie www.Ten9Eight.com ). Our past honorees include: Sheila Johnson, Joe Robert, Raul Fernandez, Ted Leonsis , Secretary Duncan, Patty Alper, Michael Chasen and Mark Ein.

Which leaders from the business community are expected to be at the events?

Link: http://www.daretodreamdc.org/honorees-leadership/

Gala Vice Chairs:

Steven Abramowitz – Accelerent
Wanda Alexander – Horizon Consulting Inc.
Bill Dean – M.C. Dean Inc.
Herb Engert – Ernst & Young
Marsha Ralls – The Ralls Collection
Ben Teicher – The Ratner Companies
Tien Wong – Opus8, Inc.

Gala Champions:

Caroline Alexander – Vitality Cleansing Center
Sunny Scully Alsup – LSG Inc.
Scott Attman – Acme Paper
Brien Biondi – League Assets Corp.
Sandy Butler Weil – Student Monitor
Christina Carter
Derek Coburn – Washington Financial Group
Howard Cohen – Daycon Products
Alka Dhillon – Technalink, Inc.
Daryn Dodson – Venture Consultant
Lynda Ellis – Capitol Concierge
Abby Fenton – ABC7/WJLA-TV
Chris Gorges – Booz Allen Hamilton
Samantha Gumenick – The Gumenick Group
John Hasenberg – Morgan Stanley Smith Barney
Herbert “Tripp” Kelly, III – Northwestern Mutual Financial Network/The Spice is Right BBQ and Grilling Company
Sarah Marchetti Kelly – Northwestern Mutual Financial Network/The Spice is Right BBQ and Grilling Company
Philippe Lanier – Eastbanc Inc.
Jimmy Lynn – Jlynn Associates
Teddy Matheu – Guident
Andre McCain – JBG Properties
Terrance McGowan – Goldman, Sachs & Co.
James Page – Page After Page
Ben Pattison – Square 1 Bank
David Samuels – Bioscan, Inc.
Rhonda Slade – Prince George’s County Chamber of Commerce
Jennifer Trax – Argy Wiltse & Robinson
Margaret Walpole – Metropolitan Business Council

NFTE DC Region Board of Advisors:

Terrance McGowan – Advisory Board Chair – Goldman, Sachs & Co.
Monish Kundra – Advisory Board Vice Chair – Columbia Capital
Patty Alper – The Alper Portfolio Group, Ltd.
Sunny Scully Alsup – Principal Emeritus; LSG Inc.
Sid Banerjee – Clarabridge
Brien Biondi – League Assets Corp.
Minal Damani – NextGen Capital Ventures, LLC
Herb Engert – Ernst & Young, LLP
Antwanye Ford – Enlightened, Inc.
John M. Fruehwirth – Rotunda Capital Partners
Teri Galvez – Paradigm Event Management
Elliott Gaskins – America’s Promise Alliance
John Hasenberg – Morgan Stanley Smith Barney
Paul Kihn – McKinsey & Company
Cynthia Krus – Sutherland
Jimmy Lynn – JLynn Associates
Andre McCain – JBG Properties
Laine Shakerdge – J Street Companies
Julia Spicer – Mid-Atlantic Venture Association
Rick Toren – CodeRyte
Kim Watson – PEPCO
Anita Cooke Wells – RLJ Development, LLC

How has the event evolved over the last few years?

NFTE is for the first time recognizing outstanding entrepreneurs who have demonstrated growth, scale and commitment to the Greater Washington DC community. Each one is a role model for youth and has shared advice and time with the next generation of entrepreneurs who sit in our high school classrooms today.

Locally Grown Honorees include: