Julie Weeks: Growing Under the Radar-$10M Women-Owned Firms

Over the past decade, the growth in the number of women-owned firms with $10 million or more in revenues has increased by a startling 56.6 percent. My guest Julie Weeks is the researcher who uncovered the never-before-published data and authored a new report, commissioned by American Express Open. Join us as we explore the achievements of million-dollar women-owned firms, the reasons for the rapid growth, and impact of these women-led firms on the way America does business.

Julie Weeks is the President and CEO of Womenable, a for-profit social enterprise that works to enable women’s entrepreneurship worldwide by improving the systems – laws, policies, programs and research-based knowledge – that support women’s enterprise creation and growth. She is one of the world’s leading experts in the field of women’s enterprise development, with experience in both the private and public sectors in the areas of research, public policy and program management.

Prior to launching Womenable in 2005, she served as Executive Director of the National Women’s Business Council, a federally-funded bipartisan policy advisory body created by the U.S. Congress to serve as an independent voice of women’s entrepreneurship and an advisor to the President, U.S. Congress and the U.S. Small Business Administration on women’s entrepreneurship issues. She has also served as the Director of Research and Managing Director of the Center for Women’s Business Research, the Deputy Chief Counsel for Statistics and Research at the U.S. Small Business Administration, and was VP for Research and Public Policy at two market research firms.

Julie serves on the board of the Global Banking Alliance for Women, and is the chair of the board of the Association of Women’s Business Centers.