Co-Founder of Zipcar to Keynote at CWE Women Business Leaders Conference 2015

Transportation visionary, Robin Chase, Discusses the Importance of Confidence, Competence, and Connections for Female Entrepreneurs. End Quote

Boston, MA-NH (1888PressRelease) September 17, 2015 - The Center for Women & Enterprise (CWE), a nationally-known nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering women in business, today announced Robin Chase, co-founder of Zipcar, the largest carsharing company in the world, will speak at the CWE Women Business Leaders Conference 2015, taking place Thursday-Friday, October 22-23 at the Sheraton Hotel in Framingham, Massachusetts.

Hundreds of business professionals will converge at New England's premier educational and networking event for women business leaders and supplier diversity professionals. This year's conference theme is "Paths to Possibilities," featuring interactive workshops and networking opportunities with Fortune 500 corporations, women business leaders, and community advocates who support women's economic empowerment in New England. The event will also include the annual CWE Awards Luncheon where business and community leaders will be recognized for their achievements in promoting and furthering the success of women in business in New England. In addition, the event will feature the finals of the 2015 CWE Women-Owned Business Challenge, a business plan competition for women business leaders.

Robin Chase is a transportation entrepreneur. She is co-founder and former CEO of Zipcar, the largest carsharing company in the world; Buzzcar, a peer to peer carsharing service in France (now merged with Drivy); and GoLoco, an online ridesharing community. She is also co-founder and Executive Chairman of Veniam, a vehicle communications company building the networking fabric for the Internet of Moving Things. She is also author of the newly released book Peers Inc: How People and Platforms are Inventing the Collaborative Economy and Reinventing Capitalism.

"Starting a business requires more than just a good idea," Chase states. "I'm looking forward to sharing with CWE conference attendees how preparation, opportunity, and a little bit of luck, can go a long way."

Chase is on the Boards of Veniam, the World Resources Institute, and Tucows. She also served on the board of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, the National Advisory Council for Innovation & Entrepreneurship for the US Department of Commerce, the Intelligent Transportations Systems Program Advisory Committee for the US Department of Transportation, the OECD's International Transport Forum Advisory Board, the Massachusetts Governor's Transportation Transition Working Group, and Boston Mayor's Wireless Task Force.

Robin lectures widely, has been frequently featured in the major media, and has received many awards in the areas of innovation, design, and environment, including Time 100 Most Influential People, Fast Company Fast 50 Innovators, and BusinessWeek Top 10 Designers. Robin graduated from Wellesley College and MIT's Sloan School of Management, was a Harvard University Loeb Fellow, and received an honorary Doctorate of Design from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

"We are thrilled to have Robin join us at this year's conference. A former CWE client herself, she has launched several businesses in her career - some resoundingly successful, some not as successful. Robin's valuable lessons about confidence, connections, and competence when launching a business will resonate deeply with our clients," said Susan Rittscher, President and CEO of the Center for Women & Enterprise.
Registration is open for the CWE Women Business Leaders Conference 2015 at www.cweonline.org/WBLC.

About the Center for Women & Enterprise
The Center for Women and Enterprise (CWE), a non-profit organization founded in 1995, provides opportunities for women entrepreneurs and women in business to increase professional success, personal growth, and financial independence. With offices in Boston and Worcester, MA, Providence, RI, and Nashua, NH, CWE supports women's businesses throughout New England through education, consulting, strong corporate-community relationships, and WBENC certification. Since its founding twenty years ago, CWE has trained more than 33,500 women (and men), helped entrepreneurs create and/or nurture more than 36,800 jobs, and helped entrepreneurs generate over $1 billion in wages. CWE is also the New England Regional Partner Organization for the Women's Business Economic Council (WBENC). www.cweonline.org

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