Cathy Connett and Erin Rothman

Cathy Connett is CEO and managing partner of Minneapolis-based Sofia Fund, which invests in high-growth, women-led, technology based businesses. She is also president and founder of CorConnections, which specializes in guiding businesses through new business initiatives, equity infusions, ownership transitions, and the building of alliances and partnerships. She has served as the director of the Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of St. Thomas and, for the last 25 years, helped initiate multiple programs to support the entrepreneurial community, including the Minnesota Seed Capital Network, Women to Women (W2W) investment group and the Sofia Fund. Erin Rothman is founder and CEO of Seattle-based StormSensor, which designs smart urban watersheds by mapping how water moves through cities with technology that uses sensors placed within the infrastructure. Erin has worked in the environmental and stormwater industry for almost 20 years, and she holds a technical communication and environmental science degree from Miami University, and a MSc. in Natural Resources from The Ohio State University.