Jennifer A. Reis is a creative entrepreneur, artist, author, trainer, and teaching textile artist with 30 years of experience in cultural entrepreneurship and non-profit management. Her earned degrees include a BFA from Columbus College of Art and Design, and graduate work in arts management, instructional design, studio art, and arts education from Syracuse University, UNC-Greensboro, and Morehead State University. As an arts entrepreneurship curricular consultant, her clients have included Nest NYC, MassArts, Ringling College of Art and Design, Kauffman Foundation, Triangle Artworks, Tremaine Foundation, West Virginia Creative Economy Network, AIR Collaborative, and the Tamarack Foundation. Formerly arts entrepreneurship faculty at UNC-Greensboro, she utilizes years of experience teaching artists and artisans creative venture development and has authored and co-authored numerous academic journal articles on creative entrepreneurship research, education, and practice. Through her consulting company Make Do Creative, she works with community and economic development, trade, governmental, and cultural organizations to design, manage, and deliver creative entrepreneurship curriculum for makers of all kinds to develop sustainable ventures. She has served on the Board of Directors for the Society for Arts Entrepreneurship Education and numerous community, arts, and economic development boards and committees on the international to local level.
Marie Segares is a career intrapreneur in the non-profit sector with expertise in program development, launch, and expansion. She is a Robert P. Stiller Endowed Chair and an Associate Professor of Business and Management in the Stiller School of Business at Champlain College. She earned her AB in Sociology from Barnard College, her MPH in Sociomedical Sciences from Columbia University, her MBA in Leadership and Change Management and in Entrepreneurship and Innovation from New York University, and her EdD in Organizational Leadership Studies from Northeastern University. Her areas of research interest include artisan entrepreneurship, creative business, microenterprises, and leadership. She conducts qualitative research using a variety of approaches and has written teaching cases for multiple publishers. She is also an artisan entrepreneur, creating digital content to self-publish and for major crafts manufacturers and publishers. Her craft industry work includes coordinating content creator activity on behalf of brands, providing professional development workshops at trade shows, and writing for industry publications.
Sara Hartmann is the Program Director for Creative Entrepreneurship at Massachusetts College of Art and Design (MassArt), where she also holds a faculty position. She holds a BFA from MassArt and an MBA from Simmons University. In her current role, she oversees the Creative Economy Business Incubator, a scale-agnostic program she founded to support the unique needs of art, design, and cultural ventures. She also directs the Business of Creative Industries minor and the student-run brand program. Additionally, she co-produces professional development programs for working artists and designers in partnership with organizations like the Boston Mayor's Office of Arts and Culture and the Harvard Ed Portal. Prior to academia, she worked as a costume designer for theater and opera and as a digital marketer for apparel and consumer product startups. Her experience moving between the cultural and innovation economies has inspired her work addressing the resource gaps faced by would-be founders in creative industries.
