Translate
Headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, SCORE has a team of roughly 50 individuals both remote & in-office that support the nationwide organization. Learn more about the leadership team that oversees the strategic direction of the organization.
Executive Team
Bridget Weston is CEO of SCORE, a resource partner of the U.S. Small Business Administration, which provides free mentoring and education to current and aspiring small business owners through its network of 10,000 volunteers. Since its founding in 1964, SCORE has helped 11 M entrepreneurs start, grow or exit their businesses. A respected thought leader in the small business landscape, Bridget has served as a small business expert in Congressional hearings and is regularly featured in the media, including CNN, MSNBC and Bloomberg Business. She holds a Bachelor of Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from Temple University.
Amanda Capozio is the Vice President of Technology for SCORE and is responsible for all aspects of the organization’s information technology and systems. She provides vision and leadership for technology initiatives that advance the mission of SCORE.
Betsy Dougert currently serves as Vice President of External Relations for SCORE, where she is responsible for national public relations, government relations, and sponsors. Her ten years of experience in marketing and communications have focused on building brand awareness and engaging stakeholders through storytelling at educational institutions and non-profits. She earned her master’s degree in strategic communications with a certificate in public relations from Villanova University, and a bachelor’s degree from the College of William and Mary.
Douglas Nohe is the Vice President of Field Operations and is responsible for managing the national operations of SCORE’s 300 chapters and 10,000 volunteers as well as overseeing the headquarters field staff. He leads the organization's efforts to serve SCORE clients at the chapter level and assists with the implementation of the strategic plan at all levels in the field.
Prior to joining SCORE, Doug served as CEO, President, and Board of Directors member of two subsidiaries of Magic Software Enterprises, LTD, led three venture capital start-up companies in physician practice management and healthcare technology management, as well as served in various sales management, marketing, and training and development with Fortune 500 companies.
Rick Peluso is currently the Vice President of Finance for SCORE, overseeing the accounting team. He has more than twenty years of non-profit experience, focusing mainly on associations. Rick has a history of modernizing financial and administrative operations to maximize effectiveness and efficiency. Rick holds a bachelor's degree for the University of Maryland, College Park, and a Masters of Business Administration for Hood College.
Candice Stennett is the Vice President of Marketing at SCORE. In this role, she optimizes the performance of SCORE’s marketing funnel, leading teams of marketers in a range of disciplines, such as digital marketing, advertising, branding, and field enablement. Candice earned her Master of Business Administration and bachelor's degree in marketing and international business from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
Board of Directors
Board Executive Committee
Tracy Shaw of Southbury, Conn., serves as head of client engagement strategy for Equitable. She has nearly three decades of experience as a business development strategist in industries ranging from financial services to health care and is dedicated to enriching the customer experience, streamlining process improvements, and developing innovations that enhance ROI. Tracy serves as vice-chair of the Immune Deficiency Foundation and is a member of CHIEF. She earned an MBA from Western Connecticut State University and is currently a doctoral candidate at Adler University. From her time as a business owner, Tracy also holds a patent for 401kSecure, which is designed to replace defined contribution plan deferrals of disabled participants.
Julie Poland is a speaker, author, and 7 Attributes of Agile Growth Certified Coach. Since 1990, she has provided processes and structures for business leaders to transform their organizations and achieve improved results and sustainable growth. Her financial services management background, strategic perspective, and talent for engaging teams provide a unique resource, coupled with world-class tools, to help organizations of all types and sizes to break through their barriers and achieve the greatness that lies within. Ms. Poland is an active mentor for Susquehanna SCORE and has served as Chapter Chair and District Director of Eastern PA/Delaware. Most recently she has served on the SCORE Field Operations Advisory Council.
Bob Manza lives in Austin, Texas, where he retired from PepsiCo in 2018. While at PepsiCo, Bob held several senior leadership roles including senior vice president and CFO roles in Canada and Mexico. Bob’s broad experience in finance includes strategic and business planning, business optimization and investment, international business development, acquisition evaluation and integration, and accounting and control activities. Bob is a SCORE-certified mentor and serves as a volunteer leadership member with Foundation Communities, an Austin charity. Bob holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Michigan and an MBA from the University of Detroit Mercy.
John McCloskey has volunteered with SCORE for 10 years serving as Chapter Chair and District Director for North Carolina. For 17 years, McCloskey was a member of the management boards of publicly-traded German Corporations FAG Bearings and Schaeffler AG. He was also president and CEO of the Aerospace Group, the largest manufacturer of jet engine bearings and structures in the world. Before that, he was executive vice president of North American operations for GKN Automotive. He earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering, a master’s degree in business administration, and has completed post-graduate work at Harvard, London Business School, and IMI Geneva.
Board Members
Mukesh Asarpota is a recognized business technology leader known for crafting the requisite strategic vision to achieve business goals, bringing a unique blend of executive acumen, global team-building, and business solutions development credited with strong ROI and operational improvement for companies domestic and international. He is currently the Director of Business Platforms with Orchard Therapeutics. Mukesh holds an MS in Computer Science from the University of Massachusetts and is certified in CIO Leadership from MIT Sloan School of Management.
Kelly Bingel is an entrepreneur and lobbyist, she has decades of Capitol Hill experience that includes serving as a former U.S. Senate chief of staff. While working as a lobbyist, she began investing in several Washington, D.C.-area small businesses before launching Dynamic Gymnastics in 2013. Kelly began her career covering crime and politics at The Tulsa Tribune. She was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa at Louisiana State University, earned a Juris Doctor degree from Georgetown University Law Center, and is a member of the Virginia Bar Association.
Julie Christiansen is the CEO of Gordon Laboratories and has spent her career in consumer goods and manufacturing with companies such as Dean Foods, Minnetonka Brands, Cristophe Hair Care and others. As a leader in startup brands, she has created thousands of innovative products and partnered with customers to help grow and build their companies. Julie's leadership philosophy focuses on people engagement, process improvement and relentless execution. Julie earned her MBA from Capella University and holds a BA in Communications from St. Norbert College.
Jim Grimsley of Austin, Texas has been a SCORE volunteer for 6+ years and has served in numerous roles, e.g., mentor, President of the Austin Chapter, and a member of the National Advisory Board. Before joining SCORE, Jim held leadership roles at Amoco, CSC Index, and was a Partner at Accenture leading their Global Upstream Energy Practice while having significant expertise in Strategy, Sustainability, Supply Chain, and Mergers & Acquisitions. Jim has B.S. in Management from the University of New Orleans.
Scott Harkins is the senior vice president of Global Portfolio Marketing for FedEx Services and oversees global digital; global customer segment and experience design; global products, solutions, and business agility, and global marketing foundations talent development program. He is responsible for the creation and execution of global marketing programs, including digital transformation, e-commerce, and global products and business agility. Before his current role, Scott served as the vice president of strategy and product management, director of FedEx Kinko’s marketing, and director of segment and alliances marketing. He joined FedEx in 1992 in the pricing department. Scott earned his Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from the University of Notre Dame and his master of science in management from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Cherylyn Harley LeBon is a lawyer, corporate advisor, and board director with more than 20 years of experience in Washington, DC, and abroad. She is a partner with Dunlap, Bennett & Ludwig (DBL) law firm and works with small to large businesses and government contractors across the country. She is a former senior executive at the Small Business Administration and the Department of Veterans Affairs and served as senior counsel on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. Cherylyn is a director of Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ: CPRT) based in Dallas, Texas.
Frank Klisanich is an accomplished business leader experienced in improving performance, sales, and profits for both U.S. and international consumer products companies. He successfully led the expansion of ConAgra Foods Snacks Group into 70+ countries as a former executive and served as CEO at The Village Company. Currently, Frank serves as a consultant to start-ups and small companies sharing his expertise in strategy, marketing, and sales. He is also an adjunct instructor at several universities in the Twin Cities area. Frank has a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Western Ontario (Canada) and an MBA from Queen’s University (Canada).
Jayne Lerman is a technology leader with extensive experience across financial institutions. She served as Managing Director at Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs and as Executive Vice President at Mastercard. Jayne is known for transforming global functions across company platforms and boosting the employee experience by modernizing the digital environment. Currently, Jayne serves as a startup advisor, a board member for Destination Imagination and as Executive in Residence for Progress Partners. She also devotes her time to providing advisory services at the Equal Learning Fund.
Pat Loftus is an investor and Investment Committee member with New World Angels, a group of accredited, private investors, and entrepreneurs dedicated to providing equity capital and guidance to early-stage entrepreneurial companies with a strong presence in Florida. She brings over 35 years from the general global nuclear energy industry technical and business leadership and management experience with Exelon, Northeast Utilities, and Westinghouse Electric Corporation combined with 6 years in the small business environment. Her corporate expertise includes strategy, strategic alliances, business development, product management and innovation, independent oversight, and federal regulatory affairs and compliance. Pat also serves in advisory roles for early-stage companies. As a volunteer, Pat focuses her philanthropic and nonprofit work in the areas of entrepreneurship and innovation empowerment. She currently serves as the Chair of the SCORE Foundation and as a SCORE Association Board Director. She has served as a SCORE business mentor for more than 7 years and previously held field chapter leadership roles. She also serves on university entrepreneurship and engineering councils and is a former director/officer of university engineering alumni society boards. Pat has a B.S. in Nuclear Engineering from the Pennsylvania State University, an M.S. in Nuclear Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University, and an MBA from the University of Pittsburgh. She currently resides in Venice, FL.
Tameka Montgomery has held executive leadership roles across numerous business sectors and was appointed by President Barack Obama as a senior executive with the U.S. Small Business Administration, leading training programs for the nation's 28 million small business owners. She also led Colorado’s premier business leadership organization, designing programs and initiatives to engage the business community as civic change-makers. As the founder of Core Strategy Partners, she brings the needs and experience of stakeholders to the center of strategic business decisions.
Nik Shah is a Partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers based in Washington, D.C. He is a senior leader in PwC's Workforce Transformation practice and oversees the People Analytics and Insights team. In these roles, Nik assists multinational companies in developing and executing their people strategy to make data-driven and evidence-based decisions related to their workforce. Most recently, Nik served as PwC's internal HR leader for a $4B division with 11,000 employees and 150 HR practitioners.
Judy Treviño has over 20 years of experience in business administration, finance, accounting, human resources and information technology. She is the Executive Director for CCVI Ministries, Inc. (Christus Health), an international nonprofit organization sponsored by the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word. She has extensive management and board experience in nonprofit, governmental and foundation institutions where she has been a leader in strategic planning, governance training, executive and board recruitment, and fundraising.
David Zechman is a seasoned healthcare executive with 20-plus years of experience at the executive level at large, integrated healthcare systems where he aligned goals, behaviors, and processes to drive the vision to provide kind and compassionate care. His responsibilities included fundraising, strategic planning, operations management, physician alignment/integration, partnership development, and service-line management. In his current role as president of The Zechman Group, he is a first-time author as well as a public speaker, executive coach, and healthcare consultant. He is also a founding board member and CEO of a new company specializing in the acquisition and management of assisted living facilities and home health agencies and serves on three medical technology advisory boards. David has a bachelor’s degree in education from Miami University (Ohio), a master’s in public administration from Cleveland State University, and a fellow in the American College of Healthcare Administration.
The SCORE Foundation is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization that serves as the philanthropic arm of SCORE. The Foundation facilitates individual contributions and corporate sponsorships that enable SCORE to expand its reach and enhance the success rate of our small business community through educational programs and support. Learn more at scorefoundation.org.
As the President of the SCORE Foundation, the philanthropic arm of SCORE, Liz Sara creates and oversees the strategy and direction for institutional sponsorships and individual giving. Liz served as the first female Chair of the Dingman Center of Entrepreneurship at the University of Maryland from 2016-2018. In July 2018, she was appointed by the President as the Chair of the National Women's Business Council, a federal agency that advocates for female founders. She has been an Adjunct Marketing Professor at the Smith School of Business and a past Entrepreneur-in-Residence. Liz is a frequent conference and podcast speaker and author on topics related to small business, marketing and angel investing. She holds several Advisory Board positions at organizations supporting entrepreneurship and women business owners.
Jim has been creating, launching and selling successful events and sponsorships for over 20 years. He has recruited, managed and led global conference and exhibitions teams from Russia, Central Asia, Europe and the US. Jim has built an expertise in dealing with the c-suite in fortune 500 company's mostly coming from technology. He won the Show Manager of the Year award (SMOTY) in 2007 (for his founding and launching of Travel and Adventure Shows) and continues to innovate the convergence between in person, virtual and events technology. Jim graduated from The Maxwell School of Citizenship at Syracuse University where he majored in Policy and Economics. He has traveled the world seeking out all kinds of adventures; however, he always keeps a special place in his heart for the beautiful Green Mountains of Vermont where he was born and raised.
