SCORE Welcomes Business Women in SECT

Providing free advice for local entrepreneurs and small businesses.

Looking for a way to give back to your community in 2015?  Three area women have found a great fit for their extensive business experience and their desire to help other succeed.   Margo Weitekamp, Christine Paul and Gaile Greenwood have recently joined the Southeastern Connecticut Chapter of SCORE.
 
SCORE is a national, non-profit organization established 50 years ago to help entrepreneurs and small business owners build their skills and their business. SCORE offers a wide variety of free business building services and tools, including one-on-one mentoring, educational seminars and a content-rich web-site at www.sect.score.org. 
 
"Volunteers are the driving force behind SCORE and many have been retired male executives," said Bob Potter, Chair of Southeastern CT SCORE. “But that is changing as more female executives join.”
 
“We're delighted to welcome Margo, Christine and Gaile to SCORE.   They bring diverse business experiences, great energy and a female perspective which is appreciated by many of our clients. Of the more than 1300 clients SCORE engaged with last year in Southeast CT, over 60% are women.  Many of the clients that look to SCORE for business support are young women, so it is great to have a diverse set of mentors in our Chapter.”
 
Margo Weitekamp moved to Essex, CT recently from New Jersey where she was an executive at Johnson & Johnson, for 20 years, prior to retiring. She has extensive experience in marketing and market research, and is currently a marketing consultant.  "It's exciting to join SCORE," notes Margo. "It's one of the best kept secrets around – and I want to change that!  As the new Marketing Chair, my goal is to increase awareness along shoreline Connecticut for the chapter.”
 
Margo says, “The bottom line for the Southeastern Chapter is simple. We want to bring the benefits of SCORE to more entrepreneurs and small business owners, and to recruit experienced executives to help us in our quest to build strong local businesses.”    Margo continues, “We're looking for men and women in southeastern Connecticut with a variety of business backgrounds and skills who would like to share their knowledge to help people start up or improve their small businesses. We are also looking forward to working with and partnering with other small business development organizations in our region -- from Chambers of Commerce to Rotary and Lions Clubs -- providing SCORE resources to help their constituents."
 
Christine Paul has 34 years of background in Information Technology for large health insurers (CIGNA and United Health Group) as well as banking and insurance experience, and has worked in almost all facets of corporate IT. She relocated to Niantic 2 years ago from the Hartford area, and recently retired from United Health Group where she managed departments with large and small budgets and staff similar to operating a small business. 
 
Christine was excited to discover SCORE as she was looking for a way to give back to the community. She currently mentors clients in the Waterford SCORE location and heads up the Disaster Recovery task force for SCORE in this region.  Christine sees the work that SCORE does as vital because, “Small businesses are the lifeblood of a community.  I wanted to assist entrepreneurs and small businesses add to the economic value of southeast Connecticut, a wonderful place to live. It’s exciting to see a new business take off and thrive.”
 
Gaile Greenwood has over 25 years of IT experience working primarily as a database administrator for large companies such General Dynamics, and Pfizer where she worked for 18 years.  She lives in Waterford and is currently an independent IT Consultant.  Additionally, Gaile is an animal lover: she has 3 cats, a dog and a horse and she is a volunteer horse feeder at High Hopes in Old Lyme.
 
Gaile heard about SCORE through a friend, she says, “I thought SCORE sounded like an interesting organization, and when I heard they had a need for IT people, I thought I would give it a try. So far, I have really enjoyed working with the team and giving back to the community.”
 
To learn more about becoming a volunteer at SCORE, year-round workshops, or how to schedule a free mentoring appointment, go to www.score.org or contact Southeastern Connecticut SCORE at 860-388-9508 or email scorechapter@gmail.com.