Astia - Astia Team

Research indicates that if women were to fully participate in high-growth entrepreneurship we would see a significant and measurable benefit to the economy, innovation, and society. Astia¹s mission is to provide access to the networks and expertise that women high-growth entrepreneurs need to succeed, and ultimately to impact today¹s global economy.

Astia Team

The Astia staff is dedicated to nothing less than the complete success of our companies.

Astia Team

Sharon Vosmek, CEO

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“Research proves that if women were able to fully participate in high growth entrepreneurship, we would see a significant and measurable benefit to the economy, innovation and society. Astia’s mission is to create an inclusive community that provides the precise support women entrepreneurs need to thrive in their enterprises and ultimately impact today’s global economy.”

As CEO of Astia, Sharon Vosmek has an unwavering passion and uniquely well-suited background to drive forward the company’s mission of propelling women-owned, high growth, entrepreneurial businesses to success. Sharon draws from her expertise in public policy, economic gender analysis, management consulting and entrepreneurship to build Astia’s powerful network of diverse resources that serve to mobilize and help promising, women-led businesses thrive.

In the role of CEO, Sharon has led the effort to double Astia’s resources, which include the mentors, coaches, sponsors, investors, thought-leaders and serial entrepreneurs that provide Astia member companies with counsel, coaching, guidance and advancement opportunities.

She has also expanded Astia’s Entrepreneur Program, which holds the potential to transform high growth startups into market leaders by giving them unprecedented access to Astia’s global network of Angels, VCs, corporations and entrepreneurs, as well as expert personal coaching. The program is now held in Silicon Valley, New York, London and India.

Sharon also founded the Technology Planning Committee that created Astia’s Entrepreneur Program. This program has resulted in, on average, 60 percent of the participating companies securing funding or achieving a successful exit within one year of presenting, totaling more than $1 billion dollars raised, and 21 exits, including two IPOs.

Sharon has served as CEO of Astia since 2007, previously joining the company as COO in 2004.

In everything she does for Astia and throughout her career, Sharon seeks to create outstanding organizations that inspire individuals, foster creativity, and promote personal and professional growth. For the past two decades, she has worked with both for-profit and non-profit organizations to build more humane organizations that produce exceptional results.

Prior to joining Astia, Sharon founded SJ Vosmek & Associates, a management firm that included clients such as PG&E, PacBell (now AT&T) and the University of Wisconsin Madison. She held management positions at American Express and in the office of United States Senator, Dennis DeConcini. She currently serves on the Steering Committee for the Cherie Blair Foundation, the Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst Experts Advisor Group, and the City of San Francisco Mayor’s Commission on Biotech (MayBAC).

A sought-after speaker, Sharon was invited to participate in The White House Women’s Entrepreneurship Conference and The Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship led by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. In January 2011, Astia was chosen to join the White House’s StartUP America initiative, developed to celebrate, inspire, and accelerate high-growth entrepreneurship throughout the nation. Astia is the only organization included that focuses on women-led start ups.

Sharon has a master’s degree in public policy and administration from the University of Wisconsin, Madison and a bachelor’s degree in political science from Arizona State University.

Jen Shelby, Vice President, Client Services

Jen Shelby has extensive marketing expertise and a track record in preparing companies for next-level growth.Possessing leadership skills that translate to a high-impact management style, Jen conceives and executes innovative go-to-market strategies. Jen has held a variety of positions ranging from Chief Marketing Officer at Betty Confidential to Vice President at P3M, and is founder of Signature Leadership, a consulting firm that positions companies to scale and accelerate growth by creating relationships and providing exceptional client management. Jen's extensive background in marketing and brand building as well as expertise in start-up strategies brings valuable insight and business skills to her clients

Participating in many advisory boards over the years – as well as owning her own consulting firm for over nine years – Jen is considered one of our community’s leading female marketing spokespeople and advisors.

Evie Mulberry, Development Director

In her current role Evie dedicates her time to ensure that Astia Europe continues to build on its stable financial foundation, driving its development needs. She is based in the UK working closely with her European colleagues and the Astia team in the US. Evie started volunteering with Astia in 2008 and went on to hold the role VP Europe from April 2008 until March 2010. During such time she established, implemented and managed the Astia Europe community and entrepreneur programme from the San Francisco office.

With a background in finance and corporate law, Evie has advised companies at all stages of growth in relation to their financing needs, from start-up corporate loans to syndicated multi-bank loans. In addition to 5 years with Osborne Clarke, Evie also spent a secondment at a leading UK investment bank gaining valuable insight into corporate risk profiles. At Astia, Evie is now serving entrepreneurs at a much earlier stage in their growth cycle.

Simone Brummelhuis, Vice President, Europe

Simone Brummelhuis worked for 10 years as an international corporate lawyer (Skadden, New York & Loeff Claeys Verbeke, Amsterdam, New York) before becoming an entrepreneur by setting up her own B2B publishing company. Thereafter, she joined IENS as co-owner and managing director, which startup she developed into the no. 1 user generated content database and cross media publisher of restaurant guides in The Netherlands (online and offline). She is the founder and CEO of The NextWomen, the First Women’s Internet Business Magazine and Community, which organizes female's dragons den and mentorship programmes.

Simone has extensive knowledge of issues surrounding female entrepreneurship, the growth of start-ups to the next phase, the manner to stimulate innovations in companies, the manner to organize user-generated content and product development in cross media companies.

She is a frequent jury member of business plan competitions, she is the jury of the yearly Accenture Media Innovation Awards, she presents the internet program SHE (interviews with business women) on Blueshotstv, and is a frequent speaker in international conferences on her expertise. She's has been on the UK Board of Astia.org since 2008. With thenextwomen she won the Challenger Nomination, the Pioneers Award and was personally named as one of most influential entrepreneurs under 50 in The Netherlands.

Patty Breslin, Vice President, Finance & Operations

Patty Breslin has responsibility for all operations, human resources, finance and IT functions at Astia. She has more than 20 years of experience in the software industry and held executive management positions in Operations, Professional Services and Consulting at Borland, ADP, London Bridge Software and Kivera.

Catherine Berman, Sr. Vice President, Entrepreneur Programs

As an experienced entrepreneur, Catherine has launched and co-launched a number of successful social ventures including Global Brigades, Deloitte Center for Leadership & Community, ITC, and Oxford Women in Business Network.

Prior to joining Astia, Catherine maintained a host of management positions, including Chief Executive Officer, Global Brigades Panama, Strategy and Operations Manager at Deloitte Consulting, LLP, Director of Marketing at Redefining Progress and Vice President of Evins Communications, LLC. Her international work experience spans from India to Israel with extensive work in Central and South America.

Areas of expertise include strategy, international expansion, and management of both financial and social returns. Catherine graduated magna cum laude from Boston University and received her MBA from Oxford University, England. She is passionate about the intersection of money and meaning and serves as a mentor for Hub Ventures Impact Fund.

Carolyn Beaty, Program Coordinator

As Program Coordinator, Carolyn works to ensure the success of all of Astia’s Entrepreneur Programs by creating program materials, communicating with speakers, and collaborating with staff. A native of Los Angeles, she is a recent migrant to the Bay Area and an even more recent graduate of the University of California, Berkeley with a B.A. in English Literature and a minor in Public Policy. Before coming to Astia, she had experience working in non-profits through internships with literacy and education organizations 826 Valencia and The Office of Letters and Light.

Amy Gips, Investor in Residence

As an experienced investor, Amy has invested in debt and equity in companies at various stages across multiple industries. She has spent most of her career working at credit and private equity funds.

Amy previously worked at PennantPark Investment Advisers and DLJ Investment Partners (Credit Suisse) focusing on providing debt and equity financing to middle market companies. In addition, Amy worked in investment banking at Jefferies.

Amy is currently an angel investor with Investors’ Circle and focuses on investing in and advising women-led companies.

Yin Zhang, Intern, Europe

As an intern, Yin works with VP Astia Europe to assist in expansion of the European market for Astia. She helps in the planning and execution of the entrepreneurship programs in Europe.

Yin has a bachelor’s degree in economics from Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, and currently she is doing her advanced master’s degree in international finance at Amsterdam Business School.