Natalie Buford-Young

Springboard Enterprises Appoints Natalie Buford-Young As CEO

WASHINGTON, Dec. 15, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Celebrating 20 years of supporting women-led companies and industry transformation, Springboard Enterprises announces Natalie Buford-Young as its first CEO. To date, Springboard's portfolio numbers 819 women-led companies, which have created $27.2 billion in value over the last 20 years.

In her role, Buford-Young will be responsible for leading Springboard's mission to accelerate the growth of entrepreneurial companies led by women through access to essential resources and a global community of experts. An accomplished and innovative corporate executive, entrepreneur, and community builder, Buford-Young joins from Deloitte, where she served as Managing Director of Market Development for Deloitte's venture capital, private equity and emerging private company practices.

An active leader in the entrepreneur community, Natalie served as Executive Director for Deloitte's Tech-Venture Center, which provides programs and networking opportunities for entrepreneurs and investors. Additionally, she is active in the entrepreneur and investor communities through her involvement with the Mid Atlantic Venture Association, Fast 500, the Florida Venture Forum, National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), and Council for Entrepreneurial Development (CED). Prior to joining Deloitte, Natalie founded and served as President and CEO of The Rainfield Group – one of Greater Washington's most prominent executive recruiting firms

"Natalie is a leader in the entrepreneurial community, a catalyst for growth and impact, and a leader for the next phase of Springboard's growth," said Kay Koplovitz, Chairman and co-founder of Springboard Enterprises. "In her new role, she will be responsible for empowering, accelerating and amplifying Springboard women entrepreneurs as the organization builds out robust peer-to-peer platforms, content IP and an investment fund for its global community. We're thrilled to welcome her to the team," added Koplovitz.

Buford-Young will work alongside Springboard President and co-founder Amy Millman, broadening the breadth and depth of the organization. To date, Springboard's portfolio numbers 819 women-led companies, which have created $27.2 billion in value over the last 20 years. An outstanding 88% have raised capital, with over 200 exits to strategic acquirers and 21 IPOs. The Springboard pipeline is full of current and rising 'unicorns' supported by a global network of domain and business scaling experts in the fields of drug development, therapeutics, medical devices, digital health, cybersecurity, AR/VR, retail, robotics, supply chain, AI applications, and renewable energy, among the many tech-driven solutions their innovators are bringing to market.

Notable Springboard Alumnae:

Well-known innovators like Robin Chase of Zipcar, which jump-started the sharing economy; Gail Goodman of Constant Contact, which transformed the way we communicate via email; Helen Greiner of iRobot, whose Roomba vacuum kicked off a whole generation of consumer robotics and Julie Wainwright of The RealReal, who transformed luxury consignment into a leader in the circular economy.

Sheila Mikhail of AskBio, which is making life-saving advances in gene therapy; and Linda Hall of MinuteClinic, whose walk-in telehealth clinics are now ubiquitous in CVS stores nationwide.

Founders of companies that are seizing opportunities during the COVID-19 crisis, such as Julia Cheek of Everlywell, whose at-home COVID-19 test received the first FDA Emergency Use Authorization of its kind; Michelle Longmire of Medable, providing online access to a global clinical trial platform, increasing diversity of participants and cutting trial times by as much as 50%, and Neha Singh of Obsess, using easy access AR/VR in the retail market to create an engaging 360 e-commerce experience.

About Springboard Enterprises

Springboard's mission is to accelerate the growth of entrepreneurial companies led by women through access to essential resources and a global community of experts. We are a leading network of influencers, investors, and innovators dedicated to building companies at scale led by women who are transforming industries in technology and life science. The measure of our success is in the results. Since 2000, 819 Springboard portfolio companies seeking investment and human capital for product development and expansion have created over $27.2B in value, are revenue generators and job creators. With 216 exits to strategic acquirers and 21 IPOs, Springboard Entrepreneurs are Transforming Industries. https://sb.co/