Making your first sale to a big customer is never easy for impact-driven companies, especially in the current environment. You have to find and get in touch with a company to take a bet on your vision by opening their checkbooks and giving you their brand’s stamp of approval. The stakes are high— landing a major customer can be what puts you on the map and fuel your future growth.

Join us for a panel discussion with experts from Nasdaq, Bank of the West, Microsoft Entrepreneurship for Positive Impact, and Kloopify to uncover how you catch a big GREEN fish and close more deals. They will cover some of the tips and tactics you need to know to connect with the right people, how to pitch them, and how to hopefully get more contracts across the line. They will also cover how to become a certified women owned business enterprise (WBE) and how this can increase your chances of getting deals from corporates.

If you are creating impact as a B2B company, this event is for you!

Special Guests:

Shervin Rafsandjani

Public Sector and Digital Alliances – National Transformation Partnerships

At Microsoft for almost 15 years with an enterprise sales background I moved into licensing and from there into dealmaking as a licensing executive. After working in license compliance, specifically negotiating license compliance settlements with enterprise customers, I moved to complex negotiations and dealmaking for multiple topics. Currently I work in the National Transformation Partnerships team and advise on country priorities and ESG for public sector and iconic enterprise accounts.

Wendy Mann-Flores

Sr. Lead Program Manager- Supplier Diversity, Vice President Corporate Procurement at Bank of the West

Wendy Mann-Flores is a compassionate servant leader focused on fostering economic empowerment for diverse businesses and creating opportunities for meaningful engagement within the supply chain.

In her current role as Head of Supplier Diversity at Bank of the West, she has implemented several strategies to help expand and grow the program within the company.

Prior to joining Bank of the West, Wendy spent 13 years with Exelon Corporation working in procurement and Supplier Diversity. During this time, Wendy was the program lead for two east coast utilities and led the Latino ERG at the company. Under her leadership, the ERG raised over $300,000 for scholarships awarded to Latino high school students in the Chicago area.

Wendy served as the executive co-chair of Mujeres de HACE (Hispanic Alliance for Career Enhancement), an organization that helps develop and mentor high potential Latina professionals.

Wendy holds a BA degree from DePaul University in Multicultural Communications and Leadership.

She resides in the Chicago area with her husband and enjoys cooking, traveling and spending time with her three adult children and three grandsons.

The Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center is a 501c(3) public charity whose mission it is to make entrepreneurship accessible to all. We deliver world-class resources and mentoring to enable every entrepreneur across the globe to realize their maximum potential. Please join us and make your gift to ensure these transformative programs may continue to reach the underserved.

All Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center programs and services are extended to the public on a nondiscriminatory basis. Reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities will be made if requested at least 48 hours in advance of this event; please send an email to webinarhost@thecenter.nasdaq.org with the subject header ACCOMMODATION REQUEST. For assistance with registration or other technical difficulties, please contact anna.vanmaanen@thecenter.nasdaq.org