MEET OUR TEAM
A global group of individuals focused on world-class results

NICOLA CORZINE
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NASDAQ ENTREPRENEURIAL CENTER
“What is an entrepreneur? They are the people all around us who take risks every day to start and grow their businesses. They believe they can make something different — something that improves our lives and enriches our society while powering job creation and our GDP. The impact and the opportunities to build meaningful, great companies of all sizes is critical to advancing a global movement around the power of innovation.”
Leadership

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Nicola Corzine, Executive Director
Nicola Corzine serves as the Executive Director of the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center, a non-profit that delivers world-class resources and mentoring to enable every entrepreneur across the globe to realize their maximum potential. As Executive Director, Nicola is responsible for strategic and operational leadership that help drive research, programing, fundraising, and operations for the organization. In its first two years of operations, the Center has enabled over 7,500 entrepreneurs from 68 countries to receive quality education, resources and mentoring to propel their businesses and ensure global economic advancement.
Nicola brings over 15 years of strategic business development and entrepreneurial thought leadership programming experience to the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center, most recently in her role as Deal Manager for the Band of Angels, a position held since 2004 as well as Investment Partner in the 2009 Acorn fund which includes investments in Practice Fusion, Niveus Medical, and Flywheel, one of the biggest names in the E-hailing industry. During her time at the Band, she was as an early advisor to Startup America and led the development of the first national and regional Angel Capital Association conferences.
Prior to Band of Angels, Nicola was the founder and executive director of Financing Partners, an organization that delivered education to both entrepreneurs and investors to enable them to reach their mutual objectives. Before Band of Angels, she was part of three startup companies in the US and UK.
Nicola is a frequent speaker on angel investing, technology trends and seed financing at Universities including Stanford, Wharton and Duke, national conferences, including IEEE Women in Engineering, NVCA and Innovation Enterprise, and has served as a formation advisor to several regional and international angel groups and seed funds.

VICE PRESIDENT OF STRATEGY
Celena Aponte, Vice President of Strategy
Celena brings over 10 years of international brand development experience. She began her career as a PR director managing musicians, actors, and supermodels. She went on to become a data strategist at Cisco, where she organized big data teams to build marketing solutions based on customer behaviors. More recently, teaching Creativity and Innovation at San Francisco State University has kept her constantly curious and focused on building transformational learning experiences. At the dinner table, you’ll hear her talking about her love of ‘90s fashion, Italy, and design.
Institute for Equitable Entrepreneurship Advisors
The advisors to the Institute for Equitable Entrepreneurship are a group of visionary leaders spanning the intersection of executive leaders, capital allocators, academia and entrepreneurial support providers with experience leading the cause of a more equitable future made possible with current and future innovators.
Center Advisory Board
The Center Advisory Board consists of entrepreneurs and industry experts who provide counsel, identify opportunities and help us build resources for the Center’s growth.
Become a part of our team! Find our open positions here.
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