Heather Wentler, Executive Director and Co-Founder
Heather is also the founder of Fractal and the founder of Madison SOUP. Heather has always encouraged others to reach for what they want to become. Through teaching early-childhood through middle school in disadvantaged schools, her role was more than just teacher for the students and co-workers she spent her days with. She became a parent figure, role model, coach and educator all rolled into one to make sure the lives she was touching were creating impact on their futures.
Heather's 10+ years of being an entrepreneur (as well as married to an entrepreneur) and working with entrepreneurs gives her first-hand knowledge, experience, and understanding of what entrepreneurs go through and the various mountains they climb every day in order to keep their ventures open and viable. Her strategic approach of identifying entrepreneur's personal connections to their life and venture develops a stronger sense of identity and professional growth for the entrepreneurs she works with; and her connective thinking approach helps take high level ideas down into manageable paths of actions and introductions to others within the Doyenne network to provide additional guidance and mentorship.
Heather’s passion for entrepreneurship and supporting underrepresented entrepreneurs in business became more prevalent in her career as she was founding Fractal and transitioning out of teaching in a traditional classroom. Heather is an active leader and organizer of entrepreneurial efforts across Wisconsin.
Heather has provided leadership & organizational level support for Forward Fest, Startup Madison Week, Launch Wisconsin conference, judged various business plan competitions across the U.S.A., mentored entrepreneurs for SXSW, sat on the StartingBlock Madison Board of Directors & Executive Committee, WEDWisconsin and Early Stage Symposium Advisory Boards, as well as the B Corp Wisconsin Movement committee.
Heather serves as the Executive Director for Doyenne and President of the Doyenne Board of Directors.
Amy Gannon, Co-founder
{In Memoriam} Dr. Amy Gannon was a change agent dedicated to identifying and unleashing entrepreneurial talent, particularly in places where others weren’t looking for it. Her work focused on building pathways to entrepreneurship for those traditionally ignored by existing entrepreneurial ecosystems.
Dr. Gannon was a Co-founder for Doyenne. With more than 10 years experience working with startup businesses, Dr. Gannon had expertise in moving entrepreneurs through the idea validation, launch and growth stages. She designed, planned and facilitated developmental opportunities for entrepreneurs, within Doyenne and with other organizations in the Madison area including the Social Good Accelerator, Madison Urban Ministry (MUM), and others.
Dr. Gannon's passion for supporting all women and lifting them up to reach new hights and beliefs in themselves and the ventures they run is truly missed within our community, but never forgotten as she lives on through all of the work she did while here and the impact she's made on all she touched.
Dr. Gannon and her daughter were tragically killed in a helicopter accident while on a family vacation in Hawaii on December 26, 2019. While she is no longer physically with us, she is felt within every aspect of Doyenne and continues to influence the work we do and how we create impact in communities.
