Kate Lister

I'm passionate about entrepreneurship; small business financing and growth; and the ability for telecommuting and work from home programs to improve work-life balance, reduce greenhouse gas and foreign oil dependence, save money for companies, individuals, and the community; and so much more.

Over the past thirty years, I've started and operated several successful businesses. I've helped thousands of small business owners understand finance, financial management, business planning, and marketing. I've written three business books and numerous articles. I've arranged debt and equity financing for hundreds of businesses, and I've been both an angel investor and venture capitalist.

* As an entrepreneur: I've owned and operated three successful companies including:

- a consulting business that successfully helped hundreds of entrepreneurs raise millions of dollars from banks, government agencies, angels, and venture capitalists

- a vintage air tour business that I started, and sold 16 years later after building it into the largest of its kind in the U.S.

- a news distribution business that I purchased, built up over ten years, and sold to Knight Ridder

* As a writer: I've authored three business books, maintain a small business blog and web site (Undress4Success.com), and have written dozens of business articles for magazines and newspapers. Some of my writing credits include:

- Undress For Success--The Naked Truth About Making Money from Home (John Wiley & Sons, 2009, http://undress4success.com/store/undress_for_success_the_book/)

. . ."The best collection of teleworking How-To's and Why's Ive seen anywhere." Jim Ware, Co-Founder, Future of Work

. . . Undress For Success has won the endorsement of some of the top names in telework and worklife advocacy

- Finding Money: The Small Business Guide To Financing (John Wiley & Sons, 1995. Revised as eBook 2009, http://undress4success.com/store/finding-money/)

. . ."One of the best books Ive ever read on the subject." David Thornburgh, former Director of the Wharton Small Business Development Center

- The Directory of Venture Capital (John Wiley & Sons, 2000 and 2004)

- Hells Bells, a humorous look at the frustrations of voice mail (Entrepreneur Magazine, http://www.encoreadventures.com/media/HellsBells.jpg)

- How to Find Money (Wall Street Journal, http://www.encoreadventures.com/media/WallStreetJournal.jpg)

- Dealing With the Crunch (Wharton Small Business Development Center Newsletter)

- Are Bankers and Borrowers Speaking the Same Language? (The Journal of Commercial Banking)

- Cash Management for the Independent Photo Lab (Association of Professional Color Labs Newsletter)

- Money: Making It, Managing It, Keeping It & Cashing Out--a lecture series I developed on behalf of Eastman Kodak and delivered throughout the U.S. and Canada

* As a speaker: I've lectured about telework, telecommuting, sustainability, business finance and planning at over a hundred events hosted by organizations including the Wharton School of Business, Temple University, St. Josephs University, Drexel University, and others. In addition, I've developed small business training programs for Corestates Bank, Keystone Bank, Liberty Bank, Unisys, and Eastman Kodak.

* As an authority on telework, telecommuting, work at home, internet scams, entrepreneurship, and small business finance: I've been quoted in hundreds of newspapers and magazines including the Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, Washington Post and many others (http://undress4success.com/work-at-home-undress4success-press/). I've have appeared on dozens of television and radio shows including Wall Street Journal Radio, CNN "About Your Money," and German TV. I am one of only one hundred experts chosen to participate in the TechCast virtual think tank.

* As a researcher I have synthesized over 250 studies on telecommuting and related topics. I have interviewed dozens of telework advocates and challengers including top researchers, venture capitalists, Fortune 500 executives, virtual employers, online job board executives and users, and dozens of home-based workers in a wide variety of professions.

Our web-based Telework Savings Calculator has been used by companies, legislators, and community leaders throughout the U.S. and Canada to promote telework programs. I'm also a member of the the virtual thinktank, TechCast, where I helped establish the telework forecast.

*As a corporate executive: I was a small business lender with two of the nation's largest banks and a partner in a venture capital firm.

* As a philanthropist: I developed a microloan program aimed at helping welfare mothers start businesses. It was based on the Grameen Bank (Bangladesh) circle-borrowing model, a concept that has since gained considerable notoriety. The program included small business training and one-on-one counseling for the loan recipients. I convinced five major Philadelphia banks to provide seed grants for the loan fund.

* For my entrepreneurial advocacy, I was recognized as an Inc. Magazine / Arthur Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award finalist, Business Advocate of the Year (U.S. Small Business Administration), and Business Advocate of the Year (Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce).

* For fun I enjoy photography (http://www.flickr.com/photos/cashkate/), reading, gardening, and my husband (not necessarily in that order).