Rogue Women 2023

Part I Authenticity Fuels Innovation: Enterprise Transformation

Featuring Lesley Folensbee, Director of Marketing, Neuropsychiatry Franchise at Biogen; Joan Ondala, Director of Business Development and Corporate Strategy at Winnebago Industries; and Kristen Gendron, Director of VF Venture Foundry. They discuss the relationship between authenticity & innovation across marketing, strategy & venture groups at industry-leading organizations. Moderated by Vanessa Rosado, Head of Brand Strategy at VentureFuel.

Vanessa has spent her career working in marketing across brand management and media strategy, with a passion for digital platforms and emerging media. She has led global centers of excellence in digital, brand, commercial strategy and creativity; designing and facilitating workshops globally for marketers at all levels, from college interns to the C-Suite. She is passionate about the role of creativity and innovation to unlock purpose driven growth.

She joined VentureFuel in 2021 as the Head of Brand Strategy where she focuses on connecting industry leading organizations with external innovators & facilitating conversations about the power of innovation to unlock growth.

Vanessa holds a B.A. in Government from Harvard College and an MBA from the Yale School of Management. She lives in New York with her husband, toddler and dog. When she’s not building brands, Vanessa loves to read all kinds of books & learn new skills.

Shira is an experienced marketer, innovator and communicator, she has held roles across a variety of industries including sports, education, marketing, and corporate innovation.

As VP of Innovation at VentureFuel, Shira leads a growing team that manages all corporate client innovation programs including custom accelerators, innovation diagnostics, and pilot excellence programs.

With a Masters in Business Administration and BA in Psychology, Shira is on a constant path of learning, connecting and growing.

Founder. Innovator. Connector. Corporate Problem Solver. Speaker. Thought Leader. Angel.

Fred has helped over 100 companies, from General Mills to Beam Suntory to Netflix, discover and implement new technologies and innovations to deliver breakthrough results (18.7% sales lift, $10m+ savings, 5x purchase intent, etc.).

As Founder of VentureFuel, he has created a repeatable innovation framework, that bridges his deep relationships with the VC, Angel and Startup ecosystem with his C-suite corporate relationships to deliver first-to-market, tangible solutions that drive growth for all involved.

He is a frequent speaker at industry events such as SXSW, Ad Tech, Advertising Week, IAB, OMMA, etc. and an industry thought-leader published in The Huffington Post, Media Post, The Drum, Tech.co, Creator Magazine, Adweek, Event Marketer, etc.

Caroline is the Managing Partner of Rogue Women’s Fund and Kauffman Fellow.

Caroline joined Rogue Venture Partners in 2018, leading a new strategy to focus on women-led tech companies. Prior to Rogue, Caroline was Senior Director in Strategy and Operations for Global Design, Product, and Merchandising at Nike where she managed a portfolio of strategic programs focused on consumer experience, digitization, and big data.

Prior to being recruited to work for Nike, Caroline was a management consultant for Propeller and Hitachi Consulting, working with Fortune 100 companies on enterprise technology implementations and organizational restructuring. Her love for start-ups comes from her early career experience as a founder for an e-commerce business and as a leader at a consumer health product company.