Anne M. Janiak
Chief Executive Officer
Anne M. Janiak is a founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Women’s Enterprise Development Center Inc., a nonprofit microbusiness development organization in White Plains, NY that helps women achieve economic self-sufficiency through entrepreneurship in Westchester County and the Lower Hudson Valley. Ms. Janiak has been involved with the organization since its formation in 1997 and has been instrumental in its growth and development, including its designation as a Women’s Business Center by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) in 2003. She has been active in women’s issues, local government, and public policy matters in Westchester County for more than 25 years and serves as part-time Executive Director of the Westchester Municipal Officials Association. She is a former Mayor of the Village of Scarsdale, a former chair of the Westchester County Women’s Advisory Board, and a former president of the Scarsdale chapter of the League of Women Voters. Ms. Janiak has many community and professional affiliations and is actively involved with both the state and national microenterprise development program associations. She recently served two terms on the Board of Directors of the Association of Women’s Business Centers (AWBC). Ms. Janiak has a BA in Secondary Education from the Pennsylvania State University and a MA in Women’s History from Sarah Lawrence College. She can be contacted at 914-948-6098, ext. 12.
Persephone Zill
Women's Business Center Director
Persephone Zill, WEDC’s Women’s Business Center Director, brings a wealth of experience with entrepreneurial education and non-profit management. She was the Associate Director at Fordham University’s social innovation lab and a Senior VP at Feeding Westchester, developing strategic partnerships around solving hunger in Westchester County. Ms. Zill previously served as the Program Director for WEDC, training and counseling women entrepreneurs for nine years. She received a BA in American Studies from Barnard College and an MBA in Management/Entrepreneurship from Baruch College. Ms. Zill currently serves as a task force member for Westchester County’s Incubator Network. She can be contacted at (914) 948-6098, ext. 11.
Nikki A. Hahn
Director of Development and Strategic Initiatives
Nikki A. Hahn, WEDC's Director of Development, brings a wealth of development experience to the nonprofit sector. Ms. Hahn was previously with Volunteer New York! where she developed corporate social responsibility programming for local business leaders. In addition, she has served as President of the Junior League of Central Westchester and the Client and Partner Development Director of The Acceleration Project. Ms. Hahn is actively involved in many community initiatives and currently serves on the Westchester Children's Chorus Board of Directors as well as on the Cure JM Foundation's Board of Directors as the Development Director and President. She has a B.S. in Elementary Education and Early Childhood Education with a minor in Psychology from New York University. She can be contacted at (914) 948-6098, ext. 20.
Veronica Bazan
Program Director Spanish
Veronica Bazan, WEDC’s Program Director for WEDC en Espanol, and Loan and M/WBE certification Counselor, joined WEDC in 2013. She has a background in small business, teaching, and micro lending. Prior to joining WEDC, Ms. Bazan worked as a bilingual analyst at Accion East and Online, a microfinance organization, where she helped small business owners prepare and procure loans. Ms. Bazan earned her BA in Business Administration with a concentration in entrepreneurship from the Gabelli School of Business at Fordham University. She also has a degree in education from the Instituto Superior de Formacion Docente in her home country of Argentina. Ms. Bazan can be contacted at 914-948-6098, ext.14.
Terri Matthews-Cotton
Director of Finance
Terri Matthews-Cotton, WEDC’s Director of Finance, has significant experience managing accounting and sponsored funds at an ivy league University as well as at other well-known NYC non-profit organizations. Mrs. Matthews-Cotton’s former responsibilities included oversight of the full life-cycle of grants management (both pre and post award activities), and financial accounting processes including budgeting, cash projections and internal audits of activity, fiscal oversight of subcontractors along with the submission of external reports to funders. Mrs. Matthews-Cotton possesses a BS in Accounting and she is a Certified Nonprofit Accounting Professional (CNAP). She can be contacted at (914) 948-6098, ext. 17.
Jim Cypher
Database Manager
Jim Cypher, WEDC's Database Manager, grew up in Beacon NY and has over twenty years nonprofit development database experience with such groups as The Garden Conservancy, The PRASAD Project, The Community Foundations of the Hudson Valley and the American Technion Society. He began his nonprofit career as the Operations Manager for the Larz Anderson Auto Museum in Brookline, MA, America's oldest car collection. He's a member of the Society of Automotive Historians, the National Association of Automobile Museums, the Historian for the Impala SS Club of America and is the President of the Beacon Community Lions Club as well as the IT/Webmaster for the Lions District 20-O. He has a BS in Communications Studies from Emerson College in Boston, MA, where he studied Business and Organizational Communications. Mr. Cypher can be contacted at (914) 948-6098, ext. 28.
Mairead Daly-Diep
Program Manager
Mairead Daly-Diep is WEDC’s Program Manager for Westchester. She has an extensive and varied background in program and event management, in both non-profit and corporate sectors, and has hands-on experience as an entrepreneur. Previous non-profit positions include Director of Literacy Programs at Westchester based non-profit, Family-to-Family and Program Coordinator at medical NGO Orbis International. Ms. Daly-Diep received a B.A. in Sociology with a concentration in International Studies from New York University and a Certificate in Management from the London Institute. She can be contacted at 914-948-6098, ext. 27.
Zacha Tuttle
MWBE Specialist
Zacha Tuttle, WEDC”s Program Associate, is the team’s most recent addition. She brings seven years of nonprofit experience including, government contract counseling for a federal program, marketing for the Institute of Entrepreneurial Leadership and program coordinating for an immigration resource center. She received her B.A in Anthropology from SUNY Purchase and has completed graduate certificates in Data-Driven Marketing from Cornell Graduate School of Management and Spanish-English Translation from Boston University. She also holds a certification from the National Association of Procurement Technical Assistance Centers as a Procurement Professional. Ms. Tuttle can be contacted at 914-948-6098, ext. 23.
Paula Zorrilla
Program and Office Assistant
Paula Zorrilla, WEDC’s Office and Program Assistant, joined WEDC in 2019. Paula is bilingual and assists with the Westchester programs in English and Spanish. Prior to joining WEDC, Ms. Zorrilla worked in health care administration, marketing, customer service, and sales in Latin America and the USA. Ms. Zorrilla received her BA in Industrial Engineering from the Universidad del Valle in Colombia. She also earned certifications in Finance and Evaluation of Projects from the Javeriana University in her native Colombia, English-Spanish interpretation from Westchester Community College, and Digital Marketing: Customer Engagement, Social Media, Planning & Analytics from Emeritus and Columbia Business School. Ms. Zorrilla can be contacted at 914-948-6098, ext. 15.
Mid-Hudson Office
Cynthia Marsh-Croll
Program Director Mid-Hudson
Cynthia Marsh-Croll is the Program Director Mid-Hudson of our Poughkeepsie location. Ms. Marsh-Croll has numerous programs that provide services to businesses in Orange, Sullivan, Dutchess, Ulster and Putnam counties. Ms. Marsh-Croll is the founder of Croll Productive Synergy which has provided operation business consulting and training for over a decade as well as Program Manager for a previous Entrepreneurial Assistance Program center. She has experience in a variety of industries and working with businesses of all sizes. As a result, Cynthia has significant experience training and counseling small business owners and entrepreneurs. Ms. Marsh-Croll has a BS in Management Science as well as a Lean Office Certification through the University of Michigan. Please call 845-363-6432 for more information regarding our MHV programs.
Brianna Castro
Program Assistant Mid-Hudson
Brianna Castro is the Program Assistant of our Poughkeepsie location. Brianna is bilingual and assists with coordinating and running the Spanish program recently launched in the Mid-Hudson. Prior to joining WEDC, Brianna worked as a Collections Specialist at Sun Community Federal Credit Union in Southern California working with credit reporting, levies, third party collection agencies, and insurance claims. Besides having experience with finance and insurance, she also utilizes aspects of her degree when working with our Spanish speaking clients. Brianna has an A.A in Behavioral Science through Imperial Valley College. She can be contacted at 845-363-6432.
The Women’s Enterprise Development Center (WEDC), a 501(c)(3) corporation, has been empowering women entrepreneurs to build successful small businesses since 1997 in Westchester County and the Hudson Valley. This is accomplished by providing comprehensive, high quality business training programs, one-on-one business and loan counseling, networking opportunities, assistance with loan applications for microloans and crowd funding through Kiva Zip, and MWBE certification assistance in English and Spanish. WEDC’s overarching goal is to build a vibrant community of women business owners, comprised of start-up and established companies.
The Women’s Enterprise Development Center (WEDC), a 501(c)(3) corporation, has been empowering women entrepreneurs to build successful small businesses since 1997 in Westchester County and the Hudson Valley. Our overarching goal is to build a vibrant community of women business owners, comprised of start-up and established companies.