Barbara Roberts, Entrepreneur-In-Residence at both Columbia Business School and Hofstra University, is a well-known advocate, writer and speaker on socially responsible business practices and purpose-driven start-ups and is a lifelong champion for opening doors for women and minorities.

An economist by training, Barbara previously held senior positions on Wall Street and was the first woman to have many Wall Street positions, including a seat on the board of Dean Witter. Throughout her Wall Street career, she was a champion for women and was profiled in the 1986 Wall Street Journal article that popularized the term “glass ceiling”. After leaving Wall Street, she became President/CEO of two family owned business, the stock photography company, FPG International, now part of Getty Images, and the museum audio tour company Acoustiguide. As an early champion of expanding the use of non-white models in commercial photography, she was awarded the Business Enterprise Award by President Clinton “for acts of courage, integrity and social vision” and is a Harvard case of a socially responsible business. Barbara has served as chair of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Small Business and Agricultural Advisory Committee and member of the Suffolk County NY Planning Commission. As an Entrepreneur-In-Residence, she has helped launch hundreds of start-ups, is an active angel investor, and serves on the boards of several private companies. Barbara is the author of four whitepapers about entrepreneurs: Life after an Exit, The Owner’s Journey, Women’s Entrepreneurial Journeys, and Flightpaths.