Startup Advice From a Trans CEO

Deborah Streeter is the Bruce F. Failing, Sr., Professor Emeritus of Personal Enterprise and Small Business Management at the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management. Entrepreneurship and small business management are the focus of Dr. Streeter’s teaching, research, and outreach activities. Her research interests include: university-wide models for teaching entrepreneurship, the use of digital media in teaching, and gender issues in business and entrepreneurship. Dr. Streeter has received acclaim as an educator based on her promotion of experiential learning, active learning, and innovative uses of technology inside and outside the classroom.

In 2007, Dr. Streeter was given the Olympus Innovator Award by the Olympus Corporation. She received the Constance E. and Alice H. Cook Award in 2004 and the Professor of Merit Award in 2002, and she was named influential to a Merrill Scholar in 1999, 2000, and 2003. Dr. Streeter was awarded the 2001 CALS National Food and Agricultural Sciences Excellence in College and University Teaching and was named a Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellow in 2000 (Cornell’s most prestigious teaching award). She also received the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2000 and the Innovative Teaching Award in 1996. Dr. Streeter holds an M.S. (1980) and Ph.D. (1984) in Agricultural Economics from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Natalie Egan (she/her) is an openly transgender, award-winning B2B software entrepreneur and a recognized thought leader living her life at the intersection of technology and diversity, equity, and inclusion. She has over 20 years of experience driving digital change, developing high-performing teams, building complex products, and selling enterprise solutions. Today, Natalie is the founder and CEO of Translator, Inc., where she and her team are on a mission to scale empathy and equality through technology.

Prior to founding Translator in 2016 — and prior to her transition — Natalie was founder and CEO of PeopleLinx, a venture capital-backed sales technology solution that was acquired in 2015. In addition to her entrepreneurial pursuits, she has also worked in sales leadership positions at large public companies like LinkedIn, Autonomy, and Ecolab. Outside of work, Natalie is a parent, a marathon runner, an artist, and a consummate activist for transgender rights and representation.

Based in Philadelphia, PA, Natalie received her undergraduate degree from Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration and her MBA from the Villanova School of Business. She is currently writing her first book about her gender transition as a CEO in corporate America and the business lessons learned along the way.