Mary Lou Bessette

Mary Lou Bessette directs the Center for the Advancement of Small Business at the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. She is also business owner on campus, charged with fostering effective relationships between business and education.

Entrepreneurial education is Ms. Bessette's third career. She spent the 25 years in the newspaper business, beginning as a police reporter and rising to a senior corporate executive. She left the media to create Bessette & Co., an Arizona-based firm that helps develop small and growth enterprises.

Ms. Bessette's national board leadership roles have included the presidency of the ATHENA Foundation, a Chicago-based international organization dedicated to creating leadership opportunities for women. She also chaired the national advisory board to the Association of Small Business Development Centers.

She is the first woman to chair the board of directors of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce. As president of the Phoenix chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners, she received a national NAWBO award for her entrepreneurship.

She chaired the Arizona delegation to the last White House Conference on Small Business and received a national SBA award for her advocacy.

Ms. Bessette is president of The Economic Club of Phoenix and chair of the governing body of the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce's ATHENA PowerLink program.