Mary Gruensfelder-Cox named program director at AWEEc

Mary Gruensfelder-Cox, who served as executive director for several Arizona nonprofit organizations including the Microbusiness Advancement Center of Southern Arizona, has been named Program Director at Arizona Women’s Education & Entrepreneur Center (AWEEc), Maricopa County’s only women’s business center.

AWEEc, a program of Arizona Women’s Education & Employment (AWEE), is funded in part through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). AWEEc provides women-owned businesses and other underserved entrepreneurs with education and resources that include training and workshops, one-on-one counseling, online programs, mentoring and support networks. Among AWEEc’s unique opportunities are programs to develop core business skills and financial literacy specifically for small business owners and entrepreneurs.

AWEEc services are open to all entrepreneurs, especially low-to-mid income women to offer business ownership as a path to financial stability.

“Mary brings significant and important experience in training, supporting and mentoring new and small-business owners and in guiding them through the process to secure financing to reverse the underrepresentation of women in business ownership,” said AWEE Interim Executive Director Brad Harris.

Gruensfelder-Cox spent ten years as a non-profit consultant, interim director and grant writer for a number of nonprofit organizations in Tucson and Phoenix including the Arizona Literacy and Learning Center and Devereux Foster Care in Phoenix, the Challenger Learning Center in Peoria and Touchpoint Connection in Tucson.

She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work from Arizona State University and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration with a human services emphasis from the University of Arizona.

Among her volunteer activities have been with the Andre House of Phoenix, Valley of the Sun United Way homeless services and as a trainer with Junior Achievement of Arizona.  She also has served as a member of the Association of Women Business Centers, is a founding member of the Arizona Microenterprise Association.

For more information about the Arizona Women’s Education & Entrepreneur Center, visit www.aweecenter.org.

For more information about AWEE, visit www.awee.org.