Ilene Frankel- University School

Ilene  is passionate about giving young people the chance to learn about and  experience entrepreneurship. In the fall of 2021, she became Executive  Director for Young Entrepreneur Institute, as YEI’s founder, Greg  Malkin, shifted to an emeritus role. In her position, Ilene leads the  entrepreneurial programming and ecosystem building teams at YEI, working  with educators, schools, networks and entrepreneurial education program  providers in Northeast Ohio and beyond. She also serves as the head of  K-12 entrepreneurial programming at University School.

Ilene joined Young Entrepreneur Institute in 2012 to focus on helping  high school educators build engagement with entrepreneurship education  activities. Since 2015, she has led the development and growth of  Enspire, the annual professional development conference for educators  that’s organized in partnership with Burton D. Morgan Foundation.

Ilene has more than twenty years of business and marketing experience  – most notably as Marketing Director at Cole Vision Corporation, and  also advising start-ups in the Cleveland area. Ilene is a former Trustee  of the Rainbow Babies & Children’s Foundation, where she served on  the board for nine years.

Ilene holds an Economics degree from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.