Sarah Ploss named Entrepreneur in Residence

Sarah Ploss
Ploss

Sarah Ploss, a seasoned business development and marketing strategist, was recently named Cornell’s Entrepreneur in Residence for the 2014-15 academic year; she now is accepting appointments with students.

Ploss, president of Willet Dairy LLC of Locke, New York, has been involved in a number of high-growth environmental startups, including waste-to-energy, greenhouse gas emissions reduction and environmental cleanup products made from recycled agricultural materials.

“The Entrepreneur in Residence serves a vital role within the Cornell entrepreneurship community, mentoring and advising Cornell connected startups and aspiring entrepreneurs, particularly those in the early stages of business development, as well as inventors seeking to commercialize Cornell technology,” said Zach Shulman, director of Entrepreneurship at Cornell.

“I love helping people work through their ideas to determine if there’s an actual business to be made out of it,” Ploss said. “And if there’s one thing I’ve learned over the course of my career, it’s the importance of recognizing that ‘entrepreneur’ does not exclusively equate to ‘high-tech’; innovation is everywhere.”

Ploss held diverse positions prior to her role at Willet Dairy. At Environmental Credit Corp., a carbon credit creation and trading company, she led the company into carbon reduction projects in Mexico’s agricultural market. During her tenure with Ecovation, Ploss negotiated, structured and directed agreements with a number of Fortune 500 companies and served as a critical team member as the company raised more than $110 million in private debt and equity to support its growth and ultimate sale to a publicly held entity.

To schedule an appointment, contact Ploss at sjp275@cornell.edu.

Kathy Hovis is a writer for Entrepreneurship at Cornell.

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