Bootstraps, Boardrooms, and Bold Bets on Women

Be ready to interact with featured speaker, Cindi Englefield, our interviewer Susan Bottiggi, and your fellow participants.

Please arrive at 11:30 am. 

Eat. Mingle. Make new friends.

In an interview-style TIGER Tale, Cindi Englefield will recount stories from her successful business career, including lessons learned, techniques she recommends, and resources of value to innovators — current and future.

From launching an education company at her kitchen table to co-founding a women-focused angel investment fund, Cindi’s journey is a story of grit, growth, and game-changing purpose.

Cindi will share how building and selling her own company opened her eyes to the systemic barriers women face in accessing capital—and what she’s doing to change it. Through her current work with Accelerating Angels, Cindi is not only investing in high-growth, women-led startups—she’s activating more women to step into the investor role themselves. With real stories, sharp insights, and a bold vision for the future, Cindi reveals why closing the gender gap in funding starts with who’s making the decisions—and how we all have a role to play in reshaping the investing landscape.

This will be a talk about reinvention, equity, and the power of betting on women—not just as founders, but as funders.

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Cindi Englefield is a seasoned entrepreneur, investor, and fierce advocate for women in business. She began her journey in a family of entrepreneurs—her father founded Englefield Oil Company in 1961—and though her brothers were groomed to take the reins, Cindi had her own vision. In 2001, she launched Show What You Know Publishing, an educational publishing company focused on test preparation and reducing student anxiety. Over two decades, she grew the company across five states and multiple product lines, eventually leading it to a successful exit.

But Cindi’s entrepreneurial spirit didn’t retire—it evolved. Drawing from her experience, she founded Englefield Business Advisors to coach women entrepreneurs and then stepped into the world of angel investing.

In 2022, she co-founded Accelerating Angels, a fund and angel investment group committed to backing early-stage, high-growth, women-led startups. Her mission: to increase access to capital for women founders and to activate more women angel investors—reshaping who gets funded and who’s writing the checks.

Cindi serves on the boards of Englefield Oil Company, Central Point Partners, and the Women’s Small Business Accelerator, and is a member of organizations including the Columbus Chamber of Commerce Small Business Council, Angel Capital Association, NAWBO, WELD, and Matriots. A graduate of The Ohio State University Fisher College of Business, she is a lifetime member and serves on the Advisory Board for the Ohio State Early Investor Network.

Cindi splits her time between Dublin, Ohio, Naples, Florida and Scottsdale, Arizona, where she enjoys golf, horseback riding, hiking, and exploring the outdoors.

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Our interviewer, Susan Bottiggi, brings decades of leadership experience in corporate banking and wealth management, paired with a deep commitment to community service.

A graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and The Ohio State University’s Fisher College MBA program, Susan built her career at PNC Bank and its predecessors, rising to Executive Director of PNC Bank Wealth Management Group in Central Ohio. Today, she serves as Treasurer of AZIO Ventures LLC and as a Director of The Arnold Wholesale Company. An active supporter of women’s leadership and civic engagement, she’s held trustee roles with BalletMet, YWCA Columbus, The Community Shelter Board, and Matriots. Her current community engagements include Girls with Gears Peloton as Co-Captain and McDowell Sonoran Preserve Steward Program in Arizona.

Susan’s thoughtful, grounded perspective makes her an insightful and engaging interviewer.

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