Catherine Hoke

Catherine Hoke (previously Catherine Rohr) is the founder and former CEO of Defy Ventures, a United States-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.[1][2]

Catherine Hoke
Alma materUniversity of California, Berkeley
OccupationFounder, Former CEO PEP

Founder, Former CEO Defy Ventures

Founder, Cat Hoke LLC
Websitecathoke.com

In 2009, she resigned as CEO from the Prison Entrepreneurship Program after admitting to sexual relationships with formerly incarcerated students.[3] In 2018, she resigned as CEO from Defy Ventures, also launched by Hoke, after further allegations of sexual harassment.[4]

In 2018, she released her book A Second Chance: For You, For Me and For the Rest of Us.

Background

Early life

Hoke was born in Montreal, Canada. After graduating from the University of California, Hoke was hired by Summit Partners, a venture capital firm, and several years later became the Director of Investment Development at American Securities Capital Partners in New York City.

Prison Entrepreneurship Program

In 2004, Hoke toured several Texas prisons and found that many of the incarcerated men she met possessed strong business acumen, sales skills, and entrepreneurial qualities, and that many gangs and drug rings are run similarly to corporations —with bylaws, bookkeeping functions, marketing strategies, and quality control programs. Hoke recruited executive volunteers and conducted a business seminar. Four months later, she ran a business pitch competition, which was covered by the Wall Street Journal.[5] She turned these efforts into the Prison Entrepreneurship Program (PEP), a Texas, organization teaching entrepreneurship and character development to incarcerated men.


In 2009, Hoke was banned from Texas prisons after she admitted to having sexual relationships with PEP participants after their release from prison. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice deemed those relationships inappropriate.[6][7]

Defy Ventures

After being forced out from PEP [8] in October 2010, Hoke founded Defy Ventures in New York City.[9] Its vision is "to solve the issue of high recidivism rates through entrepreneurship programs that taught incarcerated participants a comprehensive business skill-set .

Books

Hoke released her book, A Second Chance: For You, For Me and For the Rest of Us in early 2018 with a foreword written by Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook).[10] I; the book is about how she came to serve incarcerated people. The book was published by Hoke's mentor, Seth Godin.

Awards

In 2007, Hoke received the Texas Governor's Award for Criminal Justice Volunteer Service for Social Innovation.[11] In 2007, Hoke also received the Manhattan Institute's Social Entrepreneurship Award.[12] In 2008, Hoke was inducted into the Philanthropy World Hall of Fame,[13] and PEP received the “Rising Star” award from the Monitor Group/Fast Company Social Capitalist Awards.[14]

In 2014, Hoke was named in Fast Company's Most Creative People in Business [15] and was elected an Ashoka Fellow.[16] In 2015 she received the MDC Partners Humanitarian Award on behalf of Defy Ventures[17] and was named as a WIRED #maketechhuman Agent of Change.[18] Forbes included Hoke in its 2017 40 Women to Watch Over 40 list.[19]

Sexual Harassment Allegations

In January 2018, a number of allegations against Hoke and Defy Ventures were made by a former employee. The allegations included sexual harassment, having a sexual relationship with a formerly incarcerated participant, misleading donors, exaggerating the success of the program, and not accurately tracking outcomes of former program participants. [20]

References
  1. "Defy Ventures Looks For a Few Good Felons in Oakland". criminalu.co. Retrieved September 4, 2015.
  2. "Helping ex-criminals develop start-ups". nytimes.com. Retrieved September 4, 2015.
  3. "Prison Entrepreneurship Chief Quits Over Relations With Ex-Cons". The Crime Report. October 14, 2009. Retrieved August 26, 2019.
  4. "Prison Reformer Resigns After Daily Beast Story". The Daily Beast. March 22, 2018. Retrieved August 26, 2019.
  5. Journal, Katherine RosmanStaff Reporter of The Wall Street. "Have Donation, Will Travel". WSJ. Retrieved November 15, 2018.
  6. "Ex-Cons Relaunching Lives as Entrepreneurs". Inc. Retrieved September 17, 2017.
  7. "Startup Gets Tech-Industry Experts to Mentor Convicts". Bloomberg. Retrieved September 17, 2017.
  8. "Ex-inmates defy odds". foxbusiness.com. Retrieved September 4, 2015.
  9. "Most Creative People". fastcompany.com. Retrieved September 4, 2015.
  10. "A Second Chance". Sounds True. Retrieved November 7, 2018.
  11. "Ex-Cons Relaunching Lives as Entrepreneurs". Inc.com. May 29, 2012. Retrieved November 15, 2018.
  12. "Social Entrepreneurship Initiative | Manhattan Institute". Manhattan Institute. September 2, 2015. Retrieved November 15, 2018.
  13. "Texas Legislature Online - Report". capitol.texas.gov. Retrieved November 15, 2018.
  14. "Rising Star: Prison Entrepreneurship Program". Fast Company. December 1, 2007. Retrieved November 15, 2018.
  15. "Most Creative People in Business 2014 | Fast Company". Fast Company. Retrieved November 15, 2018.
  16. "Meet New Ashoka Fellow". forbes.com. Retrieved September 4, 2015.
  17. "MDC Partners Presents the 2015 MDC Partners Humanitarian Award to Defy Ventures". yahoo.com. Retrieved September 3, 2015.
  18. "WIRED #MTH". April 11, 2017. Retrieved November 7, 2018.
  19. Johnson, Whitney. "40 Women To Watch Over 40 Celebrates Possibilities Ahead For Women". Forbes. Retrieved November 15, 2018.
  20. https://www.thedailybeast.com/silicon-valleys-favorite-prison-reformer-accused-of-sexual-assault-and-harassment
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