Florida SBDC at UCF: Shedding Light on the Region’s Best Kept Secret – Jill Kaufman
Hybrid Meeting – Nov. 3, 2022
Jill Kaufman is Associate Director of the Florida Small Business Development Center at UCF and has more than 15 years of experience as a business consultant focused on accelerating the growth of second-stage companies. At the SBDC at UCF, she leads the award-winning Advisory Board Council and Small Business Institute® programs. Under Kaufman’s leadership, the Advisory Board Council won the International Economic Development Council’s Program of the Year Award in the Entrepreneurship category for communities over 500,000. Kaufman has been named Regional Certified Business Analyst of the Year and Florida Star of the Year for her exemplary contributions to the small business community and SBDC network. This year she received the Capital Access Lifetime Achievement Award for helping small businesses access more than $50 million in capital and the Laura Subel Lifetime Achievement Award for helping Florida’s small businesses obtain more than $100 million in government contracts.
Kaufman’s areas of specialization include: growth strategies, business development, sales & marketing, public relations, strategic planning, board development, and family business. Prior to joining the SBDC, Kaufman and her family owned a small hotel in the British Virgin Islands, which she ran for more than a decade. Kaufman holds a B.A. in Anthropology from Wesleyan University and an MBA from Wright State University. She is a member of Beta Gamma Sigma international business honor society and a graduate of Leadership Orlando class 91. Kaufman is also a Certified Global Business Professional from NASBITE International.