Announcing Our Newest Partner, Lauren Usher

We are thrilled to introduce Lauren Usher as a gener8tor Partner! 

Lauren, a native of Miami, arrived in Wisconsin for postdoc research after getting her PhD in Developmental Psychology from the University of Miami. A gener8tor job posting caught her eye and in March 2019 she made the jump from academia to run gener8tor's gBETA Social Impact program.

The last five years plus with Lauren have been an opportunity for all of us at gener8tor to work with one of the most special individuals around. Lauren makes the people around her better through her unique leadership profile of impact and compassion. In short Lauren is a joy to work with and anyone who knows her would jump at the chance to collaborate together. 

In her time at gener8tor, Lauren has risen from a gBETA Director to a leader within and then of our gBETA team before taking on her current role as the Vice President of the gener8tor Investment Accelerators. Under her leadership, the gBETA and now gener8tor Investment Accelerator teams have consistently run world-class startup cohorts while achieving both stellar outcomes and high net promoter scores from graduating startups. 

Lauren's task has only grown in scope as gener8tor itself has expanded during her tenure. When she started in 2019 gener8tor had a few dozen on our team and mostly in markets throughout the Midwest. Fast forward five years and we are now over 120 on the team and we serve 47 communities across 3 countries. In terms of startups, we grew from serving a few dozen per year to more than 400 per year across gBETA and our Investment Accelerator team.

In terms of mission, Lauren has framed gener8tor’s approach to empowering local communities by enabling them to better invest in their best and brightest.  

Building a team in real-time that maintains our culture and quality while integrating our work into complex ecosystems has been no small achievement. Completing this internal task while presenting the country with cohorts as diverse as the communities we serve and achieving market plus returns would daunt anyone. But Lauren has never shied from this challenge and we are forever grateful for her tireless efforts on behalf of our communities.

So how has Lauren done all this? 

She’s sincere in her effort to see and cultivate the best in the people around her. She listens. And she advocates for the best of the people we serve without regard to ego. She tirelessly travels to our showcases around the country and makes herself available for whatever challenge someone on our team might need help overcoming. She leads by example and in the process validates you can do well by doing right. 

It is a privilege for us to introduce her as a leader of our mission, brand and effort.

Please join us in congratulating Lauren on this well-earned recognition.