Carol Coutrier was co-founder and President of The Hommus Factory, Inc., the first company to introduce hommus to supermarkets in New England and the first company to add flavors to hommus.  She sold the company to an international company in 1996 and began consulting with entrepreneurs in 1995. Her involvement in the specialty foods industry spans a period of over 25 years, and currently she is president of the Massachusetts Specialty Foods Association, www.msfa.net (a non-profit statewide organization with over 100 member companies).

Carol has served as a mentor to women entrepreneurs through the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Women’s Network for Entrepreneurial Training (WNET).  This work has been highlighted in the SBA’s publication, Mentoring Programs That Work. She co-authored an article titled “Leaders Helping Each Other”, featuring her concept of co-mentoring, published in the “Innovative Practices” section of At Work magazine, a publication of Berrett-Koehler publishers.

She designed the “GROW Group” experience at the Center for Women & Enterprise in Boston, which offers support from other entrepreneurs, co-mentoring, as well as exposure to resource persons in various areas of expertise.  She authored the facilitation manual for the GROW program.  She also served as a consultant to women entrepreneurs at the Center for Women & Enterprise.

She was a facilitator for Boston based Interactive Cuisine’s Corporate Services, focusing on team and relationship building.

She has taught in the entrepreneurial training program at Salem State College (Enterprise Center) and has served on panels to critique and give constructive feedback on business plans of entrepreneurs for the Commonwealth Corporation (Enterprise Center, Salem, MA, Schrafft Center, Boston, MA), The Center for Women & Enterprise (Boston, MA), Twin Cities CDC and The Women’s Business Initiative (Newton, MA). She also designed and conducted a seminar for chefs at the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts and has been a guest speaker at Johnson & Wales University, Providence, RI.  In 2008 she co-conducted a feasibility study for a culinary arts center for the town of Waldoboro, Maine.

She has served as a coach for The Boston Beer Co.’s “Samuel Adams Brewing the American Dream” program which offers entrepreneurs exposure to coaches in various areas of expertise, such as marketing, sales, accounting, etc.  through  “Speed Coaching” sessions held on a regular basis in Boston, MA, Providence, RI, and Hartford, CT.

She is an advisor to the Board of the Boston Public Market Association and a member of the Northeast Chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier International.

She was selected as one of twenty eight women business leaders from Boston, Atlanta and New York City to participate in roundtable discussions for a project of the National Women’s Business Council in conjunction with the national exhibit, “Enterprising Women: 250 Years of American Business”.  The results are contained in the publication “Enterprising Women: the Legacy and the Future”.

Carol has been interviewed as a guest on “Marketplace” for National Public Radio regarding the issue of slotting fees in the supermarkets.  She has also participated in several other radio and television talk shows and is a frequent speaker at conferences and Small Business Administration events.  Currently, in addition to her consulting work, she is involved in designing and facilitating workshops and seminars for entrepreneurs.

She was a finalist for the New England Women Business Owner’s “Business Woman of the Year” award.

Carol enjoys flower gardening, reading and writing poetry, singing, and exploring the natural world.