Our Team

Rebecca Razavi is the Program Director of the Hillman Entrepreneurs Program at Montgomery College. Ms. Razavi is a life-long resident of Maryland who has served as an independent consultant for 20+ years for both federal and private clients in the fields of health promotion and addiction and adjunct English faculty for 6 years. In addition, she also served as facilitator for Future Link (a career development program for aspiring students), instructor in Business Communication at the University of Phoenix, Technical Assistance Coordinator for the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, faculty advisor for a student-run newspaper, literacy instructor and community service coordinator for the Gateway to College Program, and fellow with the Smithsonian Faculty Fellowship Program. Ms. Razavi received a B.A. in English from Goucher College and an M.A. in the Writing Seminars Program at Johns Hopkins University. She also received her MBA from the University of Maryland University College and is currently pursuing a Doctor of Education degree from Johns Hopkins University in Entrepreneurial Leadership in Education.

Ruth Lewis is the Program Director of the Hillman Entrepreneurs Program at Prince George’s Community College. She has worked in the computer industry for over 20 years and supervised and managed several software development projects for federal government agencies such as the Department of Energy, Department of Defense and Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration. Prior to her role as program director, Ms. Lewis worked as an assistant to the Hillman Entrepreneurs Program as well as a real estate salesperson with Weichert Realtors in Maryland.  Ms. Lewis has been an entrepreneur in residential real estate since 2003, investing in residential real estate. Ms. Lewis is licensed to conduct real estate transactions in the state of Maryland and Washington, D.C.  Ms. Lewis received a B.S. in Urban Studies from Virginia Commonwealth University, and an M.S. in Computer Science from Howard University.

Gül Branco is the Program Director of the Hillman Entrepreneurs Program at the University of Maryland. Prior to joining the Hillman Program at UMD, Ms. Branco led the launch of the Hillman Entrepreneurs Program at Montgomery College in 2012, building all aspects of the program until January 2014.  While at Montgomery College, she established many collaborations between the local business community and the students she mentored in the Hillman Program. Before coming to the Hillman Program, Ms. Branco was a faculty member at Delgado Community College and co-coordinator for the college’s Entrepreneurship Program. She was also selected as a mod-faculty member for the Goldman Sachs/Babson College 10,000 Small Businesses Initiative in New Orleans. Ms. Branco has an extensive business experience with Fortune 500 companies in developing strategic organizational programs, implementing learning initiatives at all levels of the organization, transforming underperforming teams to highly effective teams, identifying opportunities for growth and new business ventures, creating business markets. Ms. Branco earned her degrees from the Notre Dame de Namur University in California (MBA) and the Dokuz Eylül University in Turkey (BA).

Prior to joining the Hillman Entrepreneurs Program, Nancy was an Academic Advisor in the Department of Economics in the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences at the University of Maryland. As an Academic Advisor, she worked with a diverse population totaling 1,200 students, a large percentage of whom were interested in business and entrepreneurship. She also coordinated the internship experience for ECON students by liaising with the Career Center, informing students via the blog of internships appropriate to their interests, and coordinating ECON386, the department’s internship credit course. Before working at the University of Maryland, she was an Admissions Advisor at DeVry University. There she worked primarily with first generation college students and their families. Nancy is a highly motivated individual with a real passion for higher education. She has extensive experience in various aspects of higher education. She also has a strong background in working with diverse groups of students in addition to faculty and administrators. Nancy is a true Terp at heart. She received a B.A. in English Language and Literature as well as a B.A. in Government and Politics from the University of Maryland. She then went on to receive her M.A. in History also from the University of Maryland.