Yale School of Management - Alumni Leaders

"I went off to Yale SOM thinking it was a career move to learn a few handy things . . . such as how to access capital. I did pick up useful concepts, but they came in a package that was much richer for its collection of people whose great intelligence, diverse perspectives, and admirable values opened new worlds to me. It was a life move. I appreciate the quality of those people more with time. They have also informed, supported, inspired, and added friendship to my travels on a journey that has been very unlike what I envisioned as a student in New Haven."

As CEO and co-founder of Dancing Deer Baking Company, Trish Karter has found a way to marry her creative, artistic, environmental and business interests. The woman-owned enterprise located in Boston's inner city, is lauded as one of the nation's most innovative natural food companies. It has received the food industry's equivalent of the "Oscars" many times over, Inc. magazine's listing in the Top 100 Inner City Companies three years in a row (2001, 2002, 2003), Chamber of Commerce Award for Excellence twice (2001, 2004), 2000 SBANE New Englander Award for Innovation, 1999 Brand Design Award from the American Institute of Graphic Artists, and many other accolades. All Dancing Deer employees are shareholders, and its operating philosophy is that when people are happy, it shows in the food.

The company partners in a philanthropic venture called the Sweet Home Project, with the Paul and Phyllis Fireman Foundation. Proceeds from the sale of cakes and cookies fund direct action programs to end family homelessness. Ms. Karter is active in the local community and works with the City of Boston’s efforts to promote economic well-being in otherwise overlooked areas.

Ms. Karter’s first business adventure was to leave her studies in classics and art history at Wheaton College, just a semester shy of a bachelor's degree, and help dig her father out of a chapter 11 reorganization. He had pioneered the recycling of bottles and cans on an industrial basis.

Years later, Ms. Karter set aside her business interests and, taking a deep breath, invested her full energies to the pursuit of her first great love, which was to draw and paint. Five happy and productive years spent in the studio and out in the landscape greatly influence her choices and perspective today. She is the founder and curator of River Art, an annual exhibit at the Captain Forbes Museum of plein air paintings that raises funds for the Neponset River Watershed Association, and an activist for the environment on many fronts. An unintended turn of events led her back in to business and the formation of Dancing Deer. But long an environmentalist and student of nature, Ms. Karter has committed the company to striving to attain green manufacturing and packaging to the fullest extent possible.

In 2002, Ms. Karter was awarded an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Wheaton College in Norton, MA, for her accomplishments as a mother, entrepreneur, activist, and artist. Her two children, Eleanna and Dimitri are her greatest joy.