Kathy F. Rocha

Director of Operations

Peter J. Werth Institute of Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Kathy F. Rocha is Operations Director for the Peter J. Werth Institute of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Connecticut. The Werth Institute provides students and faculty with a holistic view of the programs and resources available to support their efforts and foster the entrepreneurial mindset. She also leads the Evaluation Board for the UConn Innovation Fund which invests startups with ties to UConn. Kathy is very involved with mentoring students and judging startup and business plan competitions at UConn and other universities and entrepreneurship programs in CT and the greater Boston area.

Kathy is a founding member of Pulpit Rock Investors which is a group of early stage investors located in northeast CT. She is a board member of Day Kimball Hospital and trustee of the KeepSmilin4Abbie Foundation whose mission is to stop anaphylaxis caused by allergies. Previously Rocha was a leader in the computer networking industry with executive level positions at Cisco Systems, 3Com and Bytex Corp. and a Golden Seeds managing director. Kathy holds an undergraduate in Political Science and MBA degrees from Providence College in Providence, RI.