Catherine F. Rohr
Founder & Executive Director
Prison Entrepreneurship Program
Houston, TX

Catherine is the Founder and Executive Director of the Prison Entrepreneurship Program (PEP), whose mission is to stimulate positive life transformation for executives and inmates, uniting them through
entrepreneurial passion, education and mentoring.

Prior to founding PEP, Catherine worked in private equity as Director of Investment Development for American Securities Capital Partners in New York City, and as a venture capitalist at Summit Partners in Palo Alto. She worked with more than 4,000 CEOs and generated $32 million in equity investments in her investment career.

Catherine earned a degree in Business Administration from University of California, Berkeley Haas School of Business. She is also a California State Wrestling Champion and a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Grappling National Champion. She lives in Houston with her husband, Steve.

Since its inception in May 2004, PEP has produced unparalleled results with its 300 graduates: a 98% employment rate, a 1.6% return-to-prison rate, and the launch of 36 entrepreneurial businesses. PEP has recruited 800 senior business executives and MBA students from 12 programs, including Harvard and Stanford, to provide hands-on assistance to graduates. PEP received the Manhattan Institute’s award for Social Entrepreneurship and is the only program of its type nationally. Its groundbreaking work has been featured in NBC Nightly News, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Entrepreneur Magazine and Texas Monthly.