Lily Bengfort has co-founded and built two successful Maryland ventures, both of which were acquired by larger companies. As president and CEO of CenGen Inc., a provider of voice, streaming video and data sharing applications in disruptive bandwidth constrained environments, Ms. Bengfort grew the company into a multi-million dollar enterprise with a national reputation for providing decision-makers in government and industry with leading-edge expertise in tactical wireless communications networks for national defense and intelligent transportation systems.
She was recognized as Maryland’s Small Business Person of the Year in 2010 by the U.S. Small Business Administration. CenGen was subsequently acquired by DRS Technologies, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Finmeccanica S.p.A. (FNC.MI) which employs more than 73,000 people worldwide and Ms. Bengfort served as a Vice President.
Ms. Bengfort has also served as a Chef of Staff for a Maryland State Senator, engaged in marketing for a Fortune 500 company, served as Capital Campaign Chair for a non profit, and worked as a Journalist for a Public Radio Station. These roles have supported her goals for the launch, growth and successful exit of two entrepreneurial startups.
Ms. Bengfort advises and invests in early-stage technology ventures. A longtime member of the Baltimore-Washington area technology community, Ms. Bengfort serves on the Dean’s Advisory Council of the Merrick School of Business at the University of Baltimore and has lectured or mentored students at University of Maryland and Loyola University. Ms. Bengfort also promotes entrepreneurship for women through her service as mentor and instructor for Activate, an applied entrepreneurship program for women and as a mentor to entrepreneurs at the Maryland Center for Entrepreneurship.
Ms. Bengfort holds an M.B.A. from Loyola College of Maryland and a B.A in English from the University of Maryland Baltimore County. She has also completed the Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer program at UMBC. She is or has been a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Communications Society, Armed Forces Communications Electronics Association, and the Intelligent Transportation Society of America.