Patti Wu-Manchester

Financial Specialist

 

Patti has 16 years of corporate finance experience at Fortune 500 companies in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry. She has a diverse finance background including forecasting/financial planning and analysis, cost accounting, corporate reporting, treasury and licensing & acquisitions. Patti is currently an Associate Director at AbbVie Inc., where she is improving financial processes with standardization and utilizing advanced technologies. 

Previously, Patti owned a custom dessert company, Carbivore LLC, where she made celebration cakes and desserts for all occasions.

Patti’s passion resides in developing financial models for new ventures and performing financial valuation and forecasting. She enjoys helping clients bring the numbers to life to build and expand food businesses. She holds an M.B.A. from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, where, among six completed majors, she studied Finance and Entrepreneurship. When she isn’t working in corporate finance and building financial models for New Venture Advisors, Patti applies her love of good food by cooking and baking beautiful desserts with her young family.

 

 

 Whatcom County Food System Plan

In 2021, the Whatcom County Food System Committee conducted a community food assessment that pointed to key opportunities to build a more robust and resilient regional food system. New Venture Advisors partnered with Whatcom County staff and the Food System Committee to draft a Whatcom County Food System Plan that builds upon these findings. This Plan focuses on five key goals for building a more equitable, sustainable, and resilient food system, and was informed by an inclusive community engagement process. The Food System Plan will provide the county with a policy roadmap that will strengthen the local food system for years to come. (2023)

 Whatcom Local Food Campus

The Whatcom Community Foundation invests in activities and organizations that improve the ability of people to help themselves, increase connections among people, and take cooperative approaches to community issues. WCF is exploring the development of a local food campus on a waterfront property that would become a multi-tenant site, anchored by a collaborative production kitchen benefitting food access, school system, and community organizations. The goal is strengthening Whatcom County’s local food system by promoting health equity, forging tangible strategic connections between food production organizations, and helping farmers connect with institutional markets. The facility will also feature an incubation kitchen, demonstration kitchen, event and classroom space, collaborative office and conference facilities, and housing.  New Venture Advisors developed the business case for this ambitious project and continues to support its development through engagement and operational development. (2023)