Diversify to Thrive

Winifred McGee spent almost 30 years in Penn State Cooperative Extension (providing information and education for home based, food and farm business). Retiring from Penn State in 2018, she joined the University of Scranton Small Business Development Center as a contract Business Consultant in January 2019 until June 2026. Winifred’s areas of expertise include agri-business and food enterprise start-up and expansion; shared kitchen incubator management; enterprise feasibility studies, business planning and financial analysis; and grant application coaching for agricultural and food enterprises.

As curriculum developer and lead instructor for the Penn State Extension Food for Profit workshop, she introduced more than 1500 participants throughout Pennsylvania and other states and at National conferences to the building blocks for food entrepreneurship and farms adding value. Winifred is a certified instructor for Annie’s Project©, True Colors® and NxLevel™ instruction and received certification as a Master Consultant, Business Retention and Expansion International. She completed the US Small Business Administration, Office of Investment and Innovation’s SBIR Outreach, Training and Technical Assistance Program, empowering her to coach farmers preparing applications for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Small Business Innovation and Research grant Phase I and has served as a reviewer for SBIR Phase I and II proposals.

While working for the University of Scranton SBDC, she played a key role in developing the concepts and fulfilling deliverables for a NE Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education grant, “Empowering Farmers to Comply with Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Preventive Controls for Human Foods” (April 2020 to December 2023) and a NE Extension Risk Management Education grant, “Empowering Farmers Adding Value to Manage Risk with Confidence in the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Era” (April 2024 to September 2025).