After going missing, a female tech CEO who was on the Forbes 30 under 30 list was discovered dead in her Baltimore apartment from blunt-force injuries. Police discovered Pava LaPere, 26, inside her upscale Mount Vernon condominium Monday morning, shortly after she was reported missing. According to police, the EcoMap founder was found with blunt-force trauma. The medical examiner’s office “took possession of the victim’s body,” according to police. It is uncertain if LaPere had any visitors before her demise.
Her social media sites indicated that she was single. “That’s pretty horrifying,” building tenant Chris McNees told CBS News Baltimore. “I mean, just for that to happen anywhere in the city is obviously a bad thing, but it’s hard to imagine why this would happen specifically in this building.” The former Congress Hotel, which has since been converted into apartments, was home to the Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree. According to the building’s management company Zahlco, one-bedroom apartments cost roughly $1,500 per month.
LaPere founded her eco-business in her dorm room at Johns Hopkins University. According to the company’s website, the goal of the company is to make ecosystem knowledge available to everyone while also providing “powerful technology to digitize ecosystems.” “Whether you’re talking about a college alumni network or an entire industry, ecosystems are largely invisible. When ecosystems are invisible, they are inaccessible. When they are inaccessible, they are inequitable. And, when they are inequitable, they are inefficient. We’re making the invisible, visible so that all ecosystems can thrive,” it said.
EcoMap CEO Pava LaPere remembered for visionary leadership and commitment to diversity
In the previous year and a half, LaPere’s company has raised $7 million in funding. EcoMaps also places a premium on diversity. On her LinkedIn page, LaPere boasted that her company is “50% female, 50% [people of color].” According to the website, her clients include the Aspen Institute, Meta, and others. Following her death, the firm issued a statement expressing its sympathies and calling her death “deeply distressing.”
“Pava was not only the visionary force behind EcoMap but was also a deeply compassionate and dedicated leader. Her untiring commitment to our company, to Baltimore, to amplifying the critical work of ecosystems across the country, and to building a deeply inclusive culture as a leader, friend, and partner set a standard for leadership, and her legacy will live on through the work we continue to do,” it said in a statement, according to CBS News Baltimore.
