Speaker Bios

Tyee Carr, Consultant and Faculty of Portland State University

Tyee is a licensed CPA holds a masters degree from the University of Oregon and was former tax manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP. He is current faculty at Portland State University School of Business and an independent consultant. Tyee's eight years of experience includes teaching financial reporting and corporate tax and serving both public and private clients on a variety of transactions, e.g. multinational corporate structures, corporate and partnership formations, debt and equity structuring (including hybrid financing structures), joint venture agreements, asset acquisitions, stock purchases, stock for stock deals, and statutory mergers.

Ryan Christensen , BRAND EVANGELIST of RYZ Wear

email:RyanJDC.pdx@gmail.com - www.ryzwear.com

Ryan Christensen serves as Brand Evangelist for RYZ Wear. RYZ HAS brought crowd- sourcing to the causal shoe category (Think of it as Twitter meets Nike!). He is former owner of the sustainable apparel and accessory company Sameunderneath Inc.
Christensen sold his company last September as a subsidiary of apparel company LFI.
He also was recently recognized in 2008 as one of the Portland Business Journal's "40 Under 40."

Jon Down, Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship of University of Portland

email:down@up.edu - www.up.edu

Professor Down is Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Portland where he is currently leading an effort to develop a graduate level program aimed at commercializing technology, especially medical school research. This initiative leverages his teaching and research interests that blend strategy, finance and entrepreneurship in technology environments. Other recent projects include a study of the venture funding environment in Oregon; an examination of how firms achieve the right balance of strategic flexibility; and a comprehensive look at the effectiveness of university commercialization of technology efforts. Prior to joining UP, Jon was Director of the Austin Entrepreneurship Program at Oregon State University where he led the opening of Weatherford Hall, the largest residential entrepreneurship college in the country. Past management roles include stints at Westinghouse Electric Company, Precision Castparts Corp. and with early stage companies.

Ben Finklea, Co-Founder of END outdoor

http://endoutdoor.com

Throughout his career at eFusion, GE and Philips, Ben was the guy you wanted at the front of the room making strategic decisions, growing great employees and building relationships with customers. Ben Finklea is a proven commodity in the area of leadership, channel development and sales results. He has consistently delivered both top and bottom line growth for his employers, by making customers and his employees feel like they are part of something bigger than themselves.

As the sales and marketing face of END//outdoor, Ben understands that in order to create longevity, relationships must be built, seasonal story telling must take place and words like authenticity & transperancy have to be used by others when talking about the brand.

Passion is what is most often said to describe Ben by his employees, customers, friends and family. It is this passion that has forged deep loyalty from all who know him. As a born and breed Oregonian Ben's life story is filled with memories of visits to many of the states greatest outdoor treasures. The Oregon Coast, Mt. Hood, the Columbia Gorge, the Deschutes River and the high deserts surrounding Bend. Ben, like most Oregonians feels a deep responsibility to protect and guard his state's true outdoor masterpieces for not only himself but for his children. As an outdoor citizen of Oregon, Ben brings a unique perspective to the END//outdoor family because he knows how much you care for the forests, beaches and streams of your state, because he cares so much for his own.

Norm Galvin, President of Orm Consulting

http://www.ormconsulting.com/

Ormond T. (Norm) Galvin is the president of ORM Consulting, Inc. Norm specializes in assisting his clients in improving sales productivity by providing unique one-on-one individual sales coaching and mentoring for executive managers.

Norm has developed an intense one-day sales seminar on negotiations and is a sought after motivational speaker. Prior to forming ORM Consulting, Norm was President and COO of Software Support Services, Inc. in Corvallis, OR. His background also includes VP of Worldwide Sales for ABC Technologies in Beaverton, OR.

Norm brings his clients the value of over thirty practical years of both Executive Management and Direct Sales. He has the unique qualifications of having managed both Government and Commercial sales organizations. During his career Norm, has formulated unique sales training courses for such companies as Raytheon. In addition to structuring course curriculum, Norm has enjoyed teaching his courses and takes pride in his ability to effectively communicate and motivate others. He has developed compensation plans for Executives, Sales Managers, and Sales Representatives. He also has been instrumental in assisting companies formulate a variety of written policies and procedures.

Norm currently serves as a formal advisor or board member for several companies. Norm also is one of three owners of Small World Wine Company Spindrift Cellars. Spindrift Cellars, www.SpindriftCellars.com, is a boutique winery located in Philomath, Oregon

William H. Stevens , Managing Director of Funding Coach, LLC

email:Bill@FundingCoackLLC.com

Bill is an active angel investor and LLC Manager for Angel Oregon 2009. Bill helps high tech startups become funding ready through his Funding Coach consultancy and teaches Starting New Ventures and Finance as an Adjunct Professor at Concordia University.

For eight years prior Bill was a venture investor for Intel Capital, making successful investments in the internet space with distance-learning pioneer One Touch Systems, in the fab equipment space with Epion (gas-cluster ion beam technology) and with Zoran (Software DVD playback). Bill has also co-founded a software company and been a marketing manager at Mentor Graphics and Hewlett Packard.
Bill earned a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Princeton, an MSEE from Stanford University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He also volunteers and currently serves as President of the Hartung Farms Homeowners Association.

Tanya M. Harding, Partner Portland of Klarquist Sparkman, LLP

email:tanya.harding@klarquist.com - http://www.klarquist.com/home.aspx

Tanya M. Harding, Ph.D. is an intellectual property attorney and partner with the Northwest based law firm of Klarquist Sparkman, LLP. For the past 10 years she has helped businesses, Universities, inventors, and government institutes protect their biotechnical innovations by preparing and prosecuting foreign and domestic patent applications, negotiating license and other agreements, counseling clients regarding portfolio management, and helping procure foreign and domestic trademark protection. Dr. Harding also prepares legal opinions, including patentability, inventorship, freedom to use, and infringement/non-infringement opinions.

Dr. Harding earned her J.D. at Cornell Law School (1999), has a Ph.D. in Plant Biology from the University of California at Davis (1996), and a B.S. in Biotechnology from Rutgers (magna cum laude - 1991).

Ryan Hildebrand, Director of Finance of Strands

http://corp.strands.com/team

Prior to Strands, Ryan served in an Accounting Management role at Umpqua Bank, an innovative publicly-traded banking institution.
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He began his career with PricewaterhouseCoopers in their Assurance and Advisory Services Practice. His clients included Fortune 500 entities, start-ups, and venture capital firms.
Ryan is a graduate of Oregon State University's College of Business with emphasis in Accounting and International Business. He is an Oregon Certified Public Accountant and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

Phil Johnston, II, Co-Founder and Research Analyst of oneTXT & Metamorphic Ventures

email:pjohnston@onetxt.com

Mr. Johnston is currently head of product development and engineering at oneTXT, the only integrated mobile solutions provider blurring the lines of transaction processing, marketing and analytics.
Mr. Johnston is also a member of the founding team of Metamorphic Ventures, an early-stage venture capital fund that invests in start-up and early-stage businesses focusing exclusively in the areas digital media and transaction processing. Mr. Johnston provides guidance to portfolio companies in the areas of finance, system architecture & implementation, social media, online advertising, transaction processing and mobile technologies.
Prior oneTXT and Metamorphic, he worked for at Applied Biosystems (AB), a bio-informatics company. While at AB he managed in house software development and software group collaboration tools. Prior to joining AB Mr. Johnston worked for 3dfx Interactive, a 3D computer graphics leader in the mid-90's. Mr. Johnston holds a B.S. in computer science from the University of Portland and is a University of Portland Entrepreneur Scholar.

Robin Jones, Co-founder & CEO of 88, Inc.

email:robin@88inc.net

Robin Jones is co-founder and CEO of 88, Inc. Prior to 88, Robin was co-founder of FonJax, and successfully raised $2.2M in Series A financing, and negotiated and closed the company's first sales. FonJax recently sold to Keynote Systems, providing a strong exit for its investors. Before venturing out into her own startups, she directed the business development team at Freescale Semiconductor's Wireless and Mobile Systems Group, a $1.6B business unit. Previously, Robin ran the Silicon Valley operations for Motorola Ventures, including due diligence, negotiation, valuation, investment, and board membership for over a dozen early- and mid-stage equity investments. She also spent 4 years at Motorola Lexicus Division, where she served as the project manager for several advanced wireless communications devices for Asian and European markets, including the first smartphone for the Greater China region.

Robin earned her MBA from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley and a BS from Stanford University.

Scott Kveton, Vice-President of Open Platforms of Vidoop LLC

http://vidoop.com/company

Kveton is a digital identity promoter, open source advocate, and Chairman of the OpenID Foundation. He has worked at Amazon, RuleSpace.com and JanRain, and founded the Open Source Lab at Oregon State University. Working closely with projects like Mozilla, Linux, Drupal and Apache led Kveton to OpenID in mid-2006. Kveton was named to Red Herring's 2007 list of 25 Titans in Waiting. Kveton speaks publicly about identity and open source and holds a bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Oregon State University.

Nathan LiaBraaten, Relationship Manager of Vencore Capital

email:Nathan@Vencorecapital.com - http://www.vencorecapital.com/

Nate LiaBraaten is passionate about entrepreneurship, helping start ups obtain financing, and learning about new technologies. He is a Relationship Manager at Vencore Capital and an active member of Oregon Entrepreneurs Network. Vencore Capital is a venture debt provider that invests in start up and early stage companies nationwide. In his role, Nate covers the Pacific Northwest territory and is responsible for finding, qualifying, and conducting due diligence on start ups. Before joining Vencore Capital, Nate attended the University of Oregon were he received an MBA from the Lundquist College of Business. As an undergraduate, he played tight end for the Ducks football team and received Bachelors degrees in Finance and Psychology. In his spare time, Nate enjoys diving, skiing, and learning about history.

Kathy Long Holland, Principal Consultant of LongSherpa Design

email:kathy@longsherpa.com

AB in History and Art at the University of Nebraska. MA in Anthropology from the University of Nebraska. MBA from the University of Oregon with concentrations in Finance and Marketing. Ms. Long Holland is a specialist in the development and launching of new products and strategies. Ms. Long Holland was an executive at Nike for 7 years as the Divisional Head of New Products and Markets. She has run her own business advisory firm, LongSherpa Design, specializing in new businesses and business transitions since 1987.

Her work is targeted to helping owners, executives, and managers develop strategies for dealing with transition. These transitions are related to growth, market change, ownership change, and management change. She has worked extensively with small and medium sized businesses, start-up entrepreneurs, cooperatives, corporate environments and not-for-profit organizations.

She co-founded ECO-D/OMBI, a not-for-profit publicly funded corporation providing business development and advisory services to innovative enterprises in the start-up and early stages of their development. She is also the founder of the Portland Chapter of the Women Presidents' Organization.

She is an expert in entrepreneurship and has lectured at Stanford's Graduate School of Business, The School for Entrepreneurial Leadership at the University of California, Berkeley, and is a Lecturer at the University of Oregon Graduate School of Business and Oregon Health Sciences University. In addition, she has presented leadership and entrepreneurship training for the U. S. State Department in the Middle East.

Ms. Long Holland serves on numerous Boards of Directors, both for profit and non-profit.

David Maddocks, Founder, David Maddocks and Former CMO of Converse

email:david@maddockscompany.com - http://maddockscompany.com/

David Maddocks is the principle and founder of The David Maddocks Company, a strategic management and business development practice. The David Maddocks Company partners with corporations, private equity and venture capital firms.
Until August 2007, David Maddocks was Chief Marketing Officer at Converse Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of the global athletic giant, Nike, Inc. He had been with the brand since early 2001, when he was hired by a consortium of private investors led by Infinity Associates of San Francisco and Perseus LLC of New York, to rebuild the product and marketing engine of this storied American icon. The company was sold to Nike, Inc. in September 2003.
David led the restoration of the Chuck Taylor franchise, creating a product design and merchandising function that increased distribution from 2.5 million to nearly 55 million units globally. He recreated the sports marketing capabilities for the brand and signed NBA Champion Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat in his rookie year. He was an early collaborator in and led the company's partnership with (product) RED-a charitable marketing entity created by Irish rock icon Bono and Bobby Shriver. He also led Converse's entry into the premium apparel market in collaboration with two-time CFDA Designer of the Year, John Varvatos. Additionally, he negotiated a three-year product design, development and marketing agreement with Target Corporation that will result in more than $1.2 billion in retail sales of Converse apparel, footwear and accessories at Target Stores. The program launched in February 2008.
During David's tenure at Converse, global wholesale sales grew seven-fold from $248 million to more than $1.8 billion. David and his leadership have been consistently recognized for the turnaround of the Converse brand. Converse was the first brand to enlist consumers to make its advertising-through its break-through "Brand Democracy" campaign which ran on television and online in 2004. Fortune Magazine declared Converse one of 10 "break-through" brands in 2006- from a field of more than 3,000 studied over a three-year period. The magazine cited "allowing consumers to make their advertising" as the primary reason for the brand's ascent. Finally, Converse was named the Footwear News 2006 Brand of The Year.
David began his career in marketing in the personal computer industry in 1989. He migrated to athletic footwear, working at Avia Group International for four years in advertising. He moved to K2 Corporation in Seattle for four years, overseeing product merchandising and consumer marketing for their largest division.
David holds a Bachelors Degree in Speech Communication from Portland State University. He is on the Board of Directors of Stella & Dot, a three-year-old San Francisco-based jewelry company in the direct-sales channel. He is also a Managing Director with Infinity Associates, the private investment and management company that led the buyout of Converse and its sale to Nike Inc.
David lives in Portland, Oregon with his wife, Suzi, and their three children: John, Tatum and Lucy.

Carol Mason, Director of Portland State Business Accelerator

email:cmason@pdx.edu - http://www.psba.pdx.edu

Carol is Director of the Portland State Business Accelerator which houses more than 20 early stage start-up ventures. She has been responsible for PSBA's growth and success, having graduated many successful local tech companies including Jive Software, SplashCast and many others. Previously, she helped to launch the University of Oregon's Executive MBA program. She herself holds an MBA from U. of O.

Bill Newman, Managing Director of Northwest Technology Ventures

email:whn@nwtechventures.com - http://www.nwtechventures.com/

Bill Newman is managing director at Northwest Technology Ventures, an Oregon seed fund focused on finding and funding technology-based startups from the research sector. Prior to launching NTV, Bill's career started in academe before moving to entrepreneurial business and venture capital.

Bill earned a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering and applied mathematics prior to joining the research faculty at MIT, where he served for more than a decade as a principal investigator on NIH-funded research and directed a joint program at MIT and the Harvard Medical School to develop and evaluate technology for the treatment of cancer. Discoveries from that research resulted in patented inventions that he licensed from MIT to found a spinout that developed medical monitoring instrumentation. After earning an MBA from MIT, he joined Shaw Ventures in Portland, and subsequently launced NTV, a $14 million seed venture fund.

Bill currently holds four patents in the areas of medical and measurement instrumentation and is the author of numerous articles for technical journals and professional conferences. He also serves on numerous corporate boards, and on various academic and civic boards including Oregon's Higher Education Technology Transfer Fund Board and the Oregon Council on Knowledge and Economic Development.

Eric Pozzo, Fund Manager of Oregon Angel Fund

email:ericp@oregonangelfund.com

Eric V. Pozzo is currently a manager of the 2008 Oregon Angel Fund, an early stage investment fund focused on generating exceptional returns by harnessing a disciplined, collaborative investment approach.
Prior to a recent position as CFO/COO of CSI Digital (wholesale IPTV services), Eric was Vice President of Operations for First Silicon Solutions, Inc. (FS2 - www.fs2.com), an instrumentation company he helped found in 1998 with colleagues from his first start up in the early 80s. FS2 was acquired by a publicly held company, MIPS, in 2005.
Eric came to Oregon in 1980 to work for Intel. He left in 1982 to help found, as President, a pioneering PC-based instrumentation company, Microcosm, Inc., and to pursue a career of entrepreneurship. He's served in senior management roles in a number of start-ups including President of Creative Multimedia Corporation, an exciting company during the CD-ROM publishing boom. Both of these companies also enjoyed successful liquidity events.

Eric received his ScB in Biology from Brown University in 1975 and an MBA from Dartmouth's Amos Tuck School of Business in 1980.

Peter Rachor, Technology Entrepreneurship Commercialization (TEC) of University of Portland

email:rachor@up.edu

Peter Rachor assists with the University of Portland's Technology Entrepreneurship Commercialization (TEC) programs. Previously, he was Director, Venture Development at the University of New Mexico, responsible for creation of start-up enterprises and licenses for technologies developed through research. While there he launched UNM's Lobo VentureLab, a business accelerator that assisted early stage technology companies. He also worked with Los Alamos National Laboratory, assisting inventors, entrepreneurs and technology transfer staff in patent licensing, market assessment, and venture formation.

Mr. Rachor has previously founded three technology ventures in the telecom and Internet areas, and held international management positions with several telecommunications companies including Lucent Technologies, British Telecom, and Verizon Communications.
Peter holds a BA in Finance from Michigan State University. He has been active on the boards of many industry, economic development, and leadership organizations. Also, he has often been a mentor, coach or advisor to early stage companies, students, and scientists.

Mary Secor, Program Coordinator of National Collegiate Inventors & Innovators Alliance

email:msecor@nciia.org - http://nciia.com

Mary Secor is the Program Coordinator for Outreach at the National Collegiate Inventors & Innovators Alliance (NCIIA). She is responsible for the development and implementation of entrepreneur education programs, such as the national Invention to Venture (I2V) workshops. Ms. Secor also works with NCIIA members and strategic partners to promote invention, innovation, and entrepreneurship in higher education Mary Secor has over nineteen years of experience in higher education as an educator, advisor, program director, administrator, and consultant and has presented at national conferences on topics related to student learning, retention, engagement and performance.

Kathryn Shimabukuro, President of KS Consulting

email:kateshimabukuro@gmail.com

Kathryn Shimabukuro currently works with seed stage and early start-up entrepreneurs.

Her focus is helping founders prepare to raise capital, presenting to angel investors, sales and marketing plan development and financial projections. She is currently seeking her next start-up opportunity.

Prior to contracting Kathryn worked at a start-up company to develop and manage their strategic partnerships. Her responsibilities were expanded within four months to include
Sales and Marketing. While managing the sales and marketing group, Kathryn lead the team to re-position the company product and brought it to market using a start-up marketing budget and viral marketing tactics.

Before embarking into the entrepreneurial world, Kathryn spent 3 years working for a big four accounting firm to manage the marketing team for 6 offices throughout the Pacific Northwest. Responsibilities included strategic planning for the office, marketing strategy, managing the marketing team and budget, hiring/firing and training marketing employees as well as managing the sales activities of the partners throughout the territory. Before that she spent 15 years working in the financial services industry as an investment representative, business development executive and relationship manager for high net worth individuals. Activities included financial analysis and planning, investment presentations and sales, developing business relationships and area markets.

Kathryn spends time volunteering for the Oregon Entrepreneurs Network. She is the founder of the Women's Investment Network, served as Program Chair for the Portland
Angel Network and has served on the board of directors as Board Chair.

Gloria Sica, President of Fulcrum Drive

email:gloria@fulcrumdrive.com - www.fulcrumdrive.com

Gloria has over 25 years of practical experience in accounting, sales, and business management including ten years as a business advisor helping entrepreneurs improve internal accounting practices, better understand financial risks, and implement strategies for growth. In addition to a core strength in management accounting Gloria's background includes marketing, technical sales and proposal writing, negotiations, and project management in software and electronic product development. Gloria holds a bachelors degree in business management from Oregon State University and completed graduate courses in accounting, finance and marketing.

Glenn Smith, Managing Director of Portland Venture Group

email:glennjsmith@yahoo.com

Mr. Smith is the founder and president of the Portland Venture Group, which has a membership of over 20 private investors seeking early-stage investment opportunities. Last year members invested in 30 different firms. Mr. Smith has been directly involved in the funding activities of several Portland-based start-ups. Mr. Smith is a seasoned executive with over 20 years experience in general management, strategic planning, finance, marketing and business development. Early in his career, Mr. Smith worked for Exxon, Kaiser Aluminum and General Electric in engineering, financial and marketing roles. For the past 15 years, Mr. Smith has been involved in a number of entrepreneurial activities and sits on the board of several local firms. Currently he is CEO of FlexMedia, Inc. a multimedia and strategic marketing company and Astar a not-for-profit. He served as VP of product management with AT&E, a telecommunications company, and later served as president of Saltire Software, based in Portland, Oregon. Smith has advanced degrees in both engineering and business from UC Berkeley. He is a chartered financial analyst and a licensed professional engineer.