Mr. Ray King, Founder and CEO of AboutUs

http://www.aboutus.org/

Ray King, founder of several successful technology ventures, will be speaking on how he started, grew and eventually sold his companies.

Ray King has spent the better part of his career in the software business, first, writing software for Architects and Engineers with his first company - Semaphore, Inc. which he sold in 2000. Ray then co-founded SnapNames which was acquired in 2007. Ray's current venture, AboutUs Inc., a wiki containing information about websites and other community created topics/information, is consistently ranked among the Alexa top 2,000 websites. Ray's entrepreneurial success won him the 2009 Entrepreneurship Award for Individual Achievement given by the Oregon Entrepreneurship Network.

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Ms. Shelley Gunton, Co-Founder and "Top Dog" of Castor & Pollux Pet Works

http://www.castorpolluxpet.com/

Shelley Gunton is co-founder and "Top Dog" of Castor & Pollux Pet Works (dba of Pet Appeal, Inc), a leading organic and natural pet products company based in Clackamas with two nationally distributed brands of food - ORGANIX® and Natural ULTRAMIX ®. Winner of the first cash award presented at Angel Oregon in 2005, in May 2008 Pet Appeal transacted with two private equity firms in Boston providing a solid return to its angel investors and a foundation to support aggressive growth plans. Shelley and her husband/co-founder, Brian Connolly, remain on the Board and active in the Company. Enzo and Chester, their four-legged family members require it!

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Mr. Eric Winquist, Chief Executive Officer of Jama Software

http://www.jamasoftware.com/

In March 2006, Eric founded Jama Software with the vision of providing customers a more collaborative way to develop new products and eliminate the common frustrations with traditional approaches to requirements management. Eric is an accomplished entrepreneur and project manager with over 15 years experience working with a wide range of enterprise organizations, teams and technologies. In 2001, Eric founded Redside Solutions, a software development consulting firm. As CEO, Eric grew Redside to a multi-million dollar business with 100% annual growth rates. At Redside, Eric saw first-hand the need companies had for collaborative requirements management which led to the creation of Jama Software and the development of Jama Contour.

Eric is a graduate of Oregon State University. He lives with his wife and two kids in Portland.

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Mr. DJ Widmer, Vice-President of Sales and Marketing of Ecodrycleaner

http://www.ecodrycleaner.com/home.html

DJ Widmer began his entrepreneurial endeavors at a young age. In 2001, as a junior Business School Entrepreneurial Scholar (E-Scholar) at the University of Portland, DJ co-founded Keen Mobility. At Keen, DJ had product placements under top professional athletes which catapulted sales throughout the NBA, NFL, and MLB Leagues. In light of his success with Keen Mobility and Permobil Inc., DJ has been awarded with the University of Portland's Pamplin School of Business Significant 75 Award and recognition from the Portland Business Journal 40 under 40.

DJ has proven himself not only in the business world but has actively shown the importance of having a positive affect within your community. DJ organized the United Way-Yong Leaders Society which focuses on leadership development for young professionals, and, more importantly, getting established professionals involved in the community. He also is involved with the Advisory Committee for the University of Portland's Center for Entrepreneurship, and the Portland Business Alliance and United Way Sustainability Committees. Recently DJ co-founded Seven Planet, a chain of green general stores, and, currently, is the VP of Sales & Marketing at Ecodrycleaner.

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Kristin Cleveland of Klarquist Sparkman, LLP

Kristin L. Cleveland is an intellectual property attorney and partner with the Northwest based law firm of Klarquist Sparkman, LLP. Ms. Cleveland's practice focuses on intellectual property litigation and licensing. She helps businesses enforce their intellectual property right and defend against lawsuits. Kristin has extensive experience handling trademark and patent disputes in a broad range of industries, from small businesses to major corporations, and has litigated in a variety of jurisdictions across the United States.

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Peter Rachor of University of Portland

Peter Rachor is an instructor and coordinator of commercialization and entrepreneurship programs at the University of Portland. These programs include the joint University of Portland/OHSU Technology Entrepreneurship Commercialization (TEC) graduate program, and the nationally recognized Entrepreneurial Scholars program. He also leads Portland's Inner City Entrepreneur e200 program in partnership with the Small Business Administration. Previously, he was Director, Venture Development at the University of New Mexico, responsible for creation of more than ten start-up enterprises from life science technologies developed in research programs. 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. Peter served as President of New Mexico Bio, that State's bioscience industry organization, and on the advisory boards of the New Mexico Economic Development Department, Equity Capital Symposium, Coronado Venture Forum, and the Los Alamos Regional Tech Transfer Group.
Mr. Rachor previously founded or co-founded three technology ventures, and held international management positions with several telecommunications companies including Lucent Technologies, British Telecom, and Verizon Communications. As a result, has had had the opportunity to live and do business on four continents
Peter holds a BA in Finance from Michigan State University and often serves as a mentor, coach or advisor to early stage and emerging companies, assisting entrepreneurs, students, and scientists.

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