LOVELAND BUSINESS - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Market & Industry Research
Amada is the Business and Nonprofit Librarian for the Poudre Library District. She specializes in market and industry research and in facilitating the use of library database resources to assist entrepreneurs in building and/or refining their business plan. Amada has experience supporting small businesses in library settings and in supporting nonprofit operations. Amada is bilingual in English and Spanish.
Amada es la Bibliotecaria de Pequeños Negocios y Organizaciones Sin Fines de Lucro del Distrito de Bibliotecas Poudre. Se especializa en investigación de mercado e industria y en facilitar el uso de los recursos de la base de datos de la biblioteca para ayudar a los empresarios a construir y/o perfeccionar su plan de negocios. Amada tiene experiencia apoyando a pequeños negocios en entornos de bibliotecas y en el apoyo a operaciones sin fines de lucro. Amada es bilingüe en inglés y español.
Job Titles:
- Business Consultant, Restaurant, Food Service
Amy grew up in New Jersey but was drawn to the mountains of Colorado after an experience with Outward Bound. With degrees in Women's Studies and Outdoor Education/Recreation Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, she moved to Estes Park to lead multi-week backpacking and climbing courses.
Starting, building, and branding Kind Coffee, a retail and wholesale coffee shop and roastery (focused on the community and the environment) was not specifically in her plans, but she found herself with an opportunity, dipped her toe in, and never looked back.
During this time, she also sat on multiple boards (Estes Valley Library BOD, Estes Park Health BOD, Estes Park Nonprofit Resource Center BOD) as well as committees (Transportation Advisory Board, Community Foundation for Northern Colorado Grants Committee for Estes Park, Downtown Business Partners) in support of the Estes Park Community.
After having benefited from SBDC consulting as a small business owner herself, she looks forward to working with each client to help guide, assist, and direct them to resources to address their questions, challenges, and opportunities alike.
Job Titles:
- Administrative Assistant at the Larimer SBDC
- Larimer SBDC Administrative Assistant
Becky Douthit is the Administrative Assistant at the Larimer SBDC. Becky is a native of Fort Collins, CO and graduated from Poudre High School. She brings a wide variety of experiences with her. She has worked for an online correspondence school and most recently was the secretary of one of Loveland, Colorado's Elementary schools. Her understanding of small businesses comes naturally as both her parents and husband own their own mechanic businesses. She understands both the struggles and successes.
Becky and her husband Jason have 4 children combined. They love spending time on road trips, camping and spending time with their family.
Job Titles:
- Financing, Business Planning
- Founder of Lo
Curt Bear is the Founder of LoCo Think Tank - providing Value Driven Peer Advisory since 2014. Curt has 15 years of experience in small business banking and financial services, along with a stint in mobile food service. He can be useful in areas of cash flow and strategic planning, capital acquisition strategy, and business plan development - and he loves to help people find their purpose and build their team. He is passionate about many community causes, a member of Breakfast Rotary Club, and an Ambassador for The Matthews House. Curt and his wife Jill live in Old Town along with a dog (Tucker the Schnocker), an old cat (Tiger), and a small flock of backyard hens. His motto is: "Ask of Your Needs, and Share of Your Abundance." LoCo Think Tank which provides peer collaboration groups for business owners, since 2014.
Job Titles:
- Owner
- Retail, Business Operations
- Secretary for the Estes Park Hospital District
Diane Muno is the owner of 3 retail businesses in Estes Park, CO since 2006 proving gift and apparel products and services.
Prior to her retail launch she was in Health Care Receivables Management for 15 years in both the hospital and private sector environment.
Diane currently serves as the Secretary for the Estes Park Hospital District term ending May 2023. She is a founding and current board member of Estes Park Economic Development Corporation. She is past president for the board of Estes Valley Partners for Commerce and Estes Park Wedding Association.
Job Titles:
- Health & Wellness Consultant
Dr. Kathryn Plummer is a Colorado native. After receiving her undergraduate degree in biology in Colorado Springs, Dr. Plummer explored various avenues in the biology field, realizing in fairly short order that she wanted to apply more of her people skills, and less science-nerd skills. She attended the Massage Therapy Institute of Colorado in Denver, graduating with a certificate in massage therapy and a letter of high honors. Her two-year massage practice led her to recognize she wanted to combine her biology and health interests, so back to school she went and graduated in 2002 from National University of Natural Medicine in Portland, OR as a naturopathic doctor.
She has practiced ever since at Sage Holistic Health in Loveland, successfully utilizing both the healing power of touch and the science of medicine in the balancing act that is the Healing Arts.
Franklin helps creatives in the process of business planning, audience development, and professional direction. In addition to his music career, Franklin has owned several small businesses, and he continues to explore new business opportunities. His interests in the past few years have included online course production, content marketing, conferencing technology, and social media storytelling. Franklin is an in demand speaker and presenter, and he facilitates Full Reset renewal retreats for individuals and groups in Northern Colorado.
Job Titles:
- Business Consultant, Marketing
Job Titles:
- Digital Marketing, PPC, Web Design, SEO
Hello, my name is Greg Moore and I'm a digital marketer, entrepreneur, and business consultant. My passion is finding hidden profit and growth potential in ANY business.
Job Titles:
- Larimer SBDC Executive Director
Hope has a diverse background that includes software, startups, technology transfer and commercialization, education, and non-profits. She has worked for family owned and operated businesses as well as high-tech, high growth venture-backed companies. Most recently she served as a coach for the "Startup to Scale Up" learning community at Ingomu, a Colorado startup and was the Executive Director of Girls in the Spotlight Foundation, a Fort Collins non-profit. She started her first company when she was 18 and experienced her first acquisition in 2016 to a Japanese venture capital firm. Although Hope has worn many hats over the years, she is passionate about helping entrepreneurs and small businesses learn, grow, and succeed.
Hope's appointment demonstrates our continued commitment to fostering local economic development by being the leading small business resource in our community. She is excited to join an experienced team and looks forward to the many opportunities to collaborate and connect.
Jennifer Spencer has 20+ years business strategy and entrepreneurial experience. Her knowledge spans multiple industries including technology, banking, retail, wholesale, services, tangible products, and manufacturing.
At the SBDC she works in two primary areas. 1) Jennifer works with clients to figure out how to turn an idea into a business model. She helps entrepreneurs at an early stage determine next steps for their business. She is an effective sounding board for business conundrums and marketing ideas. She provides practical advice on how to approach sales activities. 2) Jennifer works with individuals who have a business idea that involves Intellectual Property. While not an attorney, Jennifer has owned patents, trademarks and copyrights. Her down to earth style helps clients understand the complexities of IP.
Jennifer has invented and patented products, commercialized those products on an international scale. Jennifer's business won a national award for Best New Company & Best New Product of 2011 (Stevie Awards), was noted by ABC News on list of Best of CES 2011 (Consumer Electronic Show) and received an Audience Choice Award in Berlin, Germany (IFA, 2011). She has acted as a turn-around consultant to provide strategy and action steps for a company struggling with profitability to shift into a strong profit position. Jennifer has a BA degree in Economics from Miami University.
Jim McWilliams graduated from the University of Nebraska with a Bachelor's in Business. He worked for Goodyear in various positions for over 19 years. Positions included managing retail stores, Division Sales Training Manager supervising up to 20 retail stores and Franchise Business Manager.
Karen Wong-Brown is a first-generation Chinese American born in Hong Kong and came to the States at the age of six. She has resided all over the United States but has lived in Colorado for three decades. She has been an active community member in serving on various boards either as a leader or volunteer. Her passion lies within diversity and inclusion initiatives. Her educational attainment comes from Colorado State University and Regis University. She also worked in many different fields but her most recent one is in human resources.
Currently, she is the founder of Unified Workforce which helps underrepresented communities find employment through training and education and having a peer mentor while the individuals map their own road to success. She also helped with companies in human resources issues such as onboarding, retention, employee appreciation, and diversity training. She is passionate about social justice; therefore, she identifies herself as a JEDI (justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion advocate).
When she is not working, she loves spending time with her loved ones and friends. She loves to travel, learn about the culture, and eat new food. Her creative side entails her love of writing poems and coloring.
Job Titles:
- Business Consultant Business Recovery Programs Fort Collins Online Virtual
- Business Consultant Buying / Selling a Business Fort Collins Franchises Loveland Phone Retail Virtual
- Business Consultant Creative Fort Collins in - Person Inventions / Product Development Market Research Marketing / Digital Marketing Online Virtual
- Business Consultant Employee Engagement Fort Collins Goal Setting Virtual
- Business Consultant Financial Fort Collins Government Relations in - Person Online Virtual
- Business Consultant Food Service Restaurant Virtual
- Development Program Director
- LBDC Program Director
- LBDC Program Director Startups, Digital Lead Generation, Networking
Kat Hart brings a wealth of experience to her role as Program Director, including 8 years as a local business owner. Through Silver Rose Retro, she created custom dresses with a vintage flair, did bridal alterations, and worked directly with her customers to bring their sewn creations to life.
Kat has a strong operation and marketing track record having worked in the marketing and leadership positions in a variety of organizations, including the Larimer SBDC. Most recently, she held the title of Digital Marketing Manager for International Sports Management in Portland, OR, harnessing their existing data to drive sales leads in program that she built from the ground up.
She is a proud Colorado native, raised in the NOCO community with a family history of community impact. She received her Bachelor of Science from Regis University, majoring in Business Administration. In addition to her strong professional background, she is an enthusiastic self-described geek and loves all things sci-fi, gaming, technology, and planning new adventures.
Job Titles:
- Chief Strategist at Vision Catalyst
Kim Fisher is the Chief Strategist at Vision Catalyst. With over 30 years-experience as a Nonprofit executive, she specializes in creating and implementing infrastructure for nonprofit start-ups. Kim does everything from completing the nonprofit application requirements, to setting up and managing the finances, to board development and strategic planning.
Kim received a BA in Psychology and a BA in Business from University of California, Santa Barbara. She has worked at the director level in all areas of nonprofit management, but her favorite role was serving as the CEO of Arms of Love International where she took a struggling organization and created stability in international programs and finances. Kim loves the nations, and her extensive experience in both domestic and international organizations gives her a unique perspective on the challenges and opportunities of the nonprofit adventure.
Job Titles:
- Restaurant and Apparel Industry Consultant
Job Titles:
- Marketing, Media & Publishing
Lee Porter's background in Sales and Marketing includes non-profit, media, marketing and advertising.
She's worked at the hyper-local and the national corporate levels implementing programs and teaching sales and market development. She has extensive experience in sales management, hiring and firing, territory development and sales plan execution.
Currently, she's on a startup adventure with an online news publication called InnovatioNews.com as publisher. She's also a general and specialty (marketing) counselor at the Larimer SBDC, and a NxLevel instructor.
Job Titles:
- Business & Financial Consultant
Mike Bennett founded GOpositive.BIZ, LLC in 2009 as a business and public policy consulting service. He uses his experience from working as a Presidential appointee in a Federal Agency, as a community banker and as senior staff for three members of Congress to produce positive results for his clients.
Mike has mentored over 30 companies in the preparation of their financial models. Those companies have ranged from early stage to mature companies seeking equity or debt financing. GOpositive.BIZ, LLC has worked on several projects including a U.S. Department of Energy Smart Grid Investment Grant application and a U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development Agency (USDA RD) Rural Business Enterprise Grant.
Mike was appointed in 2006 to be Colorado State Director for the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development Agency. He and his staff of 59 were responsible for providing over $250 million to rural Colorado in loans and grants for single family housing, multi-family housing, businesses, utilities, and community facilities.
Mike has over 20 years of experience in community banking consisting of positions as a member of the board of directors, bank president, lender, and operations officer. Mike was also a Loan Review Specialist for the FDIC.
Mike has nearly 16 years of service as a senior level congressional staffer in Colorado and in Washington, D.C. Mike served as Chief of Staff for two U.S. Senators and as District Director for two members of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Mike has been an active small business counselor since 2004 when he helped form the Steamboat Springs SCORE group. (Formerly called Service Corps of Retired Executives, SCORE is a resource partner with the U.S. Small Business Administration.) Following his relocation to Fort Collins in 2017 Mike has continued SCORE counseling in Larimer County and has already met with more than 40 clients assigned by the Denver office or directly from the national SCORE website. Mike has also recently completed certification with the Larimer County SBDC
Although most of his consulting has been in the general area of start-up businesses, he has worked actively with existing small business on partnership issues, strategic and business planning, personnel management and commercial and real estate lending. He has also counseled several non-profit organizations.
Mike retired in 2003 as president and CEO of PW Funding, a national commercial and multi-family mortgage banking company headquartered in New York City. PW Funding provided more than $1.5 billion in commercial real estate financing over a two-year period under Mike's leadership.
He began his commercial mortgage banking career as an owner and chief operating officer of Larson Financial Resources in Bernardsville, New Jersey in 1985. Forney is a Certified Mortgage Banker (CMB). He was a member of the national board of directors for the Mortgage Bankers Association of America for ten years until his retirement and served on the multi-family advisory panels for both Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.
Job Titles:
- Employee Engagement and Business Goals
Helping business owners develop, engage, and retain employees and grow their businesses is a passion for Roger. He worked for 33 years at HP where he focused on product development, marketing, and business management. While there, he also helped start mentoring programs, assisted in coordinating community volunteer efforts, and leading career development/engagement discussions. Roger currently manages his own custom woodworking and repair business. He and his wife, Teresa, are also part-owners of Blue Moose Art Gallery in Fort Collins.
Whether you are a new entrepreneur looking to expand your business or you have an existing set of employees, Roger would like to help you set achievable goals, navigate your current challenges, and lay out the steps you need to sustain or grow your business. He enjoys honing in on the root cause of a problem, ideating solutions, and then defining the steps needed to drive results.
Roger learned a lot about hard work, good management, and ingenuity growing up on a successful wheat and barley farm in Northern Idaho. He graduated from Boise State University with an MBA/focus on marketing. In his spare time, he loves to cook, garden, travel, and tell bad jokes.
Job Titles:
- Larimer SBDC Program Manager
Sally grew up in Green Bay, Wisconsin and graduated from Colorado State University with a Bachelor of Science. She's pursued various positions from veterinary medicine and environmental regulatory to non-profit work. These positions have taken her across the U.S. from Hawaii to Colorado, West Virginia, Virginia, and most recently back to Wisconsin. She joins the Larimer SBDC having spent 2+ years as the Program & Business Development Manager for a Downtown Business Improvement District. She will be completing an MBA program in early 2022.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Director
- Larimer SBDC Assistant Director
Terri Donovan-Keirns, assistant director, has been with the SBDC since November 2009 and brings a wide variety of experiences with her. Terri graduated from Colorado State University with a degree in Human Development and Family Studies. She managed a local day care center for 10 years, at which time the family construction business was growing rapidly. For the next 12 years Terri managed the family construction business with 5 other partners. During that time they started 4 additional companies in the areas of land development and rental properties. Terri also had a brief period working in the insurance industry. She enjoys gardening, traveling and spending time with her family, especially her grandkids
Tiffany Helton has worked in the restaurant industry for over 20 years. She is the co-founder of the STUFT burger bar restaurants and Lonesome Buck Breweries. Her original restaurant in Fort Collins has been in business for over 8 years. She is Serve Safe Certified and TIPS Alcohol Trained Certified. Tiffany is a true hospitality professional.
Job Titles:
- International Business Relationships
Tom Galey has been involved in a wide variety of business ventures and teaching for decades. With an undergraduate degree in Economics from University of Colorado, Tom moved to Taiwan in the mid-1980s. There he studied Mandarin and soon ran the Asia buying office for a large Canadian toy store chain. He spent time working in market consulting for several Chinese firms, later working for a Chinese hydraulics manufacturer.
In the 1990s, after over 6 years in China, Tom Moved to the US territory of Guam and began working with Exxon. Tom ran downstream operations and was marketing director for the retail chain.
Tom was later hired by Anheuser-Busch and was named Marketing Director for Micronesia for Budweiser brands. He developed an international advertising specialty division for AB that was subsequently used globally.
In 2000 Tom moved back to Colorado and started his own business in Promotional Products. In 2005 he moved into product development consulting for Asia-made consumer items. He started a consulting firm that still operates today assisting production globally. 3Chinas.com is active today as he assists firms expand.
With a master's degree in Business Administration and International Relations, Tom has helped major US and European firms launch production of new product lines. In all, he's assisted in the development of between 300 and 400 new products in Asia.
Tom has been teaching at Front Range for over 13 years in Intro to Business, Economics (Micro and Macro) Business Law, Marketing, International Business and International Marketing.
Tom lives Gunbarrel with his wife, and their 21-year-old son, Ty is currently attending CU. Tom's book was published in 2013; Making the China Connection - Understanding Business Culture to Create Great, Sustainable Relationships. It's available on Amazon and is published by SinoMedia in San Francisco, California.
Job Titles:
- Web Design & Development, E - Commerce, Online Marketing
Tracey assists small businesses in their online journey, consulting in the areas of Websites, E-Commerce, Digital Marketing and Technology.
In addition to founding Brandesigns Web Solutions over 20 years ago, she possesses a tapestry of work experience in the Banking, Construction, Real Estate, Law and Accounting industries. This experience allows Tracey insight into the operations and goals of many types of businesses. She works with entrepreneurs, individuals and small businesses locally, nationally and internationally.
Job Titles:
- Bookkeeping & Accounting
- Co - Owner of True North Business Solutions
Victoria Kay Allison (Kay) is the co-owner of True North Business Solutions, LLC. Her passion is translating big business concepts and key financial data into simple, practical presentations that small business owners can understand and utilize to make huge shifts in business results. The focus of the business is on data collection, AKA bookkeeping, accountability, AKA accounting, and advising & consulting services, AKA coaching.
Victoria has a B.S., degree from UNC - Greeley in business management and has studied a master's program in accounting at the University of Illinois. She has also volunteered her time with the Loveland Volunteer Income Tax Association (VITA). Her most important learning has come from being an entrepreneur of several businesses, Victoria has earned two black belts: one in success and the other in failure. As the former controller of a van upfitter, Victoria had the opportunity to learn the overall aspect of business operations.
In her spare time, Victoria is an avid reader and mostly enjoys non-fiction especially business books. As a former professional interior builder of renovated Airstreams, Victoria loves all things DIY including home and mobile spaces as well as furniture flips. She currently helps take care of her high-functioning autistic granddaughter.