Small Business Development Center

Bob Delavan

Bob is a graduate of the University of Denver with a Degree in Business Administration with a minor Hotel & Restaurant Management. Upon graduation, Bob had a short stint as a United Airlines Management Trainee in the Omaha NE Flight Kitchen prior to service in Vietnam with the US Army.  Upon return to civilian life, Bob worked in food service management with the Denver Dry Goods Restaurant Denver, CO, and managed a residence hall food service for the University of Denver.  When Bob and his family moved to the Western Slope, he managed the retail store for Western Implement and later owned and operated an Ace Hardware.  After selling the hardware store, Bob became a financial advisor with AG Edwards and ultimately left AG Edwards to begin Investment Planning Solutions, an independent financial advisory company.  Bob sold Investment Planning Solutions to begin retirement.

Bob has experience with starting a business, creating a legal business structure, and implementing a succession plan for the sale of a business.  He also has used Excel and QuickBooks extensively.

Debbie Richard

Debbie is currently a business consultant for companies large and small in a variety of industries. Most recently, she was the chief financial officer for a $2 billion private equity firm investing in buyout funds, venture capital funds, and sponsored co-investment deals. Prior to this, she owned and managed her own firm which provided accounting and tax services to partnership sponsors, and trading settlement services to broker dealers in the secondary partnership market, was chief financial officer for an oil and gas syndicator of SEC registered partnerships and a private equity real estate syndicator. She was also an audit manager for Price Waterhouse Coopers and an adjunct finance professor for graduate level courses at Golden Gate University. Debbie is a certified public accountant (inactive status), has a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting and a Master of Science degree in finance.

Gary Schroen

Gary has worked for a variety of companies, ranging from small companies to very large corporations. His work experience includes general ledger accounting, cash flow projections, budgeting, product cost analysis, strategic and operations planning, operations analysis and improvement.

Gary has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Personnel Administration from Michigan State University and Master of Science in Accounting from Central Michigan University. Gary is a Certified Public Accountant.

Helen Roe

After more than a decade of experience as a serial entrepreneur on the Front Range, Helen moved to Grand Junction and went back to college, graduating Summa Cum Laude from Colorado Mesa University with a BBA in Marketing and a BS in Accounting. After an internship at the Business Incubator Center, she knew it was where she wanted to be, and she jumped when an opportunity for employment opened up. Now a Commercial Lender with the Loan Fund of Mesa County, Helen is also part of the Incubator Management team, and a Small Business Coach specializing in accounting and finance.

Helen’s professional certifications include Team Leader/Economic Gardening, Colorado NxLevel business planning instructor, 2011 SBDC Counselor of the Year, and just for the heck of it, forklift operator. Helen is also a member of the Mesa County Executive Fair Board, and on the Advisory Board of the Grand Junction Housing Authority Family Self-Sufficiency program.

“The most rewarding part of my job is sharing their challenges and the achievements while assisting start-up and expanding businesses overcome the hurdles of creating a successful and sustainable business.”

Thane De Puey

Thane’s expertise includes HR (interviewing, hiring/firing, handbooks, and workers comp), collection issues, compliance with state and federal regulations, inspections, business plan review, business operations and management, and start-ups.

Nina Anderson

Nina has a degree in Human Resources through Regis University and 20 years of experience in the industry includes working with retail, manufacturing, medical device development, and residential and specialty commercial construction. She is currently a board volunteer for Grand Junction Chamber of Commerce, Mesa County Women’s Network, and voted to serve as Western Colorado Human Resources Association President for 2010/11. She is committed to supporting the development of new workplace entrants that are prepared to enter the workforce with the requisite knowledge, skills, abilities, and attributes in order to engage in endeavors that will be required in their respective occupations.

Lois Dunn

Lois grew up on a ranch in Arizona and loves life in Western Colorado. Her career includes accounting; her profession is in real estate. She likes working with investors and helping clients with identifying property, financing, management, and improving their portfolio. She serves on the Board at the Grand Junction Chamber, representing 1,000 businesses, and feels it’s a pleasure to work on behalf of start-up and expanding businesses. She serves as a chairperson of Government Affairs for Grand Junction Realtors. She enjoys meeting with entrepreneurs with new ideas and helping them determine where they are in the planning process of their start-up business expansion. Her motto: Look like a girl, act like a lady, think like a man and work like a horse.

Jeff Parker

Jeff Parker has been an SBDC coach since 2010, and is an expert in business start ups, business plans, cash management, financial analysis, and cash flow projections.

Matt Mayer

Matt has developed and participated in numerous go-to-market and product development enterprises across and wide variety of businesses ranging from start-ups to Fortune 100 companies. He has a love for early-stage start-up enterprises and helping entrepreneurs navigate the challenges of building a business. Most recently, Matt was a co-founder and partner in Helios Medical Partners, a remote patient company that helped healthcare providers monitor their chronically ill patients remotely. Prior to Helios, Matt was a co-founder and CEO of Footbeat and President and CEO of Save More Resources, Inc. (“SMR”). Matt has an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He also graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Business and a Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of Colorado.

Sarah Wang

Sarah is a registered patent attorney, whose practice is directed to all aspects of patent prosecution in the chemical and mechanical arts, with foreign and domestic clients. Sarah’s experience includes preparing and prosecuting patent application, patent portfolio analysis, and preparing opinions for patentability, validity, and infringement analysis. Sarah’s experience includes inventions in the technical areas of paper and pulp machinery, industrial gas turbines, food chemistry, pharmaceuticals, chemical compositions, formulations for personal care products, glass coatings, metallurgical compositions, and electronic cigarettes. Her formal education includes a Juris Doctor from the University of New Hampshire School of Law (formerly known as Franklin Pierce Law Center), specializing in intellectual property, and a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from the University of Rochester.

Tom LaCroix

Tom is a retired lawyer from LaCroix and Hand P.C., practicing for over 47 years. Tom received his law degree from the University of Wyoming in 1974 and worked in the oil and natural gas industry before founding his firm in 1977. He served on many local boards, including those overseeing Community Hospital and the Grand Junction Regional Airport, and is now a coach for the Grand Junction SBDC. His areas of practice include divorce, criminal law, child custody, corporate law, estate planning, and business law.