SBDC Overview

After more than a decade of experience as a serial entrepreneur on the Front Range, Roe 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, Roe is also part of the Incubator Management team, and a Small Business Coach specializing in accounting and finance. Roe’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. Roe 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.”

Terri is life-long resident of Grand Junction, a published novel-length fiction writer, award winning short story writer, contributor of non-fiction articles to a variety of newspaper, magazine and e-zines, familiar with traditional and e-book publishing processes, and writes business and marketing plans. She has applied for and received a provisional patent and understands the basic processes needed to pursue patenting and intellectual property. Terri has owned and operated a retail store, a landscape design and installation company, and a holiday decorating franchise. She understands cashflows, business and marketing plans, and the importance of working through the questions and getting to the answers as early in the start-up process as possible. Her motto: Carpe diem and see what happens next.

Jeff has worked locally in commercial banking for 28 years, with the responsibility of managing business banking relationships, serving customers through a full range of banking products and services. Emphasis was in lending to small and mid-size businesses in industries such as service, retail, manufacturing and construction. During his banking career, he presented classes and seminars for the benefit of customers, small business owners and other bankers, including the basics of small business financial management, reasons why businesses fail and the formation of sound construction lending policies. He currently works for High Performance Consulting, Inc. a small Grand Junction firm founded to provide profitability analysis for community banks throughout the country. His emphasis is in all aspects of a bank’s loan operations. Jeff has a B.S. in business from Colorado State University, is on the Board of Directors for Mesa Developmental Services, and have been on the business advisory council the past 16 years for that organization’s employment subsidiary, Spectra Enterprises.

Nancy is a forward-thinking marketing executive with a 30-year track record of successfully increasing sales and revenue by creating effective strategies in the for-profit and nonprofit arenas.  She has created and executed effective marketing strategies; built and managed strong brands; and developed and led high-performance teams in a variety of industries.  As the owner of Inertial Combustion LLC, she provides entrepreneurs across the nation with foolproof tools and coaching to navigate the road to success with confidence and ease. Her business background includes small local organizations to large global companies– from Chaco, Inc. in Paonia and various Mesa County businesses to large global companies including BMW USA, Volvo Cars of North America, American Express, Sprint, the Benetton Group (Italy), and the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games, as well as nonprofits including the Santa Fe Opera and the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.  She has managed marketing budgets ranging from $1,500 to $15 million. She holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and an International Coaching Federation (ICF) professional coaching certification, as well as certifications in in NxLeveL^® for Entrepreneurs and NxLeveL^® Tilling the Soil. She has served as an adjunct professor in the business department at Colorado Mesa University (CMU) and the marketing department at Texas Christian University (TCU). Nancy has a passion for all things business. She volunteers at The Hive in Paonia and at the Grand Junction Business Incubator, where she also serves as a business coach and facilitates workshops including the Leading Edge business planning class. A former member of Toastmasters International, she speaks to groups regularly about economic and personal empowerment. In addition, she develops and delivers mindset, creativity, and empowerment workshops across the country for women in leadership roles.

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, & 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.

Nina has a degree in Human Resources through Regis University and her 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 recently 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. Specialties: Compensation strategy design and implementation. Recruiting, screening, testing, and interviewing. Employee relations and performance coaching.

Matt has developed and participated in numerous go-to-market and product development enterprises across a wide variety of businesses ranging from start-ups to Fortune 100 companies, including founding and CEO of AVEX LLC, a medical device company. In this role, he raised over $6 million in grants, loans and equity financing. His experience includes President and CEO of Save More Resources, Inc. (“SMR”), a software and utility data management firm, a management consultant with McKinsey & Co in Silicon Valley and Chicago, and a consultant with Accenture, and a financial analyst with Leasetec, Inc. He has an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and a Bachelor of Science in Business and a Bachelor of Arts in History.

Josh Siler is an experienced software engineer and internet entrepreneur with a passion for business and a desire to give back to the community by helping new businesses get off the ground. He’s excited to be able to share his experiences with creating business plans, building initial products and getting a company off the ground. He has extensive experience with online marketing, IT and software development. Last year Josh started a new business, Hiring Thing, which included the successful closing of a $1M funding round in March of 2012. Hiring Thing is recruitment management software that helps companies post jobs online, manage applicants and hire great employees.

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, and operations analysis and improvement. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Personnel Administration from Michigan State University and Master of Science in Accounting from Central Michigan University and is a Certified Public Accountant.

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 startups.