OEN NewsOEN names a venture catalyst close to home (Portland Business Journal)

Oregon Entrepreneurs Network has named a new “venture catalyst” who’ll work to nurture Hillsboro and Washington County.

Laura Kubisiak has spent more than 20 years in various marketing, sales and business development executive positions. She’ll connect Washington Coutny entrepreneurs with resources that help build their businesses.

Kubisiak will work with traded-sector industries including high-tech manufacturing plus software, biotechnology, digital health and cleantech.

The new position comes as OEN restructures the way it supports entrepreneurs across the state. The group has three existing venture catalyst positions working in Southern Willamette Valley, Southern Oregon and Central Oregon. Kubisiak’s role is OEN’s first such position near its Portland base.

Kubisiak has served executive stints at health care IT firm Qualis Health, medical device maker CP Medical, IT and mobile communications company Pacific Star Communications and digital display maker Planar Systems.

OEN plans to add venture catalysts in at least 10 other counties. The workers serve as part-business coach, -advocate and -connector who spread OEN’s services to more entrepreneurs.

Kubisiak’s position is in partnership with the city of Hillsboro, OEN and VertueLab, one of the state’s Signature Research Centers.

“Working with the (Oregon Entrepreneurs Network) to bring Laura’s talents to our community is a win for everyone who recognizes the need to help develop entrepreneurship and innovation,” said Dan Dias, Hillsboro economic development director in a written statement. “Hillsboro has engineers, designers and many other with back-of-the-napkin ideas who will benefit from Laura’s understanding of what is takes to develop a business plan and move forward.

Source: www.bizjournals.com