OEN NewsOEN Announces New Executive Director

Cara Turano will begin onboarding September 1, and take the reins full-time on October 1.

August 31, 2022 — Portland, Oregon — Oregon Entrepreneurs Network (OEN) today announced that it has hired Cara Turano as Executive Director, starting September 1. Cara succeeds Amanda Oborne, who has been Executive Director since 2019. The two will work side by side through September to facilitate onboarding and a smooth transition, and Cara will take the OEN reins full-time on October 1.

Turano joins OEN following three years in executive leadership at the Technology Association of Oregon (TAO). Prior to TAO, she spent 15 years working for and with technology startups. Turano brings a deep understanding of entrepreneurial ecosystems, non-profit management skills, and community building expertise.

“I had the pleasure of working with Amanda and OEN in various capacities supporting entrepreneurship across Oregon and SW Washington in the past and truly love the mission, vision, and values of OEN,” Turano said. “I believe in entrepreneurship as a path to economic prosperity and personal fulfillment. Our community does this by bringing together the individuals and organizations who are committed to a thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem and I am excited to catalyze those efforts.”

Under Oborne’s leadership, OEN has greatly expanded its successful Angel Oregon education and investment program over the last three years, launching Angel Oregon Tech (AOTECH) in 2021 and Angel Oregon Life & Biosciences (AOBIO) in 2022. It has refined and expanded its Oregon Angel Food (OregonAF) program, now in its fourth year, and will announce this year’s investee in a major public event to be held at the Redd on Salmon St. in Portland on September 17th. (General Admission and Taster’s Tickets are now available.) It also launched the Emerge Initiative Awards in 2021 in partnership with BFM Fund, and will have facilitated nine individual awards of $5,000 each to founders of color across all Angel Oregon events in 2021-22, including the upcoming OregonAF. In addition, OEN is home to the OEN Entrepreneurship Awards, this year to be held at the Portland Art Museum on November 17th.

OEN Board Chair John Williams, based in Ashland, Oregon, noted, “The Board is excited to welcome Cara to OEN, having been impressed with her extensive community building efforts at TAO and her energy for supporting startups. We’re grateful to Amanda for having successfully navigated the organization through an incredibly challenging time and are thrilled that she’ll continue supporting local entrepreneurs as an investor. We believe the organization is now well poised to support Cara’s leadership and look forward to expanding OEN’s impact in the coming years.”

Oregon Entrepreneurs Network (OEN) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to helping entrepreneurs start up and scale up. The organization hosts a mix of sector-specific Angel Oregon entrepreneur education and angel investment programs each year, including Angel Oregon Life & Bioscience (AOBIO), Oregon Tech (AOTech) and Oregon Angel Food (OregonAF), as well as the annual OEN Entrepreneurship Awards. Learn more at www.oen.org.

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