Spike Bailey, Advisor
For over 35 years his clients were the CEO’s, CFO’S and owners of domestic and International Corporations largest manufacturers, distributors, and service providers. Over the course of his career, he created hundreds of millions of dollars in innovative financial transactions which were used by these executives to drive cost out of their operations.
Mr. Bailey has held board positions in four leasing companies, founded eight other companies, including two equipment leasing companies, fleet maintenance, retail food, food distribution, record publishing, kiosk manufacturing, elder care services, consulting, agribusiness, and marketing survey system/services. He has held CEO, COO, CFO and executive officer positions with responsibility over national accounts sales, operations, finance, maintenance, credit, accounting, administration, remarketing and asset disposal. His personal experience how each department interrelates to the other allows him to reconnect the elements necessary to create team solutions which will refine and assure continued profitability. His specific knowledge of equipment, fleet operations, and equipment leasing allow him to be recognized by the U.S. Department of Justice where he served as an expert witness.
Currently, he manages his real estate portfolio, and acts an equity participant and sponsor for Tenant In Common commercial properties that he identifies, owns and manages. As a SCORE volunteer/mentor he works with a special Business Assistance Team of specialists to solve issues for locally owned family businesses. This BAT team works with their clients to identify, improve, expand and solve current financial and operational issues. He is part of a team that has pioneered new programs with local Universities to expose their graduate students to the realities of actual problem solving issues. Allowing them to be better prepared to compete and succeed in today’s difficult business environment.
John Emrick, Advisor (At Large)
John Emrick, chief executive officer and chairman of the board of Norm Thompson Outfitters, Inc. was born and educated in Portland, Oregon and has spent his entire working career with the Portland-based company, a $200 million leading national catalog retailer specializing in unique apparel, gifts, food and travel items. Under Emrick’s leadership, Norm Thompson Outfitters Inc. has been at the forefront of corporate sustainability efforts, including constructing the pioneer green building in the state of Oregon, the first to meet Portland General Electric’s Earth Smart standards. Norm Thompson is a founding member of the Oregon Natural Step Network and a member of Business for Social Responsibility, Certified Forest Products Council and Recycled Paper Coalition.
Emerick has served as an advisor for many state and local groups, including Oregon Public Broadcasting, CASA and 1000 Friends of Oregon. He is a trustee for the Meyer Memorial Trust, one of the largest foundations in the Pacific Northwest, and he has served on the boards of Pacific Crest Outward Bound, Friends of Opal Creek, Oregon State Parks, and House of Umoja. He currently serves on the boards of University of Portland, House of Umoja, and Illahee – environmental lecture series; and on the advisory councils of Oregon Solutions, Portland Parks Foundation, Horambee, and Oregon Natural Step Network. In 1999, Emrick and his wife, Jane, were named “Founders of a New Northwest” by Sustainable Northwest.
Ted Gilbert, Advisor
President of Baron Equities And Resources, Inc., a firm specializing in real estate acquisition and development, and has been actively involved in real estate investment and management since 1973; Board Director for Albina Community Bank Holding Company; Chairman of HOST Development, Inc., a non-profit developer of affordable home ownership; Chairman of Portland Affordable Housing Preservation Trust.
Mary-Elizabeth Harper
Mary-Elizabeth Harper of Harper and Associates is a Labor Relations/Human Resources Consultant. In her role with Harper and Associates, she works with business owners to develop performance goals and job performance improvement plans, trains management about various aspects of employment rules and processes. She also drafts proposals and negotiates labor agreements, clarifies state and federal employment laws, standards and procedures for employers.
After moving to Oregon four years ago, she worked for Kaiser Permanente as a Senior Labor Relations and Employee Relations Consultant and was a State of Oregon Labor Relations Manager, responsible for negotiating collective bargaining agreements, adjudicating grievances and resolving employment matters for various departments within the State. Previous to her move here, she held the position of Director of Employee Relations at Central Michigan University and worked in private law firms in Michigan and California.
Mary-Elizabeth has also been an instructor of Legal Studies, Labor and Employment Law, Collective Bargaining and Contract Negotiations, and Business English and Writing at Midstate College in Peoria, IL. In addition, she has taught in the Administration of Justice Programs at Southwestern College, Chapman University, National University and National City Adult School in California. Mary-Elizabeth holds a Bachelor of Arts, Master of Science and Doctorate of Jurisprudence.
Sheila Holden, Advisor and Board Member
Regional Community Manager for Pacific Power and serves as a Board Director for Albina Community Bank Holding Company. Founder, Community Energy Project; League of Utilities and Social Service Agencies; Past Chair, Portland New Markets Fund; Co-Chair Portland Family of Funds; Chair, N/NE Community Development Alliance and the Interstate Urban Renewal Advisory Board; Co-Founder of Oregon First Commercial Industrial Incubator; Advisory Board Member of the Oregon Association of Minority Entrepreneurs; Board member of Albina Opportunities Corp.
Dwayne Johnson, Advisor
Dwayne Johnson is co-founder and CEO of Artful Phoenix, the entertainment, marketing and Transmedia story telling company, with thirty years of leading edge business, innovation and technology experience. Previously, he was founder and President of PDXO LLC, a strategy, marketing and small business operations professional services company. Prior to PDXO, Johnson was director of strategic development at Fios Inc., an electronic discovery company, where he developed the service offering allowing the company to sell its services direct to Fortune 50 companies. As founder and President of Siliconpark, he merged the company with Explorati Inc. to develop a game platform based on imbedded product placement, user analytics based just-in-time story telling.
He has held key leadership positions at USWeb/March First including Director of Technology, Client Services and Corporate Development and was responsible for building out the company’s initial business infrastructure, developing the methodology for running a web-development professional services franchise, then acquiring and integrating more than thirty companies. As a founder and Vice President of Business and Technology at Digital Planet, Johnson managed the content, technology and production groups that allowed MCA/Universal, MGM/UA, 20th Century Fox and Sony to use the internet to market their movies and content effectively. He architected and led the product development for Netcount, one of the internet’s first web analytics systems whose analytic system which was spun off and sold to I/Pro. Prior to Digital Planet, Dwayne worked at Disney Worldwide Services as internal consultant.
He serves as Vice Chair of Oregon Small Business Advisory Council, is a member of the Governor’s Committee on Performance Excellence, is an Executive in Residence at the Oregon Technology Business Center and an advisory board member for the African American Chamber. He holds an MBA Summa Cum Laude in Entrepreneurship from Babson College and a BA in History California Polytechnic University.
Mark Kalenscher, Advisor and Board Member
Mark R. Kalenscher retired from a fifteen-year career with Intel in 1995. While at Intel, he served in a variety of management positions including European Logistics Manager, Contracting Business Manager, and several management and analyst positions in Intel Operations and Corporate Finance. Throughout Mark’s Intel career, he continuously improved productivity, efficiency, and customer service by simplifying and automating purchasing and distribution processes.
After leaving Intel, Mark has focused his time on investing, philanthropy, and spending time with his family. He presently sits on the boards of several non-profit organizations and served as a director and treasurer of the Cascadia Revolving Fund from 2001 through 2006. Mark has an MBA from Arizona State University and has successfully completed the Certified Financial Planning professional education program and board examination.
James Meyer, Advisor
Jim Meyer spent 22 years as majority owner and president of a Portland distributor of industrial rubber products, which evolved into a fabricator of specialty conveyor belt products. Since 1983, he has been a part-owner and board member of several small companies in the Portland area. He has also served on the boards of directors of a number of non-profit and government agencies, including: United Way of the Columbia-Willamette, Jewish Federation of Portland, Oregon Community Foundation, Oregon Jewish Community Foundation, Cascadia Revolving Fund, Oregon Economic Development Commission, Oregon Educational Coordinating Commission, Portland Civil Service Board, Portland Charter Review Commission, Portland Schools Foundation, Portland Parks Foundation, and Northwest Health Foundation.
Chip Shields, Advisor (At Large)
During the 2005 Legislative Session, Rep. Shields served his first term in the Oregon House of Representatives. In his positions on the House Committee on Education and the House Committee on Business, Labor, and Consumer Affairs, Shields successfully forced debate on adequate funding for schools and stopped attempts to repeal the voter-approved Minimum Wage. He also fought for affordable health care, living-wage jobs, affordable housing, public safety and a fairer criminal justice system. Prior to being elected to the House of Representatives in 2004, Rep. Shields served as Executive Director of Better People, a non-profit, job placement and counseling program focused on helping people who had been in trouble with the law. Since its founding, Better People has helped hundreds find living wage jobs. In addition to his work with Better People, Rep. Shields has been involved in a variety of community and statewide volunteer activities including:
- Working with the Oregon Center for Public Policy
- The Portland Mayor’s Gang Task Force
- Stand For Children
- The Coalition for a Livable Future
- Leading the 2002 fight to increase Oregon’s Minimum Wage, giving more than 100,000 low-wage Oregonians a cost-of-living increase each and every year
Rep. Shields graduated from Portland State University with a Masters Degree in Social Work. He lives in Northeast Portland’s Piedmont Neighborhood with his wife Shelda Holmes, who is a public-health family nurse practitioner with the Native American Rehabilitation Association.
Michelle Silver, Advisor
Michelle Silver is a CPA and practiced as a partner in a major CPA firm for 25 years in Seattle and Portland. She now has her own practice as Silver Consulting Services, LLC providing consulting services in the business and tax areas. Silver graduated from California State Polytechnic University and Southwestern School of Law. She has volunteered for numerous boards and non profit organizations in the 29 years she has lived in Portland.
Dr. Ann Widmer, Advisor
Dr. Ann Widmer is Professor and Dean Emeritus of the School of Management at Concordia University Portland. She has implemented and directed undergraduate and graduate education including BA and BS in Business, Health Care Administration, Nursing, and a Masters in Business Administration. She has taught in the area of Administration for over 25 years, and has published three textbooks in health administration for Harcourt /Saunders Publishers which have received national Book of the Year Awards. The American College of Health Care Administrators named Widmer Educator of the Year in 1991. She also is a founding member of the Executive Board of Widmer Brothers Brewing Company. In 1998 she was selected by The Business Journal as one of the 25 top business women in Portland, Oregon.