Teresa is a veteran microenterprise practitioner with over 18 years of direct experience. A nationally recognized leader in her field, Teresa received Best Practice designation for her work with self-employment, social enterprise, industry and business incubator initiatives, providing counsel to organizations across the US and abroad. Teresa's program development activities have resulted in the creation of more than 450 new business ventures, 3000 new jobs and $110 Million for community investment, winning the National Champion of Veterans in Business award for her government contracting assistance programs in 2004. Her leadership and public policy work has resulted in effective legislation and collaborative partnerships with key state entities. Teresa holds a Masters in Community Economic Development from Southern New Hampshire University. She is a certified Economic Development Finance Professional and has extensive training in economic development and non-profit management. Teresa is a strong advocate for meeting the challenges of economic opportunity across industry, community and class.

Jen has a B.A. in Communications/Public Relations from Brigham Young University and is finishing her Master’s degree in Communication and Leadership at Gonzaga University. She has worked with nonprofit organizations for more than ten years, including seven years in non-profit management positions. She is passionate about helping nonprofit organizations value and integrate effective, transparent business practices. She has developed and presented several trainings on communication and public relations topics to nonprofit professionals. In 2006, she started the first Trips for Kids chapter (mountain biking program for low-income youth) in Utah. She is a member of the Public Relations Society of America, a certified Ropes Course Facilitator and certified Wilderness Emergency Responder.

A 10-year poverty reduction initiative of the Northwest Area Foundation, BuRSST promotes economic development initiatives as the primary approach to generating prosperity for low-income residents living in Burien, Renton, SeaTac, Skyway, and Tukwila, with microenterprise development being a strong emphasis in this work. Before coming to BuRSST, Diana spent 7 years working in the economic development and workforce field, as Policy Director and Vice President of Community Development for the Snohomish County Economic Development Council, and Director of the Materials and Process Development Center of Excellence, a partnership between Edmonds and Everett Community Colleges. During this time, Diana specialized in economic and workforce development policy and program development at the local and state level. Prior to her work in the Seattle area, Diana lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, New York City, Germany and the Republic of Slovakia where she began her career in building business and community partnerships with the purpose of serving the needs of families, youth, and children.

Jim is an economic developer with a background as a commercial loan officer. His 18-year banking career led him through several banks including Rainier National Bank, Security Pacific Bank, Emerald City Bank and Key Bank. In 1993, Jim and a business partner formed Parker & Thomas, Inc. a financial management and consulting firm managing loan funds for municipalities. In 1996, Jim began the research to establish Community Capital Development, which opened for business in August 1997 and has since exceeded all loan and job growth targets. Jim earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees in Business Administration from the University of Washington. He serves as an officer and member of the board for several community organizations. He believes strongly in business assistance tools for economic development that provide people with the opportunity to develop and grow their entrepreneurial skills and abilities.

Andrea Dimond has been involved in microcredit for nearly ten years and has worked at the following microcredit programs in the Seattle area: Washington CASH, StartZone (Highline Community College), and Burst for Prosperity. Andrea is currently the Assistive Technology Program Manager at the Washington Access Fund (formerly known as the Washington Assistive Technology Foundation), a nonprofit, microcredit organization that provides low interest loans for assistive technology and business equipment to people with disabilities throughout Washington State. Andrea is one of the founders of the Washington State Microenterprise Association and served as its board President during its inaugural year. Andrea believes that the WSMA plays an important role in helping microenterprise reach new heights in Washington State.

Before his current position, Nick was the managing director of the Community and Financial Assistance Unit within CTED's International Trade and Economic Development Division. His unit included the Community Economic Revitalization Board (CERB), the state's business loan portfolio and the Washington Mainstreet program for downtown revitalization. In addition to managing these programs, Nick served as the legislative and performance manager for the division. Nick has been with the department for 3 years. Before joining CTED/Department of Commerce, Nick worked as the Washington State Director for the Wild Salmon Center.

Mike moved from Ohio to Washington in 2005 and began work as Director of Community Services for the Tacoma Housing Authority (THA). There he provided program and strategic direction in educational, employment, asset building, and case management programs serving over 1,200 public housing and 3,500 Section 8 households. While serving at THA, he started the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program, now the largest VITA in Pierce County; served as a steering committee member on the new Pierce County Asset Building Coalition; secured the first ever private foundation award for THA from the Washington Family Fund totaling $400,000 with a matching grant of $500,000 from the Gates Foundation. Before moving to WA he worked for 15 years as a social worker and director with the nationally recognized Cleveland Housing Network where he directed self-sufficiency programs for 2,000 households including employment programs for low to moderate income populations. He received his master degree in Social Service Administration from the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences/Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio. He is currently a Vice President in KeyBank’s Community Development Bank where he is responsible for Community Reinvestment compliance in the state of WA for the bank. Mike has served on several boards throughout his career in both Ohio and WA. He currently serves on the board of the Boys & Girls Clubs of South Puget Sound and the White Center Community Development Association.

Ruth Ann has been in the small business assistance field in one way or another for over 20 years. She is currently a Small Business Advisor at the Small Business Development Center in Tukwila, working for SBDc for the second time. Prior to that she was Executive Director of the Kitsap County Community Development Corporation, a microloan fund headquartered in Bremerton, WA and managed The Olympic Microloan Fund for ShoreBank Enterprise Cascadia. She founded and managed the Women’s Business Center at Community Capital Development, for which she was awarded the SBA Region X (10) Women’s Business Advocate Award in 2002. That position was preceded by her first stint at the SBDC. She was an independent business consultant at Halford & Associates. She began her financial career at Bank of America & US Bank as a commercial lender. Ruth Ann also serves on the board of Community Living as well as the loan committee for Washington Assistive Technology Foundation.

Dave Heyamoto is the Business Development Manager for Spokane Neighborhood Action Programs (SNAP) in Spokane Washington. Dave provides technical business assistance and loan funding for SNAP microenterprise clients. He began his career in the private sector holding management positions in marketing, advertising, product development, and non-traditional business development. After 34 ½ years in the industry, he decided to take an early retirement and seek a second career that would be new, exciting, challenging and fulfilling. He found everything he wanted in the microenterprise field and has been with SNAP since early 2007. Dave is also a licensed professional civil engineer, a fact that his marketing friends find absolutely hilarious.

Jim Keogh is the economic analyst in the policy division of the Office of the Insurance Commissioner. Prior to this position Jim had a 20 year career in the Economic Development Division of the state Department of Community Trade and Economic Development−with eight years as a managing director of Grants and Loans Services Unit and twelve years serving either as the Business Retention and Expansion specialist for the state or as manager of the Employer Ownership Program. Jim was one of the first in his department to gain certification as a Certified Economic Development Professional (IEDC) and he also holds a National Development Council certification as an Economic Development Finance Professional. Prior to joining CTED in 1987, Jim was a manager at Group Health Cooperative for seven years and worked in neighborhood development for five years.

Cheryl is passionately committed to empowering individuals to move out of poverty. She is currently the Executive Director of a Washington CASH (Community Alliance for Self-Help), a micro enterprise organization in Seattle, Washington. From 1994 to 2000, Cheryl was the Executive Director of FareStart, a job training program of homeless men and women, and successfully built the organization from a $250K budget serving 20 clients per year to a $2M budget serving 150 clients per year. Following FareStart, Cheryl spent seven years as a consultant and trainer for nonprofits, working locally, nationally, and internationally, including the Social Investors Forum, Seattle Jobs Initiative, United Way of Seattle/King County and many others. She also has her master's degree and serves as an adjunct professor at Seattle University teaching graduate level strategic planning for nonprofits and public organizations as well as undergraduate level nonprofit business enterprise courses. Cheryl's favorite volunteer activity is working with Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos (NPH), where she teaches in orphanages throughout Central America.

Lisa Smith has worked as the Executive Director of Enterprise for Equity, a non-profit in Olympia, WA since 2001. Enterprise for Equity helps people with limited incomes start and sustain small businesses in the South Puget Sound region. This microenterprise development organization specializes in business training, technical assistance, financial literacy workshops, micro-loans and seminars for entrepreneurs in both rural and urban regions of Thurston, Mason, Lewis and Grays Harbor Counties. E4E has helped to launch an increasing number of successful green enterprises in recent years. Lisa brings 17 years of experience working with business, academic, legislative, environmental, tribal and non-profit interests. In addition to her work accomplishments she has had her research and/or writing published in "Consumer Reports," "Scholastic Magazine," "American Journal of Public Health," and "Tobacco Control," an International Journal.