2017 Presenters

Workshop: Business Plans

Kaye Kloster

Kaye Kloster enjoyed a 25 year professional career working with architects, engineers and contractors providing printing and technology services. Kaye’s expertise in business management, accounting, budgeting, customer service, sales and marketing make her an excellent SCORE small business mentor

Marilyn Scott

Marilyn Scott holds a Masters degree in Social Science from the University of Evansville, Indiana. Her professional background is focused on communication, employee development and organizational dynamics. Before assuming a management position at Intel in Hillsboro, her career included managing employee and organizational development for the American Red Cross Southwest Region in Texas and Oklahoma, and owning her own consulting business, MK Scott Consulting and Training. She has worked with many nonprofit organizations and consulted with United Way agencies.

Marilyn has developed workshops and individual coaching on management skills, quality systems, customer service, and similar topics for a wide variety of clients, including government, community college and private industry. Since retiring from Intel in 2010, she has volunteered for SCORE, counseling and mentoring entrepreneurs, small businesses and nonprofits. She is currently Chairperson of SCORE’s Portland Chapter.

Workshop: Small Business Legal Basics

Din Belderrain

Din Belderrain is a Revenue Auditor for the City of Portland Revenue Division – a Division of the Bureau of Revenue and Financial Services. Din started in the tax field providing tax education and outreach for low income and minority populations prior to working at the City of Portland. Now, she uses her knowledge and skill in a different capacity, ensuring compliance with Portland Business Tax Laws and Multnomah County Business Income Tax Laws.

Brian Dasso

Brian Dasso was born and raised in West Linn Oregon. He graduated from Oregon State University with a Bachelor of Science and a focus on political science and business. Brian obtained his law degree from the University of Washington in 2002, where he developed an interest in business and real estate law. During law school, Brian also volunteered with a local nonprofit that was devoted to protecting and promoting clean water throughout Washington.

Prior to joining the Small Business Legal Clinic as a staff attorney in August 2016, Brian was an attorney with a law firm based in Lake Oswego, Oregon, where he focused his practice on business law, real estate law and employment law. Brian’s clients primarily included small business owners and homeowner’s associations. Brian especially enjoyed working with small businesses counseling them on issues from entity selection and formation, to strategies for transitioning the business to the next generation. Since joining the Small Business Legal Clinic, Brian has expanding his practice to work with nonprofit organizations and affordable housing developers.
Brian’s other interests include hiking, skiing and traveling with his wife and two sons. Brian is a skilled woodworker and enjoys designing and remodeling his Northeast Portland that has been in his family for over 80 years.

Amanda Caffall

Amanda Caffall, JD, is the Executive Director & Staff Attorney at The Commons Law Center, a nonprofit law firm offering sliding-scale legal services for income-qualified people, businesses, and organizations. Amanda’s a proven resource developer & team builder with 25 years experience leading groups toward shared goals & 15 years in client- & public-facing roles. She’s a lawyer, organizer, activist, and change-agent.

Ruth Miles

With 18 years of experience running small businesses to add to her nine years of service in the Legislative branch, Ruth Miles understands first-hand the challenges entrepreneurs face. She’s crisscrossed Oregon over the past three years to visit with business leaders and associations, chambers of commerce and community partners to hear their concerns about getting caught in red tape. And everywhere she goes, she runs with scissors.

Workshop: Small Business Taxes

KayDel Marshall

KayDell Marshall is the IRS Senior Stakeholder Liaison responsible for small business tax education for all industry in Oregon. She also serves as the 7-state Lead for Payroll Practitioners, Minority and Women Owned Businesses, Multi-Lingual Initiatives, and Questionable Employment Tax Practices. She is Stakeholder Liaison’s Disaster Coordinator for Oregon. Marshall joined the IRS in 1985 in Criminal Investigation in Portland, Oregon. She worked as a Tax Auditor from 1987 to 1994. She was a Taxpayer Service Specialist in Customer Service from 1994 thru 2000, answering the highly technical tax questions on the 1-800 line and on the internet and teaching new recruits the tax law. She has provided tax education to small business since 2001. A native of Portland, Marshall holds a Master of Science Degree in Management from Marylhurst University.

Oregon Department of Revenue

Oregon Department of Revenue’s Business Outreach Rep. The primary function of DOR’s Business Outreach Program is to offer educational information and presentations on various topics to small business groups, associations, tax preparers, etc. Rep also partners with other agencies at the local, state, and federal levels to best reach those who can benefit from increased knowledge and understanding regarding Oregon payroll tax programs, policies, and procedures.

Workshop: Access to Capital

Scott Bossom

Scott Bossom is a lifelong Oregon resident – born, raised and still living in NE Portland. He has a 20 year career in the finance/lending industry covering a wide range of roles. Prior to joining the SBA as a Lender Relations Specialist in February 2011 Scott was the Credit Administrator for a small, mission oriented community bank in Portland that had a focus on small business. Through all of his positions Scott has gained a strong appreciation and passion for small business and the impact it has on our overall economy. Scott enjoys being a resource for lenders, community/economic development professionals and current/prospective business owners in helping navigate what can be a daunting process for some – capital access. Due to Scott and the Lender Relations teams outreach and support to the business lending community – the Portland District has realized record loan volumes since 2011.

Amy Pearl

Amy Pearl founded Hatch Innovation, a nonprofit social enterprise, in 2004, and is the executive director. Its mission is to enable citizens to launch enterprises that improve communities. The conviction that ordinary citizens have immense untapped capacity for service and innovation grounds her work. By making innovative strategies “learnable” she enables youth and adults to foster a more equitable, innovative, and capable society. She works at the system level, focusing on building an enabling ecosystem for social and community-building enterprises to flourish, growing healthy local communities. She launched Hatch: A Community Innovation Lab in 2013, the economic engine HatchOregon in 2014, ComCap in 2015, and HatchLab Baker in 2016

Nate Wildfire

Nate is the Capital Strategist for Business Oregon, the State’s economic development agency, and is also the Director of the Oregon Growth Board, an investment “funder of funds” run by the State. In this dual role Nate helps fill capital gaps in different industry sectors and stages by investing in loan funds, angel funds, and venture funds across Oregon. Prior to working in the Pacific Northwest, Nate worked on economic and community development projects in Burlington, Vermont and his hometown, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Robin Wang

Robin Wang brings over 20 years of experience working in various small business ventures involving technology, media, and social responsibility advocacy. Most recently, he owned a mission-based business that fostered the local green economies in several regions throughout the West. In largely a finance, sales, and operations role and together with his business partner, he expanded the business into 3 regions and grew annual revenues 5-fold. Since selling that business, he has served as an advisor helping other aspiring entrepreneurs and small business owners achieve happiness. Robin is a native New Yorker who has called Portland home since 2003, has degrees from Carnegie Mellon University and Columbia University, and currently serves on the board of the Portland Fruit Tree Project.

Workshop: Successful Use of Social Media for Your Small Business

Albert Kaufman

Albert Kaufman is a social media and email marketing thought leader. He teaches small businesses how to get the most out of their time and effort using the tools of the trade such as: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Constant Contact for email marketing. Via small classes and one-on-one coaching Albert has worked with healthcare professionals, restauranteurs, photographers and many other types of businesses to help their marketing efforts succeed. With 20+ years in high-tech as a software quality assurance engineer he’s also very good at sharing tips about how to make online life and computer use easier.

David Baer

David Baer is a digital marketing consultant specializing in online automation and marketing funnels. He provides training and digital marketing services for information product marketers, solopreneurs, and small businesses looking to engage and convert more customers online. David has been actively marketing online for more than two decades, with extensive experience in performing arts, wine, and digital product promotion.

Workshop: Government Contracting

Yuri Dyson

Yuri Y. Dyson joined the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Portland District Office in 2012 after 20+ years as a federal contracting officer for the USDI- Bureau of Land Management and US Fish & Wildlife Service in western Oregon. Her contacting experience includes a strong focus on natural resources-related projects including reforestation, hazardous fuels reduction, biological surveys and watershed restoration. Yuri also procured and managed many complex construction, A-E and environmental remediation and IT contracts throughout OR/WA and other western states. As an SBA Business Opportunity Specialist, she is delighted to directly assist small businesses, especially those who are eligible for SBA’s various federal contracting certification programs such as 8(a), WOSB and HUBZone and has given many presentations on various small business topics in the Pacific Northwest. Yuri holds a Bachelors in Planning, Public Policy & Management from the University of Oregon.

Carrie Hulse

Carrie Hulse is the Program Manager for the Certification Office for Business Inclusion and Diversity (COBID) at Business Oregon. COBID administers the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE), Minority Business Enterprise (MBE), Women Business Enterprise (WBE), Service-Disabled Veteran (SDV) Business Enterprise, and Emerging Small Business (ESB) certification programs, which promote economic opportunities for small businesses. The COBID team also works with applicants to access additional business resources needed to sustain and grow.

Before becoming the Program Manager, Carrie worked for the Oregon Department of Transportation and brought the DBE certifications in compliance with federal regulations by performing site visits with approximately 400 firms within a two-year period.

Her career with state government began in the early 1990’s in Juneau, Alaska where she worked primarily in the field of criminal prosecution while earning a Bachelor’s degree in business management.

Kelly Stevens-Malnar

Kelly has been with the State 14 years and currently manages Oregon’s Cooperative Procurement Program and Small Business Programs at the Department of Administrative Services, Office of Procurement Services. Kelly is deeply committed to educational outreach activities that promote governmental contracting opportunities to Oregon small businesses. She is an instrumental State resource on valuable and creative ways to use Oregon’s #1 e-procurement system – ORPIN. Kelly brings to the state 15 years of high-tech private-sector product marketing experience, and an additional 5 years of operating her own brokered goods business out of Phoenix, AZ.

Lee Fleming

Lee Fleming joined the Multnomah County Purchasing team in May 2014 as the Supplier Diversity Officer. He leads the County’s business equity efforts, responsible for the oversight, implementation, and management of County-wide Minority, Women, and Emerging Small Business (MWESB), Workforce Diversity, and Sustainable Purchasing Programs, supporting the County’s Social Equity Policy. His team is responsible for the compliance and review of new and existing policies, practices, and programs, as well as the coordination and implementation of strategies to maximize the utilization of historically underutilized businesses and workers, as well as sustainable business practices.
Lee came to the County from Portland Public Schools, where he implemented and led their business equity efforts from May 2011 to May 2014. He brings years of private sector supply chain and active duty military experience to bear in his current role. He is a proud graduate of the historic Tuskegee (Institute) University. He and his wife Thelma have two children, Lydia Moriah and Ervin L. III. He is a life member of the historic Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity; serves on several boards, committees, and civic organizations, such as Business Diversity Institute and the Columbia Chapter of the National Institute of Government Purchasing, as well as many other community organizations and chambers of commerce.

Tiffani Penson

Tiffani Penson is a native Oregonian and very involved in the community. She is currently the Supplier Diversity officer for the City of Portland. Her responsibilities include outreach to Minority-owned, Women-owned and Emerging Small Businesses with a focus on connecting businesses to contracting opportunities at the City; implemented and manages the first in the Nation Minority Evaluator Program which requires City Bureaus to include at least one minority evaluator from the community to serve on the evaluation panels awarding formal contracts; and manages the “We Are Better Together” outreach team responsible for event sponsorships, trade shows and organization memberships.

Tiffani serves on the board of Bound for A Cure, Business Diversity Institute, Kairos PDX, and Oregon Native American Chamber. Tiffani enjoys mentoring young adults and helping others.