Some of the most important lessons students learn come from people who
have "been there and done that." Every term the Lundquist Center invites experienced
entrepreneurs to come "back to campus " for a day.
They speak in various classes, participate in student roundtables, and even hold office
hours for more personal interaction. It's a chance for students to really get a sense of
what it means to be an entrepreneur. To find out more please contact the Lundquist Center for Entrepreneurship at
541-346-3420 or at lce@lcb.uoregon.edu.
David D. Lowry is founder, Chairman and President of Cornus Corporation. Cornus focuses upon providing accurate and timely information that leads solid business decisions. David’s vision was to create an information delivery vehicle that would make it easy for executives to have immediate visibility into their key performance indicators.
As Chairman and President of Cornus, this vision drives the evolution of the company's flagship product, Guide+.Net. In addition to being the company's primary technical visionary, Mr. Lowry manages the growing Cornus operation. Prior to founding Cornus, Mr. Lowry was CEO of Data Design Associates, Inc. for seventeen years, where he also served as the primary architect of DDA's financial application systems. Under his guidance, DDA developed a strong reputation for the quality of its product engineering and excellent customer support, achieving 100% customer satisfaction among its 1,200 customers which included many of the largest financial, industrial and service firms in North America. Earlier in his career, he held senior level and technical management positions with Management Science America and Western Electric. Mr. Lowry holds an M.B.A. from the University of Oregon.
Frank Gill is currently focusing on healthcare and serves on the board of Kryptiq Inc (venture backed healthcare connectivity company), Payless Long Term Care Pharmacy, and Avamere Inc (an operator of assisted living, skilled nursing, and hospice facilities). He currently co-chairs the Providence Health Systems $74M capital campaign and is a lifetime member and past president of the Providence St Vincent's Hospital Foundation Council of Trustees. Frank is also an angel investor and is an advisor to venture capital firms Voyager Capital and Sequoia Capital.
Frank joined Intel in 1975 in the sales organization and rose to Senior VP of Sales and Marketing in 1987. Promoted to Executive VP in 1995, he retired from Intel in 1998 and has served on the boards of public companies including Logitech, Sequent Computer Systems, McAfee.com, Inktomi, Tektronix, Pixelworks, and Niku; and early and growth-stage privates companies such as Avamere, ITXC, Unicru, LegalAnywhere, Concero Group, Kryptiq, and Payless LTC Pharmacy.
Kathy Long Holland is a specialist in the development and launching of new products and strategies. She was an executive at Nike for 7 years as the Divisional Head of New Products and Markets. She has run her own business advisory firm, LongSherpa Design, specializing in new businesses and business transitions. Her work is targeted to helping owners, executives, and managers develop strategies for dealing with transition. These transitions are related to growth, market change, ownership change, and management change.
Kathy has worked extensively with small and medium sized businesses, start-up entrepreneurs, cooperatives, corporate environments and not-for-profit organizations. She co-founded ECO-D/OMBI, a not-for-profit publicly funded corporation providing business development and advisory services to innovative enterprises in the start-up and early stages of their development.
She is an expert in entrepreneurship and has lectured at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, The School for Entrepreneurial Leadership at the University of California, Berkeley, and is a Lecturer at the University of Oregon Graduate School of Business and Oregon Health Sciences University. Most recently, she has presented leadership and entrepreneurship training for the U. S. State Department in the Middle East. Kathy also serves on numerous Boards of Directors, both for profit and non-profit and is the founder for the Portland Chapter of the Women Presidents' Organization. Her interests include hiking in the great outdoors, reading, gardening, travel, photography and participating in organizations targeting issues of rural poverty, sustainable food systems, women, youth and education. She also enjoys spending time with her family, friends, and two cats. She holds an M.A. degree from the University of Nebraska and an M.B.A. from the University of Oregon. Winter term 2008
Mike Card is the President and co-owner of Combined Transport, Inc, a family owned and operated trucking service founded in 1980 by his father, Richard Card. The company specialized in heavy hauling, glass hauling, heavy equipment hauling, and flatbed hauling. Listed as number 108 in Oregon Business magazine’s Top 150 Private Companies list, the Combined Transport reported revenue between $75 million and $100 million with ninety-seven employees in 2005.
He is also a principal of two Combined Transport affiliate companies, Cardmoore Trucking LP, a truck maintenance operation, and Cardmoore Properties, a property management service.
Mike is a 1981 graduate of the University of Oregon with a BS in Finance and Economics. Visited campus on January 15, 2008
Bob DeKoning, president and CEO of Routeware, brings over 30 years experience in the technology industry. Prior to Routeware, he was the CEO of Tactix, Pixion and Unicru where he grew revenue from $1.5M to $28M in 4 years. Mr. DeKoning is also active in the community as the Chairman of the American Electronics Association (Oregon Chapter) and a Board member of the Association For Corporate Growth where he was past President. Visited campus on November 13, 2007
John B. Dimmer is the Managing Member of FIRS Management LLC, a private investment company. Prior to joining FIRS, Mr. Dimmer was President and Co-founder of Free Range Media, Inc., a professional internet services firm which was acquired by Luminant Worldwide Corporation in September of 1999. From March 1986 until June 1995, Mr. Dimmer was employed with Reliance Surety Company, a leading provider of surety credit for corporations and individuals, where he held the position of Manager of Commercial Surety.
Mr. Dimmer holds a B.S. degree in Finance from the University of Oregon. Mr. Dimmer is a former director of TransLink Software, Inc. (acquired by Active Software in April of 2000), and Donation Depot, Inc. (acquired by Kintera, Inc. in April of 2003). He currently serves on the Board of Directors of WiMetrics, Inc., a wireless network security firm, and PBJ Holdings, an automotive dealership holding company.
Mr. Dimmer also holds an FIA Grade C professional racing license and participates in a variety of international historic racing events in the ex-Jackie Stewart 1971 Tyrrell Ford 004 Formula 1 car. Visted campus on November 5-7, 2007.
Patrick A.(Rick)McCloskey, is currently the CEO of Technocom,Inc. a regional technology service company based in Wilsonville, Oregon. After college, Rick began his career as an accountant and financial/acquistion analyst for a Fortune 500 company, in 1985, Rick helped start NorAm Telecommunications, a fiber optic company which was listed as one of Oregon's Fastest Growing Companies in 1995,1996 & 1997. The company was acquired in 2000 by NYSE listed Quanta Services. In April 2001, started Insight Development Group LLC, which invested initial capital and provided business advice to over a dozen local start ups, which includes Castor & Pollux, Amcrin, Versation, Eleven Wireless, Pacific West Bank to name a few. Four of those start ups (ESP, LiveWire, Connected Technologies and Managed Communications) merged to create Technocom in 2003/04. Mr.McCloskey was asked after the merger to accept the position of CEO. In 2006, Technocom was listed as one of the Fastest Growing Companies in the state, one of the Top Technology and Software companies and one of the Top Technology Service providers. Rick holds a Business Adminstration degree from the University of Oregon with emphasis in Finance and Accounting and has a Computer Science degree from Linfield College. Besides Technocom, Mr. McCloskey serves on the Boards of Pacific West Bank, Amcrin Corporation and the Brian Henninger Children's Charity Foundation. Rick's wife Mary Jo, is also a graduate of the University of Oregon. Visited October 30, 2007
Monique Hayward is the President & CEO of Nouveau Connoisseurs Corporation, the company she founded in April 2004 which owns and operates Dessert Noir Café & Bar in Beaverton, OR. In addition to her entrepreneurial ventures, she is a Senior Marketing Manager at Intel Corporation in Hillsboro, OR.
Ms. Hayward has 13 years of experience in marketing, communications, public relations, business development, and entrepreneurship. She has written articles for business publications, is currently writing a book titled “Divas Doing Business: What the Guidebooks Don't Tell You About Being a Woman Entrepreneur” and is an active public speaker on balancing entrepreneurship with a corporate career, professional development, career advancement, and marketing.
She has previously worked as a commercial model and served as the executive producer, writer, and host of her own talk show on a local cable TV station. Ms. Hayward received an MBA in marketing from Case Western Reserve University and a BA in journalism from the University of Maryland College Park. She is a member of the National Black MBA Association, Women Entrepreneurs of Oregon, and Beaverton Chamber of Commerce. Visited campus on March 6, 2007.
Trish May brings 20 years of experience in high tech and packaged goods marketing to the leadership of Athena Partners, a new concept in venture philanthropy for the women’s cancer cause.
May spent 14 years of her career at Microsoft where she was Director of Marketing and Strategic Planning. Initiatives included the development of the vision for Microsoft PowerPoint, the launch of Windows 95 into the education market, and the strategy for nation-wide retail promotions, for which she received numerous awards for her contributions. Prior to Microsoft, May spent four years at the Golden Grain Company as marketing manager for products such as Rice-A-Roni and Ghiradelli Chocolate.
May serves on the boards of several cancer-related organizations including the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Foundation and the Northwest Cancer Partners Foundation. She has also served on research grant review committees for The Avon Foundation and the Susan B. Komen Foundation and as a patient advocate to the National Cancer Institute. She is a member of Social Venture Partners. Awards include the Puget Sound Business Journal 2004 “Woman of Influence” and PBSJ “2004 Leading Newsmaker.” May earned a BA in economics and an MBA in marketing.
May’s drive to find a cure for women’s cancers is born of her personal experience. In 1993, she lost her mother to ovarian cancer and she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She now dedicates herself fulltime to entrepreneurial high-impact ways to advance research to find a cure, for the benefit of all those who have or will be touched by the disease. Visited campus on November 15, 2006
Paul Shipman is the President, Chairman of the Board, and CEO for Redhook Ale Brewery, one of the leading brewers
of craft beers in the United States. In May 1981, Mr. Shipman co-founded Redhook with Gordon Bowker, founder of Starbucks Coffee. Both men shared the dream to build a brewery and they decided to develop specialty craft beers as an alternative to the traditional national beer offerings. These pioneers are credited with spurring the dramatic growth in micro-brewery production across North America. Under Mr. Shipman’s leadership, Redhook has grown into one of America’s premier craft beers where he led Redhook in completing its 1995 initial public offering.
Today, Mr. Shipman oversees a $39 million operation that produces eight beers. It also operates three pubs (Trolleyman and Forecasters in Washington and Cataqua in New Hampshire). While some craft-brew rivals outsource the actual brewing of their products, Redhook makes all of its own beer at its breweries in Washington and New Hampshire.
Mr. Shipman’s leadership and innovation are recognized by many in the craft beer industry. He is a member of the Microbrew Appreciation Society’s (Seattle, Washington) Hall of Fame.
Bernie Hansen is a business consultant and currently works as
entrepreneurial programs manager at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)
to provide business assistance to technology firms in the Tri-Cities and
surrounding Mid-Columbia area.
Prior to working at PNNL, Hansen owned Business Diagnostics, LLC, a
consulting company. He has over 24 years of experience managing and advising
businesses, specializing in assessing business opportunities and advising
financially troubled companies. Hansen has held executive positions with
Citicorp, Wells Fargo Bank, and Continental Illinois National Bank and Trust
Company.
Hansen serves on the advisory boards of several companies. He earned his
bachelor’s degree from the University of Oregon and a master’s degree from
Harvard University.
Dave Preston is the Director of Blades Server Development within the Server Group of Intel Corporation. In that position Dave is helping to drive the industry transition from rack mounted servers to Blade Servers in collaboration with IBM. Prior to his current position Dave spent 4 years as an Investment Director in the internal incubator of Intel Capital. Before Intel Capital, Dave had 10 years experience at Intel in a variety of financial, sales and marketing management roles. Several of these roles were at internal startups - the last as General Manager. Dave sold mainframe computers for IBM in the Midwest before joining Intel.
Dave has a BA in economics from Kalamazoo College, an MBA in Finance from the University of Chicago, and a Ph.D. in corporate strategy and the management of innovation from the University of Oregon. Dave's dissertation studied the new product champions who are so critical to the success of new ventures. Dave is on the advisory boards of several early stage start-up companies, and has been on the Board of Directors of OEF. Dave has been married for 20 years, has 2 children ages 15 and 17. He is a runner, skier and is hoping to become a sprint tri-athlete this year.
Charles (Chuck) M. Lillis, Ph.D., Director
Lillis serves on the boards of several public and privately owned companies including
SuperValu Inc., the nation's 10th largest food retailer, Williams Companies, a leading
producer and transporter of natural gas in the United States, Charter Communications,
a domestic cable television company, and SomaLogic, a company involved in the field of
molecular diagnostics. He is also co-founder and managing partner of LoneTree Capital,
a private equity group that invests primarily in the communications/information industry.
Prior to his board activities, Lillis served as Chairman and CEO of Media One Group,
Inc., a Fortune 200 company, from 1997 to 2000 and as CEO from 1995 to 1997. He was also
dean of the College of Business at the University of Colorado from 1984 to 1985 and
professor of business at Washington State University from 1972 to 1980.
A three-year veteran of the U.S. Army, Lillis holds a bachelor's degree and an M.B.A.
from the University of Washington and a Ph.D. in business from the University of Oregon.
Currently, he serves as the Chair of the University of Washington Business Advisory Board
and as a member of the University of Washington Foundation Board. In the recent past, he
was also a member of the University of Colorado Foundation Board. He is also involved
with the family's private foundation.
Erik J. Stenehjem, Ph.D. is employed by Battelle Memorial Institute as the
manager of new ventures and regional initiatives at the Pacific Northwest National
Laboratory. He is responsible for creating significant value from the laboratory's
intellectual property and building advocacy for the laboratory and its missions in the
Northwestern United States.
He joined Battelle in 1984 and worked for the project management division in Columbus,
Ohio. In 1987 he joined the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory where he managed both
economic research sections and departments.
Prior to joining Battelle, he was employed by Argonne National Laboratory, the Denver
Research Institute and the Council of Energy Resource Tribes. In 1982, he founded his
own business that assisted a variety of clients in forecasting and mitigating the effects
of rapid economic growth and decline on regional economies.
He holds a Ph.D. in economics and political economy from the State University of New
York and a Masters degree in business and economics. He has produced more than 50
publications and has served in adjunct faculty positions at the University of Illinois
(Chicago circle campus) and the University of Denver.
Greg Alderson is President and CEO of Invizeon Corporation in
Missoula, Montana. He was previously director of CDDG operations for Microsoft
Corporation in Redmond, Washington.
He was previously CFO and CEO of various software and biotech companies in
Seattle, and a CPA with Deloitte and Touche.
He received his M.B.A. from the University of Oregon and undergraduate
science degrees from the University of Washington.
Doug Hall started his entrepreneurial career at the age of 12, producing and
marketing a line of magic and juggling kits. Doug earned a degree in Chemical
Engineering at the University of Maine and spent 10 years working for Procter &
Gamble in the Advertising Department, where he rose to the rank of Master Marketing
Inventor. At P&G he shipped a record 9 new business initiatives in 12 months.
In 1990, he left P&G to pursue his own business dreams. With three credit cards
as his source of startup capital, he created the company that today is known worldwide
as the best innovation facility in America, the Eureka! Ranch. What makes the Eureka!
Ranch unique is its commitment to quantitative research and development. In 1998, the
Ranch's research on innovation success was honored with the George Land World Class
Innovator Award, presented by Fast Company Magazine and the Innovation Network.
Among the Eureka! Ranch's repeat clients are: Walt Disney, American Express, AT&T,
Frito Lay, Hewlett Packard, and Ford Motor Company. Research indicates that the average
American home uses 18 products or services the Eureka! Ranch has had a hand in developing.
Feature stories on Doug have appeared on Dateline NBC, CBC Venture, CNN,
CNBC, NPR, as well as, Inc. Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, CIO
Magazine and The New York Times.
David D. Lowry is founder, Chairman and President of Cornus Corporation. Cornus focuses upon providing accurate and timely information that leads solid business decisions. David’s vision was to create an information delivery vehicle that would make it easy for executives to have immediate visibility into their key performance indicators. 
Frank Gill is currently focusing on healthcare and serves on the board of Kryptiq Inc (venture backed healthcare connectivity company), Payless Long Term Care Pharmacy, and Avamere Inc (an operator of assisted living, skilled nursing, and hospice facilities). He currently co-chairs the Providence Health Systems $74M capital campaign and is a lifetime member and past president of the Providence St Vincent's Hospital Foundation Council of Trustees. Frank is also an angel investor and is an advisor to venture capital firms Voyager Capital and Sequoia Capital. 
Kathy Long Holland is a specialist in the development and launching of new products and strategies. She was an executive at Nike for 7 years as the Divisional Head of New Products and Markets. She has run her own business advisory firm, LongSherpa Design, specializing in new businesses and business transitions. Her work is targeted to helping owners, executives, and managers develop strategies for dealing with transition. These transitions are related to growth, market change, ownership change, and management change. 
Mike Card is the President and co-owner of Combined Transport, Inc, a family owned and operated trucking service founded in 1980 by his father, Richard Card. The company specialized in heavy hauling, glass hauling, heavy equipment hauling, and flatbed hauling. Listed as number 108 in Oregon Business magazine’s Top 150 Private Companies list, the Combined Transport reported revenue between $75 million and $100 million with ninety-seven employees in 2005.
John B. Dimmer is the Managing Member of FIRS Management LLC, a private investment company. Prior to joining FIRS, Mr. Dimmer was President and Co-founder of Free Range Media, Inc., a professional internet services firm which was acquired by Luminant Worldwide Corporation in September of 1999. From March 1986 until June 1995, Mr. Dimmer was employed with Reliance Surety Company, a leading provider of surety credit for corporations and individuals, where he held the position of Manager of Commercial Surety.
Patrick A.(Rick)McCloskey, is currently the CEO of Technocom,Inc. a regional technology service company based in Wilsonville, Oregon. After college, Rick began his career as an accountant and financial/acquistion analyst for a Fortune 500 company, in 1985, Rick helped start NorAm Telecommunications, a fiber optic company which was listed as one of Oregon's Fastest Growing Companies in 1995,1996 & 1997. The company was acquired in 2000 by NYSE listed Quanta Services. In April 2001, started Insight Development Group LLC, which invested initial capital and provided business advice to over a dozen local start ups, which includes Castor & Pollux, Amcrin, Versation, Eleven Wireless, Pacific West Bank to name a few. Four of those start ups (ESP, LiveWire, Connected Technologies and Managed Communications) merged to create Technocom in 2003/04. Mr.McCloskey was asked after the merger to accept the position of CEO. In 2006, Technocom was listed as one of the Fastest Growing Companies in the state, one of the Top Technology and Software companies and one of the Top Technology Service providers. Rick holds a Business Adminstration degree from the University of Oregon with emphasis in Finance and Accounting and has a Computer Science degree from Linfield College. Besides Technocom, Mr. McCloskey serves on the Boards of Pacific West Bank, Amcrin Corporation and the Brian Henninger Children's Charity Foundation. Rick's wife Mary Jo, is also a graduate of the University of Oregon. Visited October 30, 2007 
Monique Hayward is the President & CEO of Nouveau Connoisseurs Corporation, the company she founded in April 2004 which owns and operates Dessert Noir Café & Bar in Beaverton, OR. In addition to her entrepreneurial ventures, she is a Senior Marketing Manager at Intel Corporation in Hillsboro, OR. 
Trish May brings 20 years of experience in high tech and packaged goods marketing to the leadership of Athena Partners, a new concept in venture philanthropy for the women’s cancer cause. 
Paul Shipman is the President, Chairman of the Board, and CEO for Redhook Ale Brewery, one of the leading brewers
of craft beers in the United States. In May 1981, Mr. Shipman co-founded Redhook with Gordon Bowker, founder of Starbucks Coffee. Both men shared the dream to build a brewery and they decided to develop specialty craft beers as an alternative to the traditional national beer offerings. These pioneers are credited with spurring the dramatic growth in micro-brewery production across North America. Under Mr. Shipman’s leadership, Redhook has grown into one of America’s premier craft beers where he led Redhook in completing its 1995 initial public offering. 
Bernie Hansen is a business consultant and currently works as
entrepreneurial programs manager at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)
to provide business assistance to technology firms in the Tri-Cities and
surrounding Mid-Columbia area.
Dave Preston is the Director of Blades Server Development within the Server Group of Intel Corporation. In that position Dave is helping to drive the industry transition from rack mounted servers to Blade Servers in collaboration with IBM. Prior to his current position Dave spent 4 years as an Investment Director in the internal incubator of Intel Capital. Before Intel Capital, Dave had 10 years experience at Intel in a variety of financial, sales and marketing management roles. Several of these roles were at internal startups - the last as General Manager. Dave sold mainframe computers for IBM in the Midwest before joining Intel.
Charles (Chuck) M. Lillis, Ph.D., Director
Erik J. Stenehjem, Ph.D. is employed by Battelle Memorial Institute as the
manager of new ventures and regional initiatives at the Pacific Northwest National
Laboratory. He is responsible for creating significant value from the laboratory's
intellectual property and building advocacy for the laboratory and its missions in the
Northwestern United States.
Doug Hall started his entrepreneurial career at the age of 12, producing and
marketing a line of magic and juggling kits. Doug earned a degree in Chemical
Engineering at the University of Maine and spent 10 years working for Procter &
Gamble in the Advertising Department, where he rose to the rank of Master Marketing
Inventor. At P&G he shipped a record 9 new business initiatives in 12 months.
In 1990, he left P&G to pursue his own business dreams. With three credit cards
as his source of startup capital, he created the company that today is known worldwide
as the best innovation facility in America, the Eureka! Ranch. What makes the Eureka!
Ranch unique is its commitment to quantitative research and development. In 1998, the
Ranch's research on innovation success was honored with the George Land World Class
Innovator Award, presented by Fast Company Magazine and the Innovation Network.
Among the Eureka! Ranch's repeat clients are: Walt Disney, American Express, AT&T,
Frito Lay, Hewlett Packard, and Ford Motor Company. Research indicates that the average
American home uses 18 products or services the Eureka! Ranch has had a hand in developing.
Feature stories on Doug have appeared on Dateline NBC, CBC Venture, CNN,
CNBC, NPR, as well as, Inc. Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, CIO
Magazine and The New York Times.