Our Master of Ceremony, Keynote Speaker and Panelists
The additional people that are so important to this conference
Our Master of Ceremony (MC)
Dano Ybarra has over 14 years experience in the telecommunications industry and an additional 13 years in the information publishing industry. As CEO of several startups, Dano has experience taking companies from concept to success. Holding various Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing positions at companies like Adobe and Siemens, he has led product strategies, marketing teams and sales teams to success.
As General Manager he has held full P&L responsibilities overseeing operations and engineering. As co-founder of FlowPoint, the first company to make broadband routers specifically designed for DSL, he guided the company from $800,000 annual sales to over $32 million annual sales in an eighteen month period. FlowPoint continued to grow and was acquired by Efficient Networks for $1.2 Billion and later by Siemens. Mr. Ybarra holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science.
Our keynote speaker:
Ron Baron, having earned a strong reputation as the “Counter-Intuitive” guy, continually takes his upbeat messages nationally and is a frequent featured speaker at corporation and association meetings, conventions, and cruises. You will enjoy Ron’s powerful stage presence, energetic speaking style, humor, and warmth.
Ron Baron reflects back on more than 30 years of senior-level national corporate leadership as President, V.P. Marketing, V.P. Sales & Marketing, and V.P. Operations and will help you understand how to use your wisdom instead of your intellect. (It’s not about working harder; it’s about working LESS . . . and he’ll prove it!)
Ron Baron is a highly acclaimed and dynamic public speaker, successful entrepreneur, and business leader and does extensive consulting and executive/leadership mentoring. An active volunteer for national non-profits that forward growth and rapid goal achievement, Ron is currently President of SCORE Salt Lake Chapter which offers free business counseling by 40 volunteer mentors with a wide array of skill sets. He conducts personal and professional seminars for prominent individual and business clients and has become well known to many return audiences.
The Panels and the Panelists:
Panel discussion – Sales & Marketing with Cary and Boyd
This will be an open discussion to answer questions and help you learn more about the things we didn’t cover in our other classes. This will include special guest Dano Ybarra as moderator and contributor.
Please see the above description for Dano Ybarra and you will find the descriptions for Cary White and Boyd Petersen on the presenter’s page.
Panel discussion – Financing your business
This discussion will include Venture Capitalist Ted McAleer (Park City Angels & runs PandoLabs), Banker Mike Winder (Entrepreneurship program director for Zion’s Bank), a small business loan specialist Mickey Grames (Utah MicroEnterprise Loan Fund) and an entrepreneur that bootstrapped his 20+ businesses – Bobby James.
Mickey Grames – She has been the Programs Manager for Utah Microenterprise Loan Fund for over 5 years. She is a former commercial loan officer for the Zions Bank Women’s Financial Group. Her early career includes management and executive positions for several major corporations including Warnaco, Inc., Black & Decker USA, and Jiffy Lube International.
As a corporate manager and executive, business owner and banker she has worked with small business for over 30 years helping them implement successful business strategies and find financing for their business.
Ted McAleer – Ted is currently the Managing Director of PandoLabs and was previously the 1st Executive Director of USTAR (Utah Science Technology and Research Initiative). He has also worked for SunGard SCT, Procter and Gamble, PepsiCo. and the US Army. He holds a MBA from Harvard Business School, a Master of Engineering from the University of Virginia and a BS in Engineering Management from the United States Military Academy at West Point. He volunteers his time as a Board Member or Trustee w the following organizations: Park City Angel Network, Mountain West Capital Network, Swaner EcoCenter, and PCCAPS.
Mike Winder – Mike Winder is vice president of community development and director of entrepreneurship programs for Zions Bank. He’s been a champion for economic development as West Valley City’s business development manager, a city councilman, and mayor. He helped transition Utah’s oldest milkman into the nation’s fastest growing online grocer and is the founder of Neptune Strategies. Winder holds an Honors BA and MBA from the University of Utah and a leadership certificate from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.
Bobby James‘ description is found on the presenter’s page.
Panel discussion – Finding great mentoring & building an advisory board
Includes Ron Baron (SCORE), Bryce Hansen (SBDC), Beth Collosimo (Miller Business Resource Center), Deb Bilbao (Women’s Business Center) and Clay Neves as moderator.
Ron Baron – See above for his information.
Deb Bilbao – Deb Bilbao is the Business Consultant at the Women’s Business Center. Deb provides an atmosphere of mentorship and resourcefulness needed for emerging entrepreneurs through one-on-one consultations, mentoring, training and networking. She counsels start-ups, pre-startups and expanding businesses on critical areas of business with a specialty in leadership.
Beth Collosimo – At SLCC, She oversees various small business programs including the Business Resource Center, the Innovation Center (Incubator), the Conference Center, the Export Assistance office, the refugee leadership training program, as well as the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) and Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program. She also coordinates with state, county, city, and community partners to advance the training and education for entrepreneurs and small business owners throughout the Wasatch Front.
As a former small business owner, she understands the challenges of owning and operating a small business and enjoy working with entrepreneurs at all stages of business development.
Bryce Hansen – Over the last decade, Bryce has worked with over 350 entrepreneurs and companies, providing advisory support in business planning and strategy, fundraising guidance and financial analysis. He is the interim director for the Salt Lake region SBDC (Small Business Development Center) and leads the Utah SBDC team’s effort in organizing the annual Utah Crowdfunding Conference and Crowdfund Hero Competition.
Clay Neves‘ description is found on the presenter’s page.
