Director of Small Business Development Center attends entrepreneurial retreat

Bellingham Business Journal, July, 2008

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Tom Dorr, director of Western Washington University's College of Business and Economics' Small Business Development Center (SBDC), attended the Edward Lowe Foundation ESO2 Retreat, at Big Rock Valley in southwestern Michigan. Business leaders from across the country who have focused on high-growth companies and are involved in building entrepreneurial communities were invited to attend the event.

The Edward Lowe Foundation is nationally known for its focus on entrepreneurship, with special emphasis on second-stage companies and regional economic growth.

The SBDC is one of the premier economic development service providers in Whatcom County. Significant positive impacts in 2007 included 436 companies that had stabilized or expanded. Those clients, in turn, saved or created more than 750 jobs and generated almost $24 million in new capital investments.