EFGN's mission is to help our members think like entrepreneurs, growing the entrepreneurial spirit.

Spokane drives the economy for the Great Northwest, a region stretching from the Cascades to Great Plains, and from Calgary to Boise. The Entrepreneurs Forum of the Great Northwest is working to help people with ideas, skills, money, and expertise share their resources to build new and fast-growing businesses that will bring high-paying jobs and investment into the Great Northwest.

EFGN's forums and workshops are free and open to anyone with an interest in business startups and growth companies, including college students, entrepreneurs, investors, business owners, and professional service providers. This is an opportunity for you to meet with potential investors, employees, clients, and advisors to help build the regional economy. Time is available before and after each session to mingle and share ideas.

Don Yates - Co-Chairperson, Events Chair, Director of Workshops and Forums

Don Yates has over 30 years of experience in the High Tech and Telecommunications industries with such companies as Cisco Systems, Inc., Raytheon Corporation, and Telect. He has a background in Sales, Marketing, Customer Support, and Business Development, with expertise in developing strategic business strategies for Product Lines, Customer Support Service Programs, Sales, and Business Development. Currently the President of Yates Business Consulting, the focus of his company is to provide Go-to-Market and business plans directed at strategic domestic and international markets.

Chris Kelly - Co-Chairperson

Chris Kelly has over 25 years of business experience as entrepreneur, publisher, consultant, and author. Leveraging his deep technical expertise and breadth of computer industry experience, Chris has helped develop and launch new products, establish new companies and implement unique ideas for both enterprise and consumer markets.

His passion for introducing new products began at Apple Computer in Cupertino, California, where Chris managed national product development teams; developed the first online training software for operating systems and consumer software; and created a variety of global marketing materials, including corporate newsletters, video scripts, and the best-selling AppleWorks Tutorial. While at Apple, he led training sessions for writers, user-interface designers, and marketers from dozens of independent developers, including Microsoft, Great Plains Software, PeachTree, and VisiCorp; and developed training programs for Apple’s first in-house sales force.

Chris left Apple to become a partner in the startup that created Microsoft Works, the all-time best selling software product. He has consulted with companies such as Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, 3COM, McCann-Erickson, Redgate (AOL), Nexis/Lexis, Claris, Pinpoint Software, and Thunderware to develop the first template files delivered with consumer software, the first online training software for online search services, and the first commercial hypertext products.

His curiosity and interest in the publishing world led him to found Tipperary Press, publisher if It’s Okay to Be Happy; and Aftershock, producers of the California Quake Kit. Chris is also the author of six books on the history, sociology, and use of computers, as well as software reviews, profiles of industry leaders, industry analyses and other nationally published articles. Most recently, Chris is co-author of Darwin Awards Book IV: Intelligent Design, a Dutton book (available October 2006).

Chris studied English, economics, and urban design at Stanford University, where he received both a BA and an MA. Post-graduate work includes magazine and book publishing management at the Stanford Professional Publishing Course; film, video, and multimedia production at the Film Arts Foundation; web and magazine development at the Society for Publication Designers; leadership training with Jim Kouzes, then-chairman of the Tom Peters Group; and software startup financing at the University of California, Berkeley. He was a charter member of SVASE (the Silicon Valley Association of Startup Entrepreneurs), and is co-founder and current co-chair of EFGN.

Dan Ferguson- Finance & Administration Chair

Dan Ferguson graduated from Eastern Washington University with his BA degree in Studio Art/Photography, and his minor in Business Administration. He has been involved in business management, marketing, sales, and consulting services for large corporations, and within many technology rich environments over the past 25 years.

Dan's computer experience began with the basics of programming in 1979 while attending EWU. Following a period of employment with National Car Rental, and the Hertz Corporation, he focused on his career on his true interests. Dan became immersed in photo/graphics and creative services beginning in 1987. During that time digital imaging technologies were developing and beginning to be adopted. Dan was living and working in Los Angeles throughout the time of the early stages of digital graphics. He was also the project manager with a specialized securities printing company contracted by the USPS to print postage stamps. Consequently, he has extensive experience working with pre-press digital films and printing technologies.

Over the last 19 years, Dan has continued his involvement with computer and information technologies. In 1994, Dan was introduced to the Internet during a conference at USC, and since that time he has developed a broad knowledge of Web-based services and technologies. Starting from 1995, after returning to Spokane, he has headed sales and marketing for two regional ISP's, and he has started three new companies of his own.

During 1996 - 2001 he served on the Board of Directors for the WSA(Washington Software Alliance) while concurrently serving as the Co-Chair for their Inland Northwest Chapter. (www.wsa.org)

Dan currently serves as the vice president for Design Spike, a Web design and development business that he co-founded in March 2003. Design Spike provides database-driven Web services, and B2B creative services. Design Spike is located within the Terabyte Triangle in downtown Spokane WA. (www.designspike.com) In December 2005, Dan co-founded iDynaTECH, a software programming company that is developing open source Web Oriented Architecture technologies for enterprise-level computing. Dan is currently the president for iDynaTECH. (www.idynatech.com) Dan's earliest business experience began at the age of 6, and he had opened his first lemonade stand by the age of 9.