State Advisory Board
The FSBDC Network's Statewide Advisory Board provides advocacy for the FSBDC and the participating universities and community colleges, and guidance to the State Director of the Florida SBDC Network to advance and improve the overall Network administration and programmatic operations.
Michael J. Donnelly is the Principal Consultant of Beacon Management-Management Consultant's Florida office located in Pompano Beach. Mr. Donnelly opened Beacon Management's Florida office in 1985 to provide emerging and middle market companies with themanagerial and financial expertise available primarily to larger firms. Beacon Management's clients are principally first generation, early stage, growth andfinancially-troubled private companies. Beacon Management also provides assistance to public companies, not-for-profits and the public sector.
Judith E. Dacey, from the Ocala area, is a nationally recognized small business consultant known as the CPA with Personality! Her niche is incorporation and new business start-up. She believes the essential keys to economic well-being are internal - within us - not external. Judith graduated at the top of her class, is a member of MENSA, recognized as the SE Regional Advocate of the Year by SBA, and is very active in the small business community. She is the founder of the Jacksonville Small Business Referral Network, the predecessor to SBRN.
Rick Harper's career as an economist began in 1979 at the Research Triangle Institute in North Carolina, where he was involved in all phases of various funded research projects. Rick received his Ph.D. in Economics from Duke University in 1989 and joined the UWF faculty that same year. He received his bachelor's degree from Guilford College in North Carolina. Prior to coming to UWF, Rick lectured at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Other academic experience includes visiting appointments at ESSCA, in Angers, France, the University of Nottingham, England and University College, Cork, Ireland. His published scholarly research is largely in the area of government policy and its effect on the business environment. Through UWF's Haas Center for Business Research and Economic Development, where he served as director, Rick worked with Florida businesses and government leaders on a variety of business research and economic development issues. He represented Northwest Florida on Governor Jeb Bush's Council of Economic Advisors from 2001 - 2006. He now serves as director of UWF's Office of Economic Development and Engagement.
Jerry Cartwright has served the SBDC and national Association for 22 years as the State Director for the University of West Florida FSBDC Network for 15 years and, serving in the same capacity in the Minnesota SBDC program for seven years at the University of St. Thomas. He holds both a Bachelor and Master of Arts in Education from the University of Northern Colorado. He has been recognized as an innovator in developing new programs such as the Japan Trade Expansion Center Program and international SBDC affiliates in Mexico and Curacao and, envisioned and guided the development of the Florida Professional Development and Counselor Certification Program that has been replicated in some fashion by 36 State SBDC programs and 2 foreign small business assistance organizations. He has served the national program as its Treasurer in 1987-88 and most of its committees, to include Operations, Legislative and Accreditation. He is the single point of contact for the management and operation of the Florida program. Jerry reports directly to the Provost for Academic Affairs at the University of West Florida and serves on the President's Advisory Council and the Sponsored Research Advisory Committee. Board Members
For the past 44 years, Stephen K. Beasley has owned Beasley & Associates, a public relations and advertising firm in Tallahassee, Florida. In the 1970s, he founded the Capitol Outlook Newspaper, Tallahassee's only black weekly newspaper. He also co-founded the Annual Small Business Week activities in Tallahassee. The 2004 Small Business Week marked the 21st annual celebration. The Small Business Week event is spearheaded by the FAMU Small Business Development Center and co-sponsored by the City of Tallahassee, Florida Department of Management Services-Office of Supplier Diversity, Leon County, Leon County Schools and the Capital City Chamber of Commerce. Stephen is a recipient of numerous small business awards, including the US Small Business Administration's Statewide Small Business Advocate of the Year Award in 1972.
Dr. Lloyd Fernald is a Professor of Management at the College of Business Administration, University of Central Florida (UCF), in Orlando, Florida. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering from the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland; Master of Science degree in Personnel Administration from the US Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California; and Doctorate of Business Administration from The George Washington University in Washington, DC. He instructs in the areas of Human Resource Management and Organizational Behavior, teaches a graduate course in Creative and Innovative in Management and was a Case Supervisor (Associate Director to Ron Rubin) for the Small Business Institute at UCF for five years. He is a Past President of the Small Business Institute Directors Association (SBIDA); Past President of SBDA Region IV (Southeast United States), Past President of the International Council for Small Business (ICSB); and a Fellow in the International Council for Small Business (ICSB), US Association of Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE), and Small Business Institute Directors Association (SBIDA). He is on the Strategic Analysis Committees for both the on the ICSB and USASBE and served on the Steering Committee of the International Small Business Congress (ISBC) for three years. He also is a member of the Florida SBDC Network Board of Directors, Past Chair of the City of Orlando Human Relations Board, and Past Project Manager in establishing the National Entrepreneur Center in Orlando, Florida. Commencing in 1997, he has been the US Representative on the International Advisory Group of Experts (INAGE), an ad hoc committee tasked to establish and oversee the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Training and Certification of Small Business Counselors Program. As a result of this experience, the University of Central Florida College of Business Administration (CBA) was awarded the sole rights to implement the Program in the US. He now serves on the Professional Standards Committee, which is tasked to oversee the APEC-wide implementation of the Program. A separate entity, the Institute of Certified Business Consultants (ICBC) has been established within the CBA with Dr. Fernald as the Director. He also is a member of the American Association of Physician Specialists (AAPS) National Orthopedic Surgeons Certification Board. Appointed in 2000, he was recently reappointed for a third two-year term. He has served four years on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Small Business Management, six years on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Management Systems and has been guest editor for several other national and international small business journals, including Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice. His research interests are primarily in the area of entrepreneurship and small business, creative and innovative management, and the relationship between creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship. His articles have been published in the Journal of Business and Entrepreneurship, Journal of Gaming & Simulation, Journal of Creative Behavior, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Journal of Small Business Management, the Journal of Private Enterprises, several periodicals and numerous conference proceedings.
Todd G. Kocourek serves as President, CEO and General Counsel of Florida First Capital Finance Corporation, reporting to the board of directors. Based in the corporate offices in Tallahassee, he has direct management responsibility for all personnel, operational, corporate, marketing and legal matters for the company. Kocourek joined Florida First Capital as its General Counsel and, in 1998, was named President/CEO. He is a member of the SBA North Florida Advisory Council, Vice-Chair of the board of the Florida Export Finance Corporation, the Past Chair of the International Law Section of the Florida Bar.
Though Mark Llano started Source One Distributors in his garage with 2 employees and $1.7 million in sales; looking at the company's current 10,000 square foot warehouse, 20 full-time staff, and sales of over $52 million, you would never know it. After 9/11, Mark, a former Marine, was asked to rejoin the Marine Corp. While he had an intense desire to continue to serve his country, he struggled greatly with making the right decision as he was now married, had two small children and a successful career as an investment banker. This dilemma led to the "birth" of Source One. Mark knew the need for better tactical gear and equipment in the field and believed that he could make a difference to his military brothers and sisters while maintaining a healthy family life. He was determined to help give back to the servicemen and women with whom he felt a deep connection. Armed with a cell phone, computer, determination and 100 hour weeks, Mark founded Source One to provide mission critical gear and equipment, product sourcing, acquisition solutions, and contracting expertise to a broad array of clientele in the defense industry, including the Department of Defense, national security, law enforcement, search and rescue, fire and safety and the private security sectors. Since it's inception five years ago, Source One has shown exponential growth, developing various purchasing vehicles such as the SBA 8(a) certification, multiple GSA schedules, a DoD EMALL IDIQ contract for streamlined acquisitions, Catalogs (300+ pg), Tradeshows (40+ p/y), EDI, and B2B website development proving they are 100% "Committed to the Mission…™" Due to the exceptional growth of the business, Mark and Source One have also won and been nominated for several national and regional awards including: the U.S. SBA's South Florida District Small Business Person of the Year, the U.S. SBA's Veteran Small Business Champion of the Year, the U.S. SBA's Minority Enterprise Development Week Award Winner, the U.S. Dept. of Commerce Minority Supplier/Distributor of the Year, as well being a finalist 3 consecutive years for the Ernst & Young Florida Entrepreneur Of The Year. Though they are proud of their accomplishments, Mark and Source One are constantly striving to provide improved distribution, best of class equipment and quality customer service to today's war fighter.
Dan Regelski is the Regional Director of the SBDC at Florida Gulf Coast University. Dan worked for two years as a certified business analyst at Edison Community College prior to starting up the program at FGCU. Dan has over twenty years of business experience in operations management and other executive level responsibilities for several major food cooperative chain stores, mostly in the Northeast. Dan has taught core business courses on many different levels: the continuing education level, for three different community colleges, and two universities, currently teaching marketing for FGCU. At FGCU Dan, has worked to pool the efforts and expertise of the local SCORE Chapters combined with many professional volunteers to offer business counseling to those entrepreneurs just starting up or those who plan to grow their business. Dan grew up in an entrepreneurial environment where he was taught the meaning of working in and on a business working with his father and brother in a large Agri-business venture. Dan has an undergraduate degree in Biology and Chemistry from Alliance College and a MBA with concentration in Management from the University of New Hampshire. Dan and his family reside in Cape Coral.
Keevin Williams joined Space Florida as the Director of Business Development in March 2009. In this role, Keevin is responsible for retaining and growing Florida aerospace enterprise, helping new entities to establish or expand within the state. As part of his responsibilities, Williams will utilize formal due diligence processes to qualify new business and expansion projects, with emphasis on determining prospects financial capabilities to support their business models. He will also ensure good partner relations and work with Enterprise Florida to coordinate Florida�s economic incentive programs to encourage job creation in the aerospace sector. Keevin most recently served as the president of the Florida Black Business Investment Board, Inc., a public-private partnership through the State of Florida, meant to promote the growth and development of black business enterprises by providing access to capital, procurement, technical assistance, and legislative and regulatory advocacy. Overall, Williams has more than a decade of expertise in executive level economic development and banking. Prior to serving six years as an executive to the Florida Black Business Investment Board, Keevin was vice president of government relations and insurance for the Florida Bankers Association. Keevin holds a Juris Doctorate from Florida State University College of Law and a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from the University of South Florida. Additionally, he is on the Board of Directors for the Florida Black Chamber of Commerce, and is an advisory board member of the Florida Network of Small Business Development Centers.
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| A statewide service network funded in part through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. SBA, accredited by the national Association of SBDCs and hosted by the University of West Florida |    |
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Florida SBDC Network State Office
| UWF, Office of Economic Development & Engagement | 11000 University Pkwy, Bldg 38 | Pensacola, FL 32514
1.866.737.7232 or 850.473.7800 | info@floridasbdc.org