Economic Development for Central Oregon has a staff of nine professionals:
Roger Lee has been the Executive Director of EDCO since September 1999. He has 18 years of economic development experience, working in business development for the Seattle/King County Economic Development Council and economic and community development for Baker City/County in Northeast Oregon. Roger is a graduate of University of Washington in International Economics. His industry experience includes employment at Hewlett-Packard Co., and Idaho’s largest electric utility, Idaho Power.
Networked throughout the Pacific Northwest with colleagues in the field, he has served as the president of the Oregon Economic Development Association, board member of the Pacific Northwest Economic Development Council, is a current board member of the Oregon Manufacturing Extension Partnership (OMEP) and is involved in several committees at the state level in charting the future of economic and community development for Oregon. Locally, he serves on advisory boards for Opportunity Knocks, Entrepreneur’s Foundation, and Central Oregon Resources for Independent Living.
At EDCO, Roger is responsible for the tri-county area’s economic development strategy, business recruitment, oversight of the organization and its satellite offices, and development of special projects including industrial parks, expansion of commercial air service and creation of new programs to assist the region’s traded-sector employers and improve the overall business climate.
Eric Strobel joined EDCO in January 2006 as the Business Development Manager. Eric possesses over 14 years experience in the film industry, information technology, and management. Most recently, he was the District Manager at Central Electric Cooperative where he managed the Bend service center, the customer service department, and acted as an Account Executive for the coop’s larger members in Bend.
Eric received his Bachelor of Arts in Communications from San Diego State University and has lived in Bend since 1992. He has been heavily involved in the Bend community through United Way, Rotary Club of Bend, and is currently the co-chair for Bend 2030, a community visioning project.
As the Business Development Manager, Eric is responsible for meeting with businesses throughout the three-county area to help with issues such as business finance, facilities development, manufacturing processes, product marketing, workforce training, attracting and retaining labor force, and incentives for expansion.
Like many others, Dayna Dudkowski was attracted to Bend by both the quality of life and the region's creative energy. With an extensive background in tourism and hospitality, Dayna began her Central Oregon career at the High Desert Museum, where she had the opportunity to learn about Central Oregon’s rich cultural and natural heritage. She joined the EDCO team in May of 2006 as the Events & Membership Development Manager, eager for a new challenge and wanting to gain insight into the social and business considerations of Central Oregon's growing economy.
At EDCO, Dayna is responsible for Membership Development and Event planning. With over 300 EDCO members, she is busy meeting new members, bringing them together through major networking events and sharing resources and knowledge in the community. She also assists EDCO’s many strategic partners with event and meeting planning.
Prior to moving to Bend in 2002, Ruth Lindley was Marketing Director for InterTrust Technologies Corporation, developer of secure computing technologies, where she managed the PR surrounding a high profile, successful patent lawsuit against Microsoft. Ruth spent 18 years at Target Corporation and, as Marketing Director, initiated innovative customer loyalty and ethnic marketing programs. As an independent consultant for six years, she worked with companies including Sunset Publishing to create custom magazines to extend company branding. Ruth holds a degree in Consumer Economics and Consumer Textiles from UC Davis, a certificate in e-commerce, and is involved in Bend's arts community.
As Marketing Manager, Ruth manages EDCO’s PR efforts, portfolio of publications, serves as the “hub” for business intelligence for Central Oregon, and is responsible for website marketing.
Erin Chaiet , Operations Manager, joined the team in December of 2001 upon relocating from Idaho with her husband. Her extensive customer service skills and administrative operations experience stem from positions held at the University of Idaho.
Erin holds an undergraduate degree in Spanish from the University of Idaho and a Masters of Arts in Teaching from George Fox University. When not in the office at EDCO, she is most likely substitute teaching in the Bend-La Pine School District, where she enjoys working with children.
Her responsibilities at EDCO include accounts payable/accounts receivable maintenance and tracking, payroll reporting and execution, database creation and management, event support, editing, and numerous other daily activities.
Jason Carr joined the EDCO team in June 2007 as Manager of the Prineville/Crook County Economic Development program. Carr brings over 10 years of media and community experience to the position and a strong knowledge base of individuals, businesses, and organizations throughout the Central Oregon region.
Central Oregonians may recall Carr as KTVZ NewsChannel 21 primary anchor from 2002 to 2005. Carr spent nearly a decade with KTVZ in a variety of reporting positions including business and government, sports, and community issues as well as producing and writing assignments. For the two years prior to joining EDCO, Carr was Anchor, Reporter, and Producer at KEZI 9 News in Eugene, Oregon.
As the Manager of the Prineville/Crook County Economic Development program, Carr is responsible for helping existing businesses with expansion or retention issues, working on behalf of Prineville and Crook County on new business and industry recruitment projects, and on other strategic community-based projects with significant impacts to the local economy. The Prineville/Crook County Economic Development program is a partnership between EDCO, the Prineville/Crook County Chamber of Commerce, Crook County, and the City of Prineville, and local businesses.
Jon Stark, Redmond Economic Development, Inc.’s Manager, was formerly the Vice President of Business Development for Express Employment Professionals has been a staffing industry professional for 9 years. His work included the development of workforce and workplace solutions for more than 200 Central Oregon Businesses. He is a recognized speaker on topics such as employee retention, workforce recruitment, interviewing and hiring process, and workforce development.
He has served on the Redmond Chamber Board of Directors for 2 terms and is currently an active Board member for Redmond Economic Development. Jon has chaired the Membership Committee for the Redmond Chamber and in 2002 was the Chairman for the City of Redmond’s “Branding Committee”. Additionally, he has played an active roll on the planning committee for the Central Oregon Job and Career Expo and the Bend Chamber Professional Development Council.
Wayne Pearson joined EDCO in November 2008 in a new position as Manager of Economic Development for Jefferson County. A graduate of Northern Illinois University with a BS degree in marketing, Wayne has over 30 years of business marketing experience in the publishing and commercial printing industries working with a wide spectrum of businesses in California, Nevada and Oregon.
This new position in Jefferson County is supported by the county, cities and private sector businesses within the county with the goal of recruiting new traded-sector businesses as well as working with existing business with relevant issues for business retention and opportunities for expansion. Wayne will work closely with the various county and city boards, commissions and business groups to facilitate diversified business growth for the county.
Scott Larson brings a unique combination of early stage company leadership and direct angel and venture capital experience to EDCO’s new Venture Catalyst Manager. The program, with Scott at the helm, will assist Central Oregon entrepreneurs to move a company or product forward from concept to successful enterprise.
A newlywed, Scott is excited to have relocated to Central Oregon and embark on launching the Venture Catalyst. He received his bachelors’ degree, Phi Beta Kappa, from Tufts University in Massachusetts and his graduate degree with honors from Columbia University in New York City.
His entrepreneurial experience began with www.theglobe.com, one of the original community sites on the Internet, which attracted a $20 million seed round investor prior to its successful public offering in 1998. He later served as Vice President of InfoMove, a telematics company focused on bringing location-based services to the automobile. Concurrently, he served as a residing Javits Fellow from Columbia University on the U.S. Senate Technology & Communications Committee, which researched and advised the U.S. government on internal information technology services.
Prior to coming to Central Oregon, Scott founded Vashon Partners, a think tank and strategic group for inventors, comprised of angel investors, business executives and other experts in the Pacific Northwest with the mission to bring innovative ideas to market.
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