Our focus is to have the community see the SBDC as a business fitness center and not a business hospital. It's not where you go if you're a struggling business trying to fix your problems. It's a place to go for expert advice on how to grow your business. We have an expert team of business advisors that can assist you with starting or growing your business. They can help you with your greatest need from accessing debt or equity capital, marketing, e-commerce, human resource issues, increasing sales, developing your business plan or operations. Their valuable guidance is provided at no cost to you, thanks to the support of the Small Business Administration, Go Biz and our generous community partners.
Our Team
Ann Johnson-Stromberg
Norcal SBDC Associate Regional Director, Capital Region SBDC Interim Director
In addition to regional operations and programming oversight, Ann Johnson-Stromberg stands in as Interim Center Director for Norcal SBDC locations in transition. Ann also oversees California SBDC Summer Internship Program which has placed more than 120 Humboldt State University students in Small Business Development Centers since 2009. Ann has a Bachelor's Degree in Journalism from Humboldt State University with an emphasis in News-Editorial.
In between two different stints as a daily news reporter and editor, Ann owned a retail scrapbook business in Eureka, California. She has also owned and operated her own Public Relations consulting business and worked in a variety of capacities in economic development, most notably with the Norcal SBDC Regional Network. For the Norcal SBDC Ann is responsible for training all new SBDC advisors and directors for the 36-county Northern California territory.
Ann has served as a member of the America’s SBDC Conference Committee from 2014-2019 and is a past member of the America’s SBDC marketing committee where she assisted in the roll out of the national branding efforts.
Ron Barrett
Business Advisor
Ron is a native East Bay resident with more than 40 years of entrepreneurial and financial services experience.
Most recently, Barrett served as Manager of Government Guaranteed Loans for Bank of Alameda. Previously, he was a business development officer at Wachovia Small Business Capital and earlier served as a broker and financial advisor for Merrill Lynch. He also has had his own international marketing and sales counseling practice including assignments for the likes of the CEO of Kinko’s Graphics and ACT Teleconferencing.
In addition to his experience in the banking and brokerage industries, Barrett was recognized numerous times for his leadership as founder and CEO of Pride Electronics in San Diego, California, a company with 150 employees who sold its manufactured products in over 26 countries. Pride was named by the President of the United States as “Employer of the Year.”
Paul Bozzo, MBA
Equity Business Advisor
Paul Bozzo is a scalable entrepreneurial and technology ventures expert in the San Francisco Bay Area. Paul’s background blends over 25 years of professional experience in start-up strategy, angel and venture capital financing, strategic planning and SBA lending. His specialty is working with entrepreneurial ventures to refine their business model, create an investment-driven business plan and prepare an effective funding presentation. He also advises CEOs and founding teams on these common start-up issues: legal entity selection, equity financing structures, financial forecasting and exit strategies. Paul is an adjunct faculty member in both Sonoma State's Executive MBA program and Dominican University's Green MBA program.
M. Ester Gordillo
Business Advisor
Ms. Gordillo counsels, provides support and leadership in international trade to a wide array of industries from seasoned to start-up companies, and individuals. Ester assists companies through consulting, market intelligence, resources, trade missions, business matchmaking, commercial diplomacy, trade shows, and a variety of other trade promotion events.
Ms. Gordillo began her international trade consulting career at Verity Systems in El Dorado, California in the logistics department. She is currently a member of the Northern California District Export Council. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration with a concentration in International Business.
Dave McDougall
Business Advisor
Dave received his MBA from Rider University then obtained his position as the CEO of a $12 million dollar, 100+ employee, multi-location service company in the Bay Area. Dave brings a strong background in both the corporate and entrepreneurial worlds having owned his own business since the mid 1980’s and worked with several Fortune 500 companies. For the past nine years Dave has been a consultant for the greater Sacramento/Sierra Small business Development center. Dave concentrates in the following areas: Financial Management, Business Planning, Economic Feasibility, Cash Flow, Budgeting, and Financial Statement Analysis.
Veronika Monell
Business Advisor
Veronika Monell is passionate about small business and has helped hundreds of business owners grow their businesses. She has joined the SBDC as a consultant in 2016 and is also the owner and strategist of JumpStartNOW. Veronika helps to strategically put the pieces for your business together to create a clear picture. She supports business growth through forward thinking strategies in an ever changing world of marketing and business dynamics. Veronika is a generalist who focuses at the SBDC on startup strategy, business development, strategic planning, online and social media marketing, SEO, eCommerce. Veronika started her career in the fast-paced and dynamic video game industry. Developing and launching cutting-edge products and finding solutions for almost impossible problems was her mission. With her end-to-end business expertise, she helped set the stage for new business opportunities which resulted in millions of dollars in new revenue. She was a nominee for the “2017 Woman on the Way,” NAWBO’s Outstanding Women Leadership award, serves as co-chair of the 2018 Sacramento Metro Chamber Ambassador Committee and was awarded 2017 Ambassador of the Year.
Panda Morgan
Business Advisor
Established 26 year career in banking with a wide range of skills in operations, management, training, auditing, and consumer/commercial lending. Owner operator of a local moving and storage company (North American Van Lines) for over 10 years. Responsible for daily operations and management within the company, such as: dispatch, accounting, payroll, HR, marketing, estimating (residential & commercial), booking, state & federal inspections, and PUC licensing. Owner of Anchor Property Solutions, LLC; business consultant and workshop instructor. SBDC consultant for over 20 years specializing in business plans, loan preparation, loan application, time management, operations/management, leadership skills, HR, and business expansion. All areas include one-on-one consulting and workshops. SBDC director for eight years specializing in community outreach, business and partnership development, managed budgets, wrote grants/contacts, and managed staff. Over 20 years as a professor at Yuba Community College District and Sierra College teaching classes in entrepreneurship, operations/management, time management, marketing, and leadership.
Barbara Read
Business Advisor
Barbara has 25 years of experience in business management including seventeen years with the Small Business Development Center. In addition, Barbara was a Marketing Manager at Neutrogena Corporation and is also a professor teaching Marketing, Advertising and Entrepreneurship at California State University of Sacramento. Barbara received her MBA from the University of California, Los Angeles, and her B.A. in philosophy from Stanford University.
Don Rose
Business Advisor
Don has over 35 years of experience in business financial management and banking. After spending the first five years of his career as a commercial loan officer, Don completed his MBA and progressed through a variety of finance positions, including Treasurer, Vice President-Finance, and Chief Financial Officer, in a variety of industries, including food processing, wholesale distribution, consulting, health care, biotech, farm supply, and real estate development. He has worked for companies with a variety of ownership structures, including private and publicly traded for-profits, non-profits, and cooperatives. Recently, Don has provided part-time CFO services to multiple companies, in industries such as high-tech manufacturing and consumer products distribution. Over the course of his career, Don has raised hundreds of millions of dollars of capital, while working closely with CEOs in evaluating and implementing strategic initiatives. At various times, he has also been responsible for HR and IT. As an SBDC consultant, Don focuses on raising capital, financial planning and analysis, budgeting and forecasting, optimizing financial performance, and strategic planning for growing companies.
Bill Teeple
Business Advisor
Bill has over 13 years of experience as a business advisor for the SBDC and over 33 years of experience as an undergraduate and graduate college professor. For over 33 years Bill has been working in government contracting and project management, in addition to over 20 years of experience in business supervision and management.
Bill has held many management positions in civil service and his education includes, Masters of Business Administration (MBA) and Masters of Aeronautics Science, and Acquisition Professional Development Program Level 3 (Highest) in Contracting. Bill retired from the Federal Service with 31 years of service with multifunctional experience to include contracting, aviation, maintenance, quality, production and manufacturing, logistics, training, project management, and safety.
