Washington Economic Development Association Winter Conference

The Washington Economic Development Association held their 2019 Winter Conference in Olympia on March 5-6, 2019.

This year the keynote speaker was Mike Egan, Director of TechSpark at Microsoft. According to Microsoft’s website, “TechSpark is a civic program aimed at fostering greater economic opportunity and job creation through partnership with rural and smaller metropolitan communities.”

Egan spoke about the program and how it will benefit the rural areas of Washington State.
The Small Business Development Center had a panel discussion about impacts to small business communities across Washington. Economic Development Associations have been hosting the SBDC with in their offices and there are many mutual benefits both organizations see from this partnership.

Yakima County Economic Development Association and the Port of Port Angeles spoke with the SBDC advisors located within their organizations.

The remainder of the program focus on the 2019 legislative agenda for Washington State and what residents can expect to come from Olympia within the coming months.