Norm Leatha, President
Norm is the Assistant Director of the Hogan Entrepreneurial Leadership Program at Gonzaga University, a competitive four-year inter-major concentration for developing entrepreneurial leadership skills. He co-founded the Delta Angel Group in 2002 and has been its president every since. Norm received his BA in Business from the University of Washington and started a lifetime of work with young companies selling basic systems for IBM and later designing enterprise software for IBM in Menlo Park, CA. The excitement of silicon valley in the 70’s and 80’s sparked a passion for startups that led to roles as founder, officer, or director of several early stage companies in software, system services and biotech over the past 20 years.

John Pariseau, Vice President

John Pariseau is General Manager of WIN Partners, LLC, an angel fund based in Spokane. Prior to WIN, John was CFO of Brewster Heights Packing, Inc., the largest privately owned integrated fruit shipper in the United States. Johnhas alsofounded a number of successful real-estate and retail ventures over the last 20 years. He is a graduate of the University of Puget Sound and the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, and serves on the boards of The Delta Angel Group, Connect Northwest, and is an advisor at the Hogan New Venture Lab at Gonzaga University.

Accomplished international professional with 40 years of experience in opening and building new global markets. Expertise includes strategic international business vision. Comprehensive business background including P&L accountability, forecasting and business plan development. Successfully develops and and motivates multi-cultural teams. Experience in international business that began in various sales, management and executive positions at ADS ANKER Data Systems (1955 – 1977) in Europe and the United States, including research, development, and manufacturing responsibilities for operations in Canada and Puerto Rico. Significant global business, operations and sales management expertise, working for large and diversified international companies. Regions of experience: North America, Latin America, Europe, Middle East, South East Asia, Japan, Australia.

 

 

Mark Williams

 

Jon E. Eliassen is past President and CEO of the Spokane Area Economic Development Council (EDC), which he lead from August 2003 until January 2007. Prior to joining the EDC, Eliassen retired from the position of senior vice president and chief financial officer of Avista Corp, a position he held for 16 years. During his 33 year career at Avista, Eliassen was a visionary leader of initiatives relating to corporate strategy, business development, communications, financial policy, corporate finance, state and Federal regulatory strategy, and was active in development of a number of successful subsidiary company operations including technology related startups Itron, Avista Labs, and Avista Advantage. Eliassen has participated in venture capital initiatives in the region and nationally, and is active in regional economic development in Washington. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Itron Corporation (NASDAQ), Red Lion Hotel Corporation (NYSE), and IT Lifeline, WSU Research Foundation, and the Washington Technology Center in Seattle, as well as NVA Holdings, LLC, and Terrapin Capital Group, LLC., and is Lead Director and Chairman of the Governance Committee of the Itron Board of Directors. Eliassen is also a former Board member and past Chair of the Western Energy Institute. He has been active as member of the Board of Directors of the Financial Executives Institute, Inland Northwest Chapter, past member of Pacific Coast Gas Association, Edison Electric Institute and Western Electric Power Institute, the Spokane Symphony Endowment Fund, and the Boards of the Spokane Intercollegiate Research and Technology Institute, The Heart Institute, The Spokane Symphony Society, and the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture. He was a founding Board member of the Northwest Energy Technology Collaborative.

Steve Trabun

Steve Trabun has over 20 years of multi-functional and executive-level experience in large organizations and start-up environments, providing strategic and tactical business planning and leadership across all functional areas of the organization. Steve is a member of the Customer Solutions team at Avista Corporation, and is currently a loaned executive assigned to lead the Virtual Possibilities Network (VPnet), a regional public/private partnership consortium. As president of VPnet, he is responsible for all aspects of the 501(c)(3), non-profit organization, including business formation, business development, marketing, finance, funding, services delivery and support as well as all other operational aspects. Steve has tremendous passion for entrepreneurship. He has been a Hogan Entrepreneur program NVL project team advisor, and is currently on the advisory boards for the Hogan Entrepreneur program as well as the New Venture Lab. Steve holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from Washington State University as well as a Masters of Business Administration degree from Gonzaga University.

 

Chuck Cleveland has represented a variety of issuers and underwriters in a wide variety of corporate finance transactions (including registered and exempt offerings, debt and equity offerings, foreign and domestic, venture capital and angel financing transactions); mergers, acquisitions, broker-dealer representation; proceedings before the New York Stock Exchange, National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc., Commodities Futures Trading Commission; as well as SEC and State enforcement actions; civil litigation (jury/non-jury) under the Securities Act of 1933 and Securities Exchange Act of 1934; and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Enjoys the “due diligence” process. He received an LLM from the University of Denver and his JD from Gonzaga Law School. He is admitted to practice in Washington, U.S. District Courts for Eastern/Western District of Washington, U.S. Court of Claims, U.S. Tax Court, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. He is a member of the Business Law Section of the American Bar Association.

Gary Spanner is the Manager of Economic Development at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Dr. Spanner's role is to apply PNNL's technological resources to help boost the economy of the nation and of the region. He has implemented a number of innovative programs to serve the technological needs of small business and to help diversify the local and regional economy. Prior to helping start the EDO, Dr. Spanner had broad experience in both industry and research in the areas of industrial modernization, energy systems analysis, energy conservation evaluation, design, and nondestructive evaluation. Gary holds BS and PhD degrees in engineering, and a MBA. He is the author of over 40 publications and has won a number of national awards for his economic development and technology commercialization work. Prior to joining PNNL, Gary worked at Texas Instruments and at Babcock and Wilcox. He is also active in Junior Achievement and the United Way.

Past Board Members
Kim Stearns, Roger Woodworth, Gary Paquin, John Werderman