Consulting Associates
Acheve’s veteran team of associates specialize in working with aspiring entrepreneurs and those planning and delivering programs and courses to an entrepreneurial audience. Our entrepreneurial coaches provide one-on-one assistance to start-up and early stage entrepreneurs. They have extensive experience working with entrepreneurs in the business formation process and a broad range of industry experience, including retail, consulting, manufacturing, education, services and technology. Our consulting associates work closely with colleges, state agencies and entrepreneur support organizations to plan, develop and market programs to entrepreneurs on a local, state and national level. Their experience in developing and marketing entrepreneurship programs enables you and your organization to quickly and efficiently offer tested programs to your community.
Bios
Mary Beth Izard
is a Professor Emeritus, author, entrepreneur and consultant. She has been a scholar-in-residence at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and consulted on various projects. As a professor of entrepreneurship, Mary Beth developed and launched the national recognized Entrepreneurship Program at Johnson County Community College. She is the author of the college textbook, Opportunity Analysis, Business Ideas: Identification and Evaluation, and the book BoomerPreneurs, How Baby Boomers Can Start Their Own Business, Make Money and Enjoy Life, available on this Web site (click on Books and Resources) or at Amazon.com. Mary Beth’s entrepreneurial experience includes consulting, light manufacturing and real estate. She consults with colleges and organizations on entrepreneurship curriculum and entrepreneurs in planning and launching their businesses.
Todd Smith
Todd is a serial entrepreneur with startup and entrepreneurial management experience across many industries, mostly focused on high-growth, technology ventures. After starting his career as an investment-banking analyst specializing in the creation and financing of technology-based startup ventures, followed by a stint as a business incubator manager, he founded his first technology business with private investor funding which was later acquired by H&R Block. Smith’s background also includes serving as marketing director of a Venture Captial-backed technology venture which was acquired in 2000, and as a turn-around CEO of a Washington DC based defense technology business. Smith earned an undergraduate degree from the University of Missouri and an MBA from Babson College in Boston, recognized in the U.S. and around the world as the top-ranked graduate business school in entrepreneurship. In-between entrepreneurial ventures, Smith serves as a Project Consultant for the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City, Missouri, and in his spare time, pursues his hobby as a licensed SCCA racecar driver competing in regional and national road course events.
Cheri Streeter
Cheri experienced entrepreneurship firsthand from starting up a manufacturing company that introduced concrete paving stones to the Kansas City region. The business grew to be the largest paving stone producer in the Kansas City region and was eventually sold to a national firm that has become the second largest producer in the U.S. After selling the business, Cheri sought an opportunity to share her entrepreneurial expertise and joined the Small Business Development Center (SBDC), a non-profit agency of the SBA, at Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, Kansas, where she consulted with and coached over 1,000 emerging and existing small business owners and entrepreneurs and served as its director for 11 years. Cheri recently retired from JCCC as the dean of continuing education. She currently consults with and coaches small business owners through her company, JTAB Associates LLC, and also specializes in business writing and editing services. Cheri is fluent in Spanish and received an MBA from the University of Denver while working as an interpreter and export manager for an international manufacturing company. She is one of four founding members of the Women’s Capital Connection, an angel investor network, and serves on the boards of the Enterprise Center of Johnson County, Heartland Business Capital, the Entrepreneurial Exchange II, and the One KC for Women Alliance.
Donna Duffey
After 17 years of executive experience in retail management, Donna joined the faculty at Johnson County Community College, in Overland Park, Kansas, in 1987 where she is a full time Professor and Department Chair for the Entrepreneurship Associate of Applied Science degree program. As a professor and consultant to small businesses, Donna has worked with hundreds of aspiring entrepreneurs over the years, with a special focus on retail management. External to JCCC, she has been actively involved in the National Association of Community College Entrepreneurship (NACCE) having served on the association's initial board of advisors. Additionally, she has been actively involved in the Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP) since 1995 and served as the President of the Board of Directors during the 2001-2002 academic year. Donna has published numerous articles on entrepreneurship programming at the community college level and has given over twenty regional and national conference presentations in the last several years. She has also provided assistance to numerous community colleges across the country in the development of their entrepreneurship programming initiatives. Donna holds a BS in Fashion Merchandising from Wisconsin State University-Stout and a MBA from Baker University.