About

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The chair of the OTBC Board, Ernie is a partner with law firm Ater Wynne. He represents emerging startups, as well as mature private and public companies. His practice encompasses the formation, financing, corporate governance, mergers and acquisition, intellectual property, and transactional fields. He has negotiated and closed complex merger and acquisition transactions, planned and counseled clients with regard to intellectual property protection and maintenance, structured and implemented licensing and distribution arrangements, and handled debt and equity financing transactions for clients in a wide variety of industries. 

 Beaverton City Councilor Allison Tivnon was elected in 2020. She previously chaired the Beaverton Arts Commission and served on the Oregon Complete Counts committee for the State of Oregon's 2020 Census. She has 15 years of experience in marketing, business development, and civic and philanthropic development.  She was a partner and the director of marketing for ECONorthwest. She has also worked with city planners, partnering with cities, counties, regional governments, transportation departments, and others on behalf of urban planners, transportation engineers, economists, and policy analysts. Councilor Tivnon also serves as the Board Secretary for the Friends of Frog Ferry and is a former Board Governor of the City Club of Portland. She is a graduate of California State University at Bakersfield and Portland State University.

Bill Berg has over 40 years of business management experience ranging from startups to large international firms. In his current role as Business Development Manager for the City of Beaverton, Bill is responsible for business retention, expansion and recruitment and provides general assistance to the local business community. Prior to joining city staff, Bill was the Director of Consulting for Mentor Graphics, an Oregon high-tech company headquartered in Wilsonville. Bill has served on a wide range of local boards, commissions and committees  engaged in urban redevelopment, public outreach, transportation and  non-profit activities. 

Dinah Adkins is President Emerita of the National Business Incubation Association and currently speaks, consults, and writes on topics related to business incubation and entrepreneurship support. She retired In  August 2009 after serving 21 years as President and CEO of NBIA, where she led all activities of the 2,000-member organization of incubator managers and developers, heading a staff of 14. Under Adkins’ direction, the Association developed products and services including publications, training, research, and consulting activities for both members –  representing 67 nations–and customers. With Adkins in the lead, NBIA  managed consulting and training efforts for Japanese, Bulgarian, Chinese, Kuwaiti, Saudi, Malaysian, and American contractors.

Previously, Ms. Adkins was founding staff and manager of the Ohio University Innovation Center, a campus-based incubator, from its  inception in 1982 until July 1989. She holds Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in English from Ohio University.

Manoj Garg is CEO of Virtual Information Executives which offers a range of services to its clients including IT Snapshot assessments, IT strategic plans, Interim CIOs, and formulating and running large IT projects.  He was formerly Director of Computing and Network Services at Portland State University, and Chief Information Officer at WebEx Communications Inc., and held a series of executive roles at Xerox  Corporation. 

Jill Nelson founded Ruby Receptionists (Ruby.com) and grew it to 630 employees and 10,000 customers before handing over the reins in 2019. Under Jill’s leadership, Ruby held the record-breaking position as one of Oregon’s fastest-growing companies for 13 consecutive years and was repeatedly named a top 5 place to work in the US by Fortune Magazine. Jill was a Pacific NW 2017 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year and was named the 2017 Oregon Technology Executive of the Year—the first woman to receive this recognition. Today, Jill is passionate about helping others on their entrepreneurial journey as an active angel investor and advisor. In addition to OTBC, she sits on the board of Ruby.com and the Legacy Health Foundation Board of Trustees.

Pryor Garnett is formerly IBM Senior Counsel for Patent Strategy, responsible for IBM’s global patent portfolio and patent leadership, and its IP Law information technology tools. He managed IBM’s Patent Portfolio Managers and corporate IP Law IT team. He has been active in IP professional organizations, with a particular interest in international IP matters, and is a current member of the AIPLA Fellows and of the board of the Oregon Technology Business Center. His primary technical expertise is in software and systems–particularly relational databases–and he has prepared, prosecuted, and analyzed many patents in those technologies. He graduated from MIT in 1979 in civil engineering and from the University of Washington School of Law in 1985 and is admitted to practice law in Oregon, Washington, California, New York, and Minnesota, and before the USPTO. Pryor works from the IBM Hillsboro campus in Oregon.