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Meet our Entrepreneurs in Residence

GREG BIERSACK

CEO and Founder, Reach Service LLC

Greg Biersack is a multi-disciplinary senior executive, able to lead and collaborate across numerous functions. Greg is the CEO and Founder of Reach Service LLC, (reachforservice.com) a company dedicated to helping service technicians succeed and eliminating stress for clients associated with dental equipment. He is responsible for providing the vision and direction for the company. He also manages the company’s finances, marketing efforts and technology direction. The company currently serves dental offices in OR, WA, CA, MO and KS, with a goal to serving practices nationwide within the next 5 years.

Prior to starting his own company, he was VP of Operations at Burkhart Dental, acting as both the COO and CFO. As the VP of Operations, Greg led and developed deep expertise in multiple functional areas, including finance, marketing, human resources, information technology, legal, and operations. His efforts resulted in continued operational improvements and increased profitability. His leadership helped to shape a positive culture that resulted in Burkhart being rated one of Washington’s Best Places to work.

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Earlier, as VP of Sales, Greg led and accounted for 15 branch locations, guiding the company to six consecutive years of record setting sales growth.

Greg has served as a Marketing Professor at UW Tacoma since 2017. He brings real life experiences and practical knowledge to the classroom, creating excitement for his students about becoming a business leader in the community. His students view him as a caring coach and mentor for their college experience and in preparation for professional career success.

Dedicated and service-minded, Greg spent his early career serving nine years of active duty in the Navy, including serving as a Naval Flight Officer during Desert Storm and Desert Shield.

Greg has been a part of several nonprofit and community boards, including the Goodwill Heritage Foundation, University of Washington—Tacoma Milgard Executive Council (receiving their Business Leader of the Year Award), and the Tacoma/Pierce County Economic Development Board. Greg holds a BSA and MBA from the Fisher School of Business at The Ohio State University.

ODETTE D'ANIELLO

Founder & CEO, Celebrity Gourmet Ventures

Ms. D’Aniello holds a BA in Political Science and East Asian Studies from the University of Arizona, a Master in Education from the University of Guam, and a Certificate in Food Finance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Odette is a graduate of the Business Growth Collaborative program and the Minority Executive Business Program, both at the UW Foster School of Business. She is a native of the Philippines who also grew up in Guam.

Along with her entrepreneurial expertise, Odette is a former educator who is dedicated to supporting learning and growth among entrepreneurs. Odette is a member of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO), a global network of business owners whose companies earn more than $1 million in annual revenue. She serves as EO’s Accelerator Expert for the U.S. West, guiding entrepreneurship education and mentoring programs for EO programs in 9 states. She serves as a mentor to women and BIPOC small business owners in western Washington and has served as a judge for Seattle University’s Business Plan Competition. She has been featured in various podcasts and publications, and a November 2022 interview can be found at https://youtu.be/fggKrkL0gw0

FOCUSED ON A NEW IMPERATIVE

UW Tacoma

Chancellor Sheila Edwards Lange

Teaching and scholarship related to entrepreneurship is a critical component of our work as an urban serving university. It drives both social and economic mobility for our students and the region.

Milgard School of Business

Dean, Altaf Merchant

The Milgard School aims to create and nurture entrepreneurs who will be catalysts of economic development in our region. We are building a future in which strong companies and nonprofits will be spun out of our backyard.

Entrepreneurship Initiative

Director, Jill Purdy

Our goal is to bring students, faculty, staff, and the community together to build leaders in innovation and entrepreneurship. We promote an entrepreneurial mindset and connect entrepreneurs to the information, talent, and resources that they need to succeed.

Entrepreneurship 360

Entrepreneurship is everywhere at UW Tacoma. Across our campus and our community, people are engaged in generating ideas, solving problems, building solutions, and fulfilling needs to create value for others.

FEATURED PLACES / FEATURED SPACES:

Milgard Hall is UW Tacoma’s newest building, designed and built with a focus on collaboration. Housed together are the Milgard School of Business, the School of Engineering and Technology, and the Global Innovation and Design Lab. Together with UWT’s VIBE business incubator, these academic areas are connecting to foster new programs that support entrepreneurs. https://www.tacoma.uw.edu/advancement/milgardhall

The Global Innovation and Design Lab promotes innovation through design thinking across the UW Tacoma campus and community. Its courses and workshops support user-focused problem solving with rapid prototyping and testing of solutions.

https://www.tacoma.uw.edu/innovation

VIBE incubator provides a welcoming environment for entrepreneurs, with coaching, mentoring and a business plan competition for all students. Its special emphasis on serving veterans leverages the talents and experience of our military-connected students.

https://www.tacoma.uw.edu/vibe

The UW Tacoma Library Makerspace provides UWT students, staff, and faculty with the tools and resources to build and prototype their next great idea! The social, multidisciplinary, and collaborative environment connects you with UW Tacoma’s creative community.

https://tacomamakes.ds.lib.uw.edu/

Previous Events

South Sound Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Conference

Friday, May 12, 9am-1pm Milgard Hall MLG 110 University of Washington, Tacoma

Please join us at UW Tacoma for a South Sound Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Conference! If you support entrepreneurs with training, policy, funding, or other resources, you are part of our ecosystem. This event will bring us together to discuss strengths and weaknesses in the ecosystem and identify strategies for moving forward. We’ll hear the preliminary research findings from The Bee Project Tacoma.

Following lunch, visit the Innovation Expo, a fair celebrating creative ideas and new enterprises from across the South Sound. Vote for your favorites and celebrate the entrepreneurial spirit in our region.

Schedule of Events - Friday, May 12th

8:30 Coffee and online survey completion

9:00 Welcome – UW Tacoma Chancellor Sheila Edwards Lange

9:05 Collaborating to Support Entrepreneurs – Jill Purdy, UW Tacoma & Tamsin Bell, EDB

9:10 Our Regional Entrepreneurial Ecosystem – Tim Strege, William Factory Incubator

9:15 Why Entrepreneurial Ecosystems Matter – Christina Theodoraki, Toulouse Business School

9:30 Strengths and Weaknesses of the South Sound Entrepreneurial Ecosystem - table discussions

10:30 Break

10:45 Recommendations for the Ecosystem - table discussions

11:15 Preliminary Research Findings – The BEE Project researchers

11:55 Concluding Remarks – Dean Altaf Merchant, Milgard School of Business

12:00 Lunch hosted by the EDB of Tacoma/Pierce County

1:00 Innovation Expo – Global Innovation and Design Lab - MLG 203

Student and community entrepreneurship fair – visit the tables, hear the ideas, and vote for your favorites.

3:00 Expo Prizes Announced - MLG 203

REGISTER HERE TO PARTICIPATE IN THE INNOVATION EXPO

REGISTRATION CLOSES AT 8:00 AM ON THURSDAY MAY 11

Expert Panel - Financing a Business

Monday, May 1, 12:30-1:20 PM // Milgard Hall 110

For Students, Faculty, Staff, and Community Members

Join us for a panel discussion on Financing a Business with Business Impact NW, BECU Business Services, and Commencement Bank. This conversation will help participants understand what kind of funding is available to entrepreneurs and small businesses and what criteria are used to award funding. Lunch will be provided to those who pre-register.

Our panelists discussed:

different types of financing
what it takes for a business to receive financing
what mistakes to avoid in choosing financing

Panelists:

Christine Buckley, Business Impact NW

Pat Lewis, Commencement Bank

Brent Robinson, BECU Business Services

Financing a Business - Milgard School of Business

CONGRATULATIONS VIBE COMPETITION WINNERS

PITCH COMPETITION:

The VIBE's Business Plan Competition (BPC) allows entrepreneurial-minded college students to showcase their business plans to investors and promote new business creation in the South Sound. After a two-year hiatus, the BPC was back in 2023 with business plan submissions from veterans and students all over Washington. The field was narrowed to the “sweet sixteen” who showcased their business ideas in a trade-show style event on February 16. Eight finalists advanced to the final round, where they made pitch presentation to a panel of funders and entrepreneurs..

Learn more about our 2023 contest winners in South Sound Business

Prizes:

1st place: $30,000 ($15,000 cash + $15,000 in-kind services)
2nd place: $5,000
3rd place: $2,500

FEATURED COURSES IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP:

TGID 320

Innovation and Design Studio

Studio-based course focused on situated, practical, and adaptive design. Students work in small teams where they undertake design projects to develop innovative solutions to challenges arising within the campus, local community and beyond.

T MGMT 474

Entrepreneurship: Idea Development

Explores techniques used to develop business opportunities. Examines the heart of entrepreneurship: the idea. Focuses on idea development, emphasizing the strategic feasibility of the business idea. Builds critical thinking skills and encourages professional communication skills via student projects and class activities.

T INST 475

Entrepreneurship in Computing and Software Systems

Study of the process of developing a product or service in the field of computing and software systems, preparing a plan for commercialization, and implementing that plan.

MINOR IN INNOVATION AND DESIGN

The Minor in Innovation and Design (25 credits) equips students with ways of thinking, creating, and intervening in problems in the world in a way that invites collaboration and ethically engages communities. Learn more >>

COMMUNITY RESOURCES

Coworking Spaces

SurgeTacoma

https://surgecoworking.com/surge-tacoma/

TractionSpace

https://tractionspace.com/

Incubators & Accelerators

Accelerate253

https://www.startup253.com/accelerate253

Accelerating Creative Enterprise (ACE)

https://www.tacomaartslive.org/about/accelerating-creative-enterprise

Maritime Blue: Tacoma Maritime Innovation Incubator

https://maritimeblue.org/tacoma/

RAIN: Biotechnology incubator

https://www.rainincubator.org/

SpaceWorks Tacoma: Creative Community

https://www.spaceworkstacoma.com/

WTIA Founder Cohort (Tech Accelerator)

https://www.washingtontechnology.org/startup-program/wtia-founder-cohort-program/

William Factory Small Business Incubator

https://williamfactory.com/

Networking and Advice

Startup 253

https://www.startup253.com/

Free Consultations with experts from Pacific Lutheran University School of Business and Asia Pacific Cultural Center, Business Impact NW, Korean Women's Association, Mi Centro, The Black Collective, and Washington PTAC. Contact Kirsten Kreis

SCORE South Sound/Tacoma

https://www.score.org/tacoma

PREVIOUS EVENTS

COMMUNITY RESOURCES

COURSES

CAMPUS SPACES

Main Content

Meet our Entrepreneurs in Residence

GREG BIERSACK

CEO and Founder, Reach Service LLC

ODETTE D'ANIELLO

Founder & CEO, Celebrity Gourmet Ventures

FOCUSED ON A NEW IMPERATIVE

UW Tacoma

Chancellor Sheila Edwards Lange

Milgard School of Business

Dean, Altaf Merchant

Entrepreneurship Initiative

Director, Jill Purdy

Entrepreneurship 360

Entrepreneurship is everywhere at UW Tacoma. Across our campus and our community, people are engaged in generating ideas, solving problems, building solutions, and fulfilling needs to create value for others.

FEATURED PLACES / FEATURED SPACES:

Previous Events

South Sound Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Conference

Friday, May 12, 9am-1pm Milgard Hall MLG 110 University of Washington, Tacoma

Expert Panel - Financing a Business

Monday, May 1, 12:30-1:20 PM // Milgard Hall 110

Our panelists discussed:

Panelists:

CONGRATULATIONS VIBE COMPETITION WINNERS

PITCH COMPETITION:

Learn more about our 2023 contest winners in South Sound Business

Prizes:

FEATURED COURSES IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP:

TGID 320

Innovation and Design Studio

T MGMT 474

Entrepreneurship: Idea Development

T INST 475

Entrepreneurship in Computing and Software Systems

MINOR IN INNOVATION AND DESIGN

COMMUNITY RESOURCES

Coworking Spaces

Incubators & Accelerators

Networking and Advice

Upcoming Events