Wednesday Apr 3, 2019
11:30 AM - 1:00 PM PDT
Twin Lakes Golf & Country Club (Putting Green Entrance)
$25 Early Bird Rate until April 2
$35 Walk In Rate
$45 Non Member Rate
The Greater Federal Way Chamber invites you to join us for a Chamber luncheon on The Importance of Global Trade and the Supply Chain to Our Economy with a keynote from Sam Kaplan, Director, Center of Excellence for Global Trade & Supply Chain Management and Rich Shockley, Center Director SBDC and Business Development Highline College.
Sam Kaplan
Sam Kaplan is the Director of the Center of Excellence for Global Trade and Supply Chain Management. As a 20-year veteran of the Trade and Development Alliance (TDA) of Seattle, Sam Kaplan spent the last five as the President of the organization. There and during his tenure, Sam was engaged in promoting, connecting and educating individuals on international trade for business in the Greater Seattle region. While at TDA, Sam led the effort to create target markets that integrated industry sectors with international industries by using both data and qualitative analysis. In his presidency, Sam oversaw the organization, helped organize more than a dozen outbound business and leadership missions, lead the Global Cities Initiative, organized a visit of President Xi Jinping and co-led the efforts to create an International Competitive Strategy for Washington State. Prior to his role at TDA, Sam worked as a legislative assistant, specializing in foreign affairs and trade issues for (now) retired U.S. Representative John Miller.
Rich Shockley
Rich Shockley is the Center Director for the Small Business Development Center and StartZone programs at Highline College. He has received his accreditation as a Certified Global Business Profession through the National Association of Small Business International Trade Educators (NASBITE). In 2013 Rich was recognized as the State STAR Performer, an annual SBDC award that recognizes the top performer from each state who makes significant contributions to their Network, demonstrates exceptional performance, and embodies a strong commitment to small businesses. In the past 4 years two of his clients have been recognized by the Small Business Administration for awards. In 2014 his client received the Young Entrepreneur of the Year and in 2018 another client was recognized as the Business Person of the Year by the SBA.
He holds a BA in Business from Western Washington University and has a diverse background in business. His past 20 years have been spent working in or owning a small business. He has owned a wider variety of businesses including; a company that specialized in field service engineer training, chip level board repair and resale of Sun Microsystems computer equipment; a software company writing trading software in partnership with a private stock trading firm; a consulting firm to the Energy and Utility industry, property development and a retail coffee franchise organization.
Rich enjoys sharing both the successes and failures he has experienced in an effort to help guide and coach entrepreneurs as they launch or grow their business. He enjoys working with businesses where he can contribute as part of their team and with business owners who are willing to learn. Areas of specialty include; business sale/acquisition, business valuation assessment, financial forecasting, loan package development, business startup, assisting businesses develop a growth plan and international trade & export.