Coconino Community College is announcing Kurt Haskell has been hired as the new Director of the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) located at the Fourth Street Campus and Technology Center. Haskell will also oversee an office in Page Arizona at CCC’s Page/Lake Powell Campus.
Haskell, returns to the SBDC where he was a Small Business Analyst from 2007 through September 2009. In this capacity, he was recognized as the 2008 top business counselor in the State of Arizona for generating the highest economic impact and client satisfaction.
Haskell brings over 25 years of business management and economic development experience to the organization. In his most recent position, as Business Retention and Expansion Manager for the City of Flagstaff, he was instrumental in the retention efforts that kept a large manufacturer from relocating out of state and assisted many other local employers in expanding their businesses. He authored and was successful in obtaining several grants to facilitate the expansion of local manufacturers that will result in over one hundred new, highly paid jobs in northern Arizona.
In the private sector, his experience includes business start up, business acquisition and sale, consulting, and ownership of several local small businesses. Kurt has held the position of Vice President of Business Development for a high-tech company in Albuquerque, NM, and President of several specialty manufacturing firms that produce high-reliability electronics used in the International Space Station, implantable cardiac pacemakers and defibrillators, oil exploration, nuclear research, and other industries. One of his companies has been nationally recognized in publications, and twice recognized by the State of Nevada as one of “the Top 10 Fastest Growing Companies”.
Haskell holds several patents, and has published technical papers including a chapter on Electrostatic Energy Storage in the American Physical Society’s Encyclopedia of Applied Physics. The US Space Foundation inducted Kurt and his team into its Hall of Fame in April of 1999 in recognition of their innovative contributions to the technological advancement of portable medical devices. Kurt has extensive experience in manufacturing, business administration, finance, and sales and marketing. He has participated in Technology Trade Missions with the State of New Mexico and currently teaches Operations Management and Entrepreneurship at Northern Arizona University’s W. A. Franke College of Business.
Haskell said, “Many small businesses from start-ups to businesses generating up to 10 million dollars in sales don’t know about the services we offer. We will take a proactive approach, meeting with more potential clients one on one to show how we can help them with their challenges. The ultimate goal is to help local businesses flourish, which of course is good for our communities and Coconino County citizens.”
Executive Director for CCC’s Community and Corporate Learning Division John Cardani said, “We are excited about Kurt’s return and feel fortunate that we were able to hire someone of Kurt’s caliber for the position.”
The Small Business Development Center is a premier business assistance program sponsored by the U.S. Small Business Administration and Coconino Community College. Staffed with former business owners and managers, the center is part of the Arizona Small Business Development Center network. The SBDC helps clients start, operate, and expand their businesses more effectively resulting in a measurable economic impact by supporting the increase of taxable sales revenues and local capital investment. The SBDC maintains an active community presence partnering with multiple organizations across the region including the cities of Flagstaff, Page, and Williams, the Northern Arizona Center for Emerging Technologies, NAU’s Center for Business Outreach, the Coconino County Career Center, and the Coconino County Sustainable Economic Development Initiative and other organizations interested in building a healthy economy for Coconino County and it’s resident’s.
The SBDC’s primary services include: free on-on-one business counseling, business plan writing assistance, market feasibility and research, marketing strategy and development, cash flow analysis, financial projections analysis, SBA loan assistance, import and export assistance and preparing for government contracting. For more information on the Community and Corporate Learning Division and the Small Business Development Department at Coconino Community College, go towww.coconino.edu.
