Staff
About CED » Staff
-
Dan Ripke, Director
Dan Ripke, a native of Northern California, holds a BS in international business, a BA in French, and master’s studies in business administration from California State University, Chico. He has worked for the Center for Economic Development and the Northeastern California Small Business Development Center since 1988, serving as director for the center’s 21-county service region. In this capacity, he provides economic development and planning technical assistance to over 20 percent of the state of California. Dan is a member of the International Economic Development Council, the California Association for Local Economic Development, and the National Association of Development Organizations.
-
Don Krysakowski, Assistant Director
Don Krysakowski joined the Center for Economic Development (CED) and the Northeastern California Small Business Development Center (NECSBDC) in January of 2009 as Assistant Director. Don provides strategic and project-planning guidance, project oversight, and economic development and planning assistance for the variety of projects under the auspices of the CED. Prior to coming to Chico, Don worked for the Pennsylvania Technical Assistance Program (PennTAP) to provide information technology assistance to small and medium-sized businesses. Previously, Don served in senior management for several start-up information technology firms including PestPatrol, Inc., ybn.com (a subsidiary of the Pennsylvania State Chamber of Commerce), and the International Computer Security Association (ICSA). Before working with start-up companies, Don worked for several professional service companies building customized database applications and information technology solutions for the United States Navy. He also worked as a consultant for the Republic of China Navy, the French Armaments Bureau, and the Office of Secretary of Defense on Computer-aided Acquisition and Logistics Support (CALS) for military hardware acquisition programs. Don is a graduate of George Washington University with a BA in international affairs and master’s studies in science, technology, and public policy. He also holds a certificate in geographic information systems from Penn State University and is completing his master’s program there in community and economic development.
-
Andi Gilbert, Administrative Manager
Andria Gilbert, a native of Northern California, is a graduate of Willows High School and Heald Business School of Sacramento. She has been involved in office management at the county and federal levels for over fifteen years. She joined the CED and the NECSBDC’s staff in 1991 assuming the position of office manager. Her responsibilities include oversight of all office operations, staff, and correspondence; newsletter layout; purchasing; filing; preparing quarterly and annual reports; preparing grant applications and contracts; and preparing and maintaining the office’s financial records. She has coordinated, edited, and designed such reports as “Northeastern California: A Regional Profile,” “Arbuckle Hotel Business Plan,” “Mendocino County Impact Study,” “Tehama County Infrastructure Study,” “Norcal Survey,” “City of Chico Rental Survey,” “Leadership Training,” and the “Colusa County Hospital Feasibility Study.” She has also coordinated workshops such as “The Return of the Great American Neighborhood,” “Planning Commissioners,” “Alternative Techniques for Managing Growth,” “ Predicting Traffic Impacts of Land Development,” “Environmental Impact Analysis,” “General Plan,” and “Planning and Zoning Law.” She has been trained to use software such as Microsoft Word, Pagemaker, Filemaker Pro, Excel, Quickbooks Pro, PowerPoint, and Act.
-
Warren Jensen, Project Manager
Warren Jensen is a Northern California native who graduated from California State University, Chico in May 1997 with a double major in economics and geography with an option in rural and town planning. He has been working with the Center for Economic Development since June 1996, promoted to project specialist in 1999, and to project manager in 2001. He is responsible for the reliability and accuracy of all community research and analysis produced by CED. Warren is a multi-discipline researcher specializing demography, geography, and economics, with emphasis on community data collection, analysis, and interpretation. Specifically, he manages projects involving community data estimates and projections, economic/fiscal impact analysis, community indicators, industry clusters, and retail trade analysis. Warren’s clients include local government, nonprofit organizations, and consultants located throughout California. Warren is a skilled analyst and has experience with many statistical tools, including economic base, shift/share, various gravity models, and forecast methodology. He is also an experienced computer operator, with advanced knowledge of MS Office, Goldmine, ESRI ArcGIS, and IMPLAN Pro. Warren will be completing his master’s degree in geography in 2010, for which he is creating a more accurate community demographic forecast model.
-
Cathy Emerson, Project Manager
Brand new to Chico in October 2008, Cathy immediately started volunteering with Chico's KCHO Northstate Public Radio, ultimately joining CED in May 2009 to manage the Broadband Demand Aggregation projects for California’s Northeastern and Upstate Counties. An east-coast transplant, Cathy received her bachelor's in English from Goucher College, Baltimore, MD, then spent a decade+ entrenched in retail redevelopment initiatives inside the nation's beltway, including a 7-year tenure running concession services and their construction re-development at (the now) Ronald Reagan/Washington National Airport during the worst of the airport’s capital improvement program. Upon entering graduate school, Cathy was called to California the winter of 1999 to join the San Francisco Airport's New International Terminal Program Management Team as Tenant Coordinator. Once in the Bay Area, Cathy’s team developed, implemented and managed the design & construction process for all tenants, airlines, food & beverage concessions, passenger services, etc. Upon completion of this successful airport project, and despite several months unemployed during the wake of the dot.com bust, Cathy taught Retail Design Concepts and Branding courses at both the Academy of Art and the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, sold for Nordstrom’s in the Men’s Furnishings Department in San Francisco, as well as consulted independently. Eventually meeting and marrying her husband, Cathy worked from home while completing her graduate studies in Organization Development, Applied Behavioral Sciences from the American University/National Training Labs. Accepting a promotion and transfer from his firm, Cathy and her husband relocated to Chico the summer of 2008.
-
Eileen Chavez, Project Specialist
Eileen Chavez joined NECSBDC's staff in May 2007 after returning to Chico from L.A. Eileen had been living in Los Angeles for the past eleven years. During her time there, Eileen worked for ING Advisors Network for eight years. During her tenure with ING, she held positions in the Commission Accounting and Business Development Departments, performing accounting and research duties, and training new sales representatives. Eileen is currently enrolled at Saint Leo University Center for On-Line Learning, majoring in business administration.
Eileen's primary role at NECSBDC is as the project specialist for the SBA. Her responsibilities include assisting in planning and administering the Small Business Development program for the six Small Business Development Centers. In addition, she oversees and maintains the WebCats database, provides support with planning and organizing meetings, and assists with compiling the annual region-wide grant proposal including budgets, budget narratives, and milestones.
-
Michael Suplita, Project Specialist
Michael Suplita grew up in Oroville, CA and attended high school in nearby Durham, graduating in 2005. He started attending California State University, Chico in the fall of 2005. Michael started at the Center for Economic Development in May 2009 as a student research assistant, answering research assistance requests, and working on the research team producing the 2009-10 County Profile Series. Michael graduated at the end of May 2009 with a bachelor’s degree in environmental economics and has since become a full time employee, taking on the role of project specialist. Michael spends his time working on several different projects including County Profiles research assistance requests, business assistance requests, applied research and profile workshops, but in the coming months most of Michael’s time will be spent as the contact person for CED’s newly launched Market Intelligence for Small Business Program. When not at work Michael enjoys watching sports and spending time outdoors. He loves to hunt, fish, and practice archery. Michael is dedicated to conservation, especially northern California wetlands. His interest in agriculture, conservation, renewable energy, and wildlife compelled him to choose environmental economics as his major in order to eventually approach current environmental issues from an administrative and decision making standpoint. Michael has valued his time at the Center because it has given him a chance to learn more about the demographics and local economies of northern California communities, and now he has the opportunity to apply that knowledge to their affects on the environment. As his career at the Center continues, Michael aspires to utilize his education and unquenchable interest in the northern California environment to conduct important research on the relationship between changes in the environment and local economies.
-
David Gallo, PhD, Resident Economist
Professor David Gallo studied engineering before changing his major to economics during his undergraduate years. He received his BA at Penn State University and his MA and PhD at the University of Oregon. He has been teaching at California State University, Chico, since 1970, specializing in environmental and energy economics during recent years. Dr. Gallo has been a consultant to the California Energy Commission and a number of private companies engaged in energy research, and served several years as a staff economist with JBS engineering in Sacramento; and is currently doing research with the Center for Economic Development (CED) at CSU, Chico. In conjunction with the CED he has completed a number of projects, primarily economic impact studies, for a wide range of clients. He has completed reports under contract to public agencies including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the California Department of Fish and Game; quasi-public groups such as the California Redevelopment Association; and private companies including the Pacific Gas and Electric Company, New Urban Builders, and Calpine Corporation. In the many studies he has completed, Dr. Gallo has examined the economic and/or environmental impacts of geothermal energy development; restoration of riparian habitat along a number of California rivers; airport construction in Weaverville, California; changes in minimum flow requirements for Pitt River power plant relicensing; redevelopment agency construction activity; and new urban development patterns.
-
Margaret Schmidt, Regional Coordinator
Margaret Schmidt joined the Center for Economic Development (CED) in March 2010 as Regional Coordinator. Margaret spent the early part of her career working in the electronic semiconductor industry in Silicon Valley. After moving to Butte County in 1989, she focused her career on direct sales and marketing in Northern California. She spent four years at a local economic development consulting firm marketing Butte County. She currently specializes in grant writing, fundraising and developing marketing and public relations programs and managing projects that positively impact economic development in the surrounding communities. She brings over 28 years of business experience to the task of identifying projects and programs throughout the region that would support CED’s strategic plan to work with its regional economic development partners and other businesses to provide products and services that promote community and economic development. Margaret holds a master's degree in business administration from Santa Clara University with a focus in marketing and a bachelor's of science in marketing, with a minor in sociology, from California State University, Chico. She lives in Durham, CA with her husband Dennis and son, Ryan.
-
Kylie Van Wert, Event Coordinator
Kylie grew up in the Bay Area. She moved to Chico in 2006 and attended Butte College for two years. She transferred to California State University, Chico in the fall of 2008 and will be graduating May 2010 with a BS degree in business administration with an option in marketing. She previously worked for the Associated Students Conference Services as the Coordinator’s assistant and marketing intern for two years and assisted with the planning and execution of events in the Bell Memorial Union. Kylie joined the Center for Economic Development and the Northeastern California Small Business Development Center in February 2010 as the Event Coordinator Intern. She provides planning, oversight, and execution of events and workshops for the CED and the NECSBDC. Her responsibilities include collaborating with faculty and staff to develop workshop topic ideas, contacting and securing speakers, working with management to execute speaker and venue contracts, developing event marketing materials, handling timelines, and coordinating all event logistics.
-
Joshua Brown, Information Technology
J. Joshua Brown, a native of Ukiah, California, joined the CED in November 2007. Mr. Brown received his master’s degree in social science with an emphasis in research methods and social psychology from California State University, Chico. He has been a teaching assistant for many courses, including population, research methods, introduction to sociology, self and society, and human stress. His research interests include fertility, online education, alcohol abuse, urban noise, Internet, and e-mail. Brown coauthored two articles titled “Recent Trends in California Hispanic Fertility Rates a Comparative Analysis 1999-2000” and “Trends and Differentials in California Fertility Rates 1970-2000.” Both articles were published in the Californian Journal of Health Promotion. In addition, his thesis, “An Analysis of the Freshmen Alcohol Abuse Program,” was also accepted into the journal. Brown is the recipient of numerous academic awards including the College of Behavioral and Social Science Outstanding Student Leader of 2002, Sociology Outstanding Student of 2002, and the Highest GPA in Sociology Major of 2002 award. Brown is affiliated with many organizations, including the National Eagle Scout Association, Golden Key International Honor Society, and Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society. After graduate school he interned at the Pan American Health Organization Regional Office of the World Health Organization located in District Columbia. While working, he designed studies to assess the relationship between healthy municipalities and communities and social capital in the West Indies. After his internship he worked for the Northern California Youth and Family Programs for two years.
-