Speaker:
Anna Bengtsson Executive Director of the Smart Business Resource Center

Anna Bengtsson is the Executive Director of the Smart Business Resource Center in Redding, California. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration, is a Certified Workforce Development Professional, a California Accredited Consultant and has been employed in the field of workforce development for twenty years.

Anna's presentation will include an overview of the Smart Center, a description of services and customers, and a synopsis of the Smart Center's newest venture, Workforce Innovation through Regional Economic Development (WIRED).

The Department of Labor has funded WIRED activities throughout the United States where universities, companies, government, and workforce and economic development organizations partner to transform and rebuild their regional economy. The Northern Rural Training and Employment Consortium (NoRTEC), a ten-county consortium and Workforce Investment Board for Shasta County, has been funded in the second generation WIRED initiative.

NoRTEC is operating under a WIRED planning grant right now. In the grant application, NoRTEC proposed working with the Center for Economic Development at Chico State, Golden Capital Network and other partners to identify and provide regionally-based businesses with services to assist management with strategic issues to help profitably grow the company, including outreach to high growth potential innovation-based entrepreneurs. The goal was to organize and seed nine regionally-linked, locally-based angel investment funds to leverage private sector capital and support job creation.

Additional sponsors for this event include the Economic Development Corporation of Shasta County, Carr, Kennedy, Peterson and Frost, D.H. Scott & Company and the Redding Electric Utility.