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Name
Kim Zentz
Occupation
Executive director, Sirti
Experience / Involvement
Former longtime employee at Avista Corp., where she helped form Avista Labs, and former CEO of Spokane Transit Authority. Serves on boards of Inland Pacific Hub, United Way, Greater Spokane Incorporated, Hogan Entrepreneurial Leadership, and Washington Technology Center.
Kim Zentz loves a challenge Zentz has been at the helm of Sirti, a Washington state economic-development agency that assists technology startups here, for the past three years after taking the post when the agency was in the midst of a tumultuous evolution and expansion.
Over the past three years, Zentz has overseen Sirti as it has more than tripled its leasable technology space, has created a .multimillion-dollar loan fund, and has launched a collaborative effort called BizNet with Gonzaga Law School and Spokane-area lawyers to help local tech companies obtain patents for their inventions and innovations.
Her role at Sirti is one of a number of professional challenges Zentz has taken on during her career.
Zentz, who was educated as a civil engineer, says she has a passion for technology and that her position at Sirti is right up her alley.
"You couldn't ask for a better position than one where you get to help people pursue their wildest dreams," she says.
Currently, Sirti boasts a 68.4 percent 10-year survival rate for its clients, among both off site clients that utilize its consulting services and clients that lease space in one of its two buildings in the University District near downtown Spokane. In the first year of the BizNet program, 77 Sirti clients filed invention disclosure paperwork or patent applications.
Currently, Sirti is seeking about $400,000 in state funding to develop further its "bootstrap financing"...