October TAG News - Meetings and Events
Join us on October 16 - Ryzex: When The Going Got Tough...
Managing through a tough economy is complex for businesses small and large. Yet the forced focus on fundamentals - profitability, cash flow and customer satisfaction - can enable companies to become stronger rather than weakened.
TAG is delighted to give members and guests a unique chance to hear how one of the region's leading businesses, Ryzex, has focused on fundamentals and succeeded. Rud Browne, Founder & Chairman, will be speaking at the TAG meeting on Friday October 16.
Rud founded Ryzex on a mandate to cut financial and material waste. He started with $30,000, a room in his apartment and a vision to help companies get the full use of the bar code, data collection and POS equipment they invested in. Within just fifteen years, Ryzex has grown from a bedroom used-equipment brokerage to one of the world’s largest data collection resellers and integrators, with more than 6,000 customers and 350 team members located in North America, the United Kingdom and France.
A strong believer in building foundations for sustainable growth, Rud consciously built Ryzex to stand as an example that high growth and profitability can be synonymous with uncompromising ethics, quality, a diverse workforce and environmental responsibility.
Date and Time: Friday, October 16 from 12:00 - 1:15 pm. 
We encourage you to show up early (11:30AM) to network.
Location: DIS building at 1315 Cornwall Ave., Bellingham, WA
Cost: Members $10, Non-Members $15. Lunch by Avenue Bread included.
We encourage you to register Online.
You can also RSVP and pay at the door.
Don't miss this meeting!
We thank our Speaker Series Sponsor Fibercloud. 
Managing Staffing and Workforce Needs in an Up or Down Market
Keeping Local Business Strong Workshop Series
Thursday, October 15, 8-9:30am
Mount Baker Theatre's Walton Room
Cost: Free
RSVP to Tara Sundin at tsundin@cob.org.
Join us on Thursday, October 15, for a panel discussion with workforce professionals at the Mt Baker Theatre. This panel will focus on workforce, staffing and employment needs during both challenging and prosperous economic times. Experts from workforce development, education, and human resource agencies will provide resources and tools companies can access to help optimize your staffing and workforce needs.
Panel members include Gary Smith, Regional Manager with Northwest Workforce Council, Terry Cox, Workforce Education Director at Whatcom Community College, Kiera Berghof, Managing Director, Kelly Services, and Larry Boone, retired Human Resources professional.
For more details click here >>
Recap: TechStomp Sept 22, 2009 - Record Scholarship Fundraising Results 
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our sponsors, volunteers and attendees for being part of making our annual Tech Stomp event such a big success. I am very pleased to announce we were able to generate event proceeds of a record $3,600, which will go towards TAG's scholarship fund.
As many as 74 guests gathered at the Squalicum boat house to celebrate Tech Stomp this year. Our own austronaut and educator Dr. George 'Pinky Nelson' provided a very inspiring keynote. The weather was warm and sunny which was great for our evening outdoor activities. Jamie Imus did a great job running the bocce ball tournament and Brett Bonner of Saturna Capital acted as an excellent and fair judge in the Hawaiian shirt/muumuu contest. An impromptu new category for this year was a prize for ‘best hawaiian shirt story’. Very fun!
Thanks to Aaron Booker we have pictures from Tech stomp to share.
Again we thank our sponsors for their generous contributions to the success of the 2009 annual event.
Gold Sponsor: Saturna Capital
Silver Sponsor: Alpha Technologies, Applied Digital Imaging, Cascadia Weekly, Larson Gross, Logos Bible Software, Wilson Engineering, Black Rock Cable
Bronze Sponsor: College of Sciences & Technologies, Business Support Services Northwest, LLC., DIS Corporation, Boccemon, Country Financial/ Jamie Imus, City of Bellingham, Port of Bellingham.
Table sponsors: Anvil Corporation, Arlan Norman, Carl Symons, Data Doctors, Hardlines, Jack Grant, Kathleen Kitto, Linda Maier, OpenAccess, Paul Grey, Robin Halliday, Socratech Inc., Tom Lenderman
WWU Computer Science Department Looking for Student Projects
The WWU Computer Science Department is looking for projects for its senior students to work on. Computer Science students are required to take three senior project classes:
Software Project Requirements Analysis (CSCI 491)
Software Project Design (CSCI 492)
Software Project Implementation (CSCI 493)
These new courses provide our students valuable knowledge and experience in software analysis, design, implementation and testing and enable us to instruct them on software engineering practices in the context of significant projects.
Department Chair Dr David Bover would prefer students to work on real projects for these courses and invite you to consider projects that you may consider delegating to his student teams. A project used in these courses would take a full 9 months, extending over one course per academic quarter. Bover is happy to work with you on your needs for non-disclosure agreements and retention of intellectual property. He expects he may have multiple teams working on any given project at the same time and would be delighted to involve you in meetings and reviews related to your projects. More details here.
If you have ideas for suitable projects, please contact:
Dr David C.C. Bover
Chair, Computer Science Department
Western Washington University
David.Bover@wwu.edu
(360) 650 4894
Take advantage of Washington Technology Industry Association's Tech Job Center
WTIA recently launched a job board. Job postings are free to all TAG and WTIA member companies and free to all job seekers. Non-member companies can post a 60-day post for $75. To learn more please visit wtiajobs.org.
TAG, Technology Alliance Group for Northwest Washington
1315 Cornwall Ave
Bellingham, WA 98225
(360) 647-4220
Contact: Anna Ehnmark, Executive Director
Thank you to our funding partners:
TAG members & private contributions
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