Brewster Chamber hosts SBDC advisor Lew Blakeney as featured speaker

BREWSTER – Lew Blakeney, Certified Business Advisor with the Washington Small Business Development Center (SBDC) in Omak, was the featured speaker at the regular monthly meeting of the Brewster Chamber of Commerce, on Wednesday, April 4. Blakeney’s office is co-located with the Economic Alliance of Okanogan County.
Blakeney’s presentation on how his office can help area small businesses was full of information, coming from one who earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering from the University of Cincinnati and his MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
According to his SBDC website profile, Blakeney is a certified instructor for the NxLevel Course for Entrepreneurs and conducts a 10-week course entitled Indianpreneurship: A Native American Journey into Business. In the course of his business instruction, Blakeney has traveled to Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan in Central Asia. He has been recognized by the national Associated Small Business Development Centers with the Washington State Star Award.
Blakeney said his favorite quote for entrepreneurs is: To do something that you’ve never done before, you must first become someone you’ve never been before.
Prior to his current position Blakeney owned and operated a precision plastics injection molding manufacturing business for more than a decade in the Seattle area. He also served as a treasurer/secretary for a corporation with nation-wide subsidiaries and more than $100 million in revenues.
Blakeney can be reached at his office at 320 Omak Avenue, #400, by email at blakeney@methow.com or by phone at 509-826-5107.
In other business, Chamber President Anna Marie Dalbey updated the group on progress for the first annual Cherries Jubilee scheduled for June 16 in downtown Brewster.
The Chamber is also submitting an event application to the city for vendors at the Brewster Cove at the Park sponsored by the Chamber to coincide with the Salmon Derby on August 2-5.