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"Our mission....to provide existing and prospective entrepreneurs in Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, and Walton counties with high quality management counseling, entrepreneurial training, and information access and transfer,  enabling them to maximize their businesses' growth, competitiveness, and profitability within their trading area."

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UWF College of Business
 

 

Pensacola Staff
(Covering Escambia & Santa Rosa Counties)


Larry Strain
UWF SBDC Executive Director

 

Larry Strain joined the University of West Florida Small Business Development Center as Executive Director in November 1997. In addition, he is an Instructor in the Department of Management and MIS. Prior to coming to UWF, Larry spent over nine years as Director of the Lehigh University Small Business Development Center in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. While at Lehigh, Strain was also an Adjunct Professor of Marketing and Management for Allentown College St Francis de Sales, and was a frequent seminar leader on such topics as strategic and business planning, marketing planning and entrepreneurship. Since moving to Pensacola, Larry has been named to the Boards of Directors of the World Trade Council of Northwest Florida, Junior Achievement, University of Virginia Alumni Association, Florida SBDC Professional Development Board, is a member of the Florida Economic Development Council, the Enterprise Florida Partners Council and he formerly chaired the Small Business Council of the Pensacola Area Chamber of Commerce. He currently serves on the Chamber’s Entrepreneurial Development Council and Existing Business Task Force.

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Dan Cavanaugh
Manager, Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties

When he joined the SBDC at the University of West Florida in 2000, Dan already had over twenty years of business management and financial administration experience from the private sector.  He holds a B.S. in Agriculture from the University of Missouri and a B.A. in Accounting and an MBA from the University of West Florida.  Dan also holds various professional certifications and licenses.  Prior to working in the private sector, Dan was commissioned in the United States Navy, and served in Viet Nam as a Naval Aviator.  In addition to his duties at the SBDC, Dan serves as a professor with the UWF College of Business, Management Information Systems department.

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Thawanna Price
Manager of Special Group Emphasis Center

Thawanna has more than 15 years experience in the areas of small business consulting; management training; providing technical assistance; coordinating, planning, and implementing small business programs; fundraising; research; and community resource partnership development. Thawanna has a B.S. in Computer Information Systems from Florida A&M University and a M.B.A. from the University of West Florida. She began her tenure with the UWF SBDC in June 1988.

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Joshua Stewart

Certified Business Analyst

 

Joshua has a Bachelor’s degree in Communications from the University of West Florida and is currently completing an MBA. He enjoys applying knowledge gained from his MBA courses to real life situations at the Small Business Development Center.

Josh is a native of Pensacola but has also lived in South Florida and Israel. He enjoys playing chess, going to the beach, and spending time with family. Josh is an active tournament-level chess player and the father of a very active 7-year-old chess player.

Josh wants to bring chess to Pensacola and the surrounding area in a big way. In  2007 he founded Junior Chess, a scholastic chess instruction company whose mission is to enrich children’s lives through chess. Josh currently has chess programs in six local schools, and he is planning to expand.

 

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Diane Miller
Office Specialist

 

 

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Kilty Spoke
Office Administrator