EASTERN OREGON — Blue Mountain Community College has expanded its Small Business Development Center, hiring two business advisers and increasing its coverage area.

The SBDC provides free expertise and resources to start local businesses in the form of one-on-one coaching and live workshops. Geared toward entrepreneurs, the center assists with new business ideas, expanding a company and succession planning.

New advisers Kate Shelton, in Enterprise, and Amy Briels, in Baker City, will continue coverage in Wallowa and Baker counties. Briels also will provide services to Union County. Union and Morrow counties join Baker, Umatilla and Wallowa as part of the center’s coverage area.

Blue Mountain in its Jan. 20 announcement about the center reported the two advisers have “a wealth of knowledge and diversity of experience” to offer. Shelton’s background is in banking and business management; she said she enjoys the numbers and analysis side of business. Briels is in real estate and said she likes providing knowledge and tools to people.

The expansion into Union County comes after Eastern Oregon University’s Small Business Development Center, run by Greg Smith and Co., closed in 2024. Scott McConnell, dean of EOU’s College of Business, gave 60 days’ notice to Smith and his business on Aug. 15, 2024.

“EOU is deeply grateful for the positive impact that (Greg Smith and Co.) has made through the experiences of students and the knowledgeable contributions to the local business community and to the region,” McConnell’s letter said. “The programs and services offered by the SBDC have been instrumental in helping local businesses grow and thrive.”

McConnell said EOU’s center will be led in-house, by someone who is on campus teaching and is part of the university’s daily activities. Smith, from Heppner, does not fit those criteria. He works as the executive director of the Columbia Development Authority in Morrow and Umatilla counties and serves in the Oregon Legislature as the representative for House District 57.

In a Jan. 20 comment about the closure of EOU’s center and the expansion of Blue Mountain Community College’s, Smith said he loves EOU and enjoyed his time teaching and advising entrepreneurs across Eastern Oregon.

“Hundreds and hundreds of small businesses were successfully started, retained or expanded as a result of our work,” he said. “I can look up and down Main Street in nearly every one of our communities and point out the businesses we have advised.”