Arizona Speaks & SCALE West Valley Roadshow
SCALE Roadshow – West Valley Stop | Buckeye, AZ
Join us in Buckeye, Arizona, for a dynamic stop on ASBA’s Strategic Coaching for Advancing Local Entrepreneurs (SCALE) Roadshow, an interactive, high-impact experience designed to support small business success across the West Valley.
This event brings together entrepreneurs, industry experts, and community leaders for a full day of expert-led workshops, thought-provoking panels, and high-value networking tailored to meet the needs of small businesses in Maricopa County.
Whether you're based in Avondale, Buckeye, Goodyear, Glendale, Peoria, Surprise, or beyond, this is your chance to plug into a powerful community and walk away with tools and connections to help your business thrive.
Mark your calendars for Thursday, August 21st at 10 AM to join ASBA for our signature Arizona Speaks event.
AZ Speaks: Navigating AI for Your Small Business
How Small Businesses Can Compete and Grow with AI
Join us for this powerful AZ Speaks session focused on helping small business owners understand and harness the power of artificial intelligence. Navigating AI for Your Small Business will explore practical, real-world applications of AI tools and strategies that can help streamline operations, enhance marketing, improve customer service, and boost productivity.
Hear from industry experts and small business leaders who are successfully leveraging AI to stay competitive and grow. Whether you're just starting to explore AI or looking to scale its use in your business, this session will provide actionable insights, resources, and examples to help you move forward with confidence.
10:00AM - 11:00AM
Buckeye City Hall East at The Landing : 945 N. 215th Ave. Suite 137, Buckeye, AZ 85326
Thank You To Our SCALE Partner
Moe Issa Founder of Intraverse AI
From neuroscience research to deciphering market trends and now developing Gen AI solutions, Moe has charted an unconventional path as a Research and Analytics leader. This scientific rigor, combined with diverse experience across luxury retail, high-tech, FMCG, and higher education, has equipped Moe with a unique lens to understand stakeholder challenges and design AI workflow solutions that drive impact. As the founder of Intraverse AI, Moe's mission is to help small and medium businesses leverage the open source community to build novel AI automations and systems to improve business processes and drive impact, making private, cost-controlled AI practical for every SME.
Jeanine Jerkovic, CEcD, is the Economic Development Director for the City of Surprise
Jeanine Jerkovic, CEcD, is the Economic Development Director for the City of Surprise, Arizona, where she helped launch the West Valley’s first business incubator in 2010 and led a nationally recognized resident engagement campaign that not only recruited a Costco but catalyzed a wave of transformative retail growth. With over 20 years of experience spanning municipal leadership, international trade, and public-private partnerships, Jeanine is known for pairing strategic vision with creative hustle. Her earlier roles include Trade Commissioner for the Canadian Consulate in Phoenix and Vice President of International Programs at the Greater Phoenix Economic Council, where she influenced statewide policy and led high-impact global business initiatives.
Raghu Santanam Senior Associate Dean, W. P. Carey School of Business
Professor Raghu Santanam is Senior Associate Dean of Executive Education, Corporate Partnerships and lifelong Learning at the W. P. Carey School of Business, ASU. He is a Professor and the McCord Chair of Business in the Information Systems Department. In his role, Prof. Santanam is leading the AZNext workforce partnership program at ASU ). AZNext is a public-private partnership designed to create a bold, innovative, and sustaining workforce development ecosystem that addresses the need for more skilled workers in IT, cybersecurity, and advanced manufacturing roles.
His current research focuses on Analytics, information assurance, and mobile platforms. Prof. Santanam has helped a number of organizations on data intensive decision-making contexts. He has authored several researched case studies on technology enabled business transformations.
Discussion & Insights
We are looking for roundtable sponsors for the West Valley SCALE Program. To help equip Arizona entrepreneurs with the skills, guidance, and connections to grow in the areas of:
- Sales
- Marketing
- Operations
- Business Law
- HR
- Corporate Finances
- Vendor Relations
Support entrepreneurs with professional business advice and direction as a leading force in your field. Cost is $300. Roundtables will take place during the afternoon breakout sessions. Get in contact with Robin Duncan for table sales. rduncan@asba.com or 602-306-4000
Agenda
9:00 AM - 9:45 AM
Networking & Coffee Hour
9:45 AM - 10:00 AM
SCALE Introduction
10:00 AM -11:00 am
AZ Speaks: Navigating AI for Your Small Business
How Small Businesses Can Compete and Grow with AI
Join us for this powerful AZ Speaks session focused on helping small business owners understand and harness the power of artificial intelligence. Navigating AI for Your Small Business will explore practical, real-world applications of AI tools and strategies that can help streamline operations, enhance marketing, improve customer service, and boost productivity.
Hear from industry experts and small business leaders who are successfully leveraging AI to stay competitive and grow. Whether you're just starting to explore AI or looking to scale its use in your business, this session will provide actionable insights, resources, and examples to help you move forward with confidence.
11:10 AM - 12:00 Noon
City Panel: Empowering Small business in the west valley
Join us for a dynamic city panel featuring leaders from five West Valley cities in Arizona, coming together to discuss the current state and future growth of small businesses in their communities. Each city representative will share insights on local economic development, highlight success stories, and outline initiatives their municipalities are implementing to support and sustain small business growth.
Darah Mann, AZED Pro Economic Development Deputy Director
Suzie Boyles, Economic Development Director
Adam Shipley Business Development Manager Office of Economic Development & Tourism
Brian Sandusky, Ph.D. Economic Development Project Manager
Maria Laughner, The City of Peoria Economic Development Director
Kimberly Jordan is the Executive Vice President at WESTMARC
12:00 PM -1:00 pm
Networking & Lunch - Lunch will be providedÂ
1:00 pm - 2:00 PM
Roundtables in Panel Room:Â
Breakout Session in room 2: HR Q&A with Society For Human Resource Management
Get expert answers to your most pressing HR questions and stay ahead of workforce trends with guidance from the Society for Human Resource Management Greater Phoenix.
2:00 pm - 3:00 PM
Roundtables in Panel Room:Â
Breakout Session in room 1: Accessing Small Business Capital
Learn how to navigate funding options and unlock the capital your business needs to grow with insights from the National Bank of Arizona.
Breakout Session in room 2: TBD
3:00 pm - 4:00 PM
Roundtables in Panel Room:Â
Are You Our Missing Breakout Host?
We're on the hunt for two final breakout session hosts to complete our dynamic lineup at the West Valley! If you have valuable expertise or a unique perspective to share, don't miss the chance to lead an engaging session and inspire fellow entrepreneurs.
Breakout Session in room 2: TBD
4:00 PM
SCALE West Valley Roadshow endsÂ
AZ Speaks Marketing Kit
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