Craig Gates, the CEO of Spokane Valley-based Key Tronic EMS, is the featured speaker for Thursday's Connect Northwest Executive Breakfast.

Doors open at 7:30 a.m. at the Spokane Club Georgian Room.

Founded in 1969 as an independent keyboard manufacturer, Key Tronic was the No. 1 keyboard producer in the world by 1978 and went public in 1983. 

The company purchased the Mexico manufacturing of Honeywell Keyboards Division in 1993, and five years later, as keyboard revenues began to wane, expanded into electronic manufacturing services.  It remains one of the Spokane area's publicly traded companies.

Craig Gates joined Key Tronic in 1994 and became president and CEO in April 2009.

Registration is $30 and includes breakfast.

To sign up, go here.

Spokane Airport CEO Larry Krauter is the next speaker for the Nov. 27  Executive Connect Breakfast.

The session starts at 7:30 and runs till 9 a.m. at the Spokane Club.

Spokane International Airport, at 4,800 acres, is the second largest airport in Washington. The airport board also manages Felts Field, a 400-acre general reliever airport that is home to over 320 aircraft and 49 tenants.

Registration is $30. Do that here.

You can still start that company this year, if you sharpen your venture capital pitch.

Connect Northwest will help you sharpen the pitch at its next public meeting, from 2:30 to 5 p.m. Tuesday Oct. 30, at the McKinstry Innovation Center, on the east side of downtown.

The pitch clinic will be hosted by members of the Spokane Angel Alliance and others. The Angel Alliance has been an active promoter of Spokane-based investment planning and business formation. The session at McKinstry will focus on the basics of angel financing and how to approach investors to maximize results.

The workshop will provide:

•   An overview of angel financing, and of the Spokane Angel Alliance.
•   The components of an effective pitch (do’s and don’t’s).
•    Interactive discussion with your fellow participants to work on your specific start-up messaging

Cost is $45. And you can register here: http://cnwpitchclinic103012.eventbrite.com/

Next week's Connect Northwest breakfast moves locations.

The July 12 breakfast will be at the new Mobius Spokane downtown location, at the corner of Main and Riverside. The breakfast session, running 7:30 a.m.-9 a.m., features Marty Gonzales, director of operations for Mobius Spokane.

The organization, created in 2005, will advocate education in science, technology, engineering and math.

The project is housed in Mobius Science Center, a 27,000 square foot  center devoted to hands-on, inquiry-driven exhibits and complementary programming to ignite the interest and develop the skills of the Inland Northwest’s 21st century workforce.

Registration is advised and costs $30 per person. Go here for details.

Spokane’s growing Inland Imaging LLC has spun off an IT subsidiary, Nuvodia, with plans to become a nationwide provider of technology integration and services.

During a Thursday breakfast hosted by Spokane group Connect Northwest, Nuvodia’s CEO Jon Copeland said the need for reliable, secure technology services in health care is similar to the growing “smart grid” effort across the energy industry.

Nuvodia — a name chosen to suggest “new day” — was incorporated the start of this year. But Copeland said its website and formal launch will come on June 1.

While health care is the obvious first focus, Nuvodia will also extend into other sectors, including accounting and energy, Copeland said.

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Talk about higher education this week, and about the construction business next week, during two sponsored breakfasts for business people.

This Friday, Greater Spokane Inc. is hosting an overview of higher ed featuring five area university officials: Rodolfo Arevalo (EWU), Christine Johnson (CCS), Thayne McCullough (Gonzaga), Brian Pitcher (WSU Spokane) and Beck Taylor (Whitworth) will all discuss why a good K-12 system is critical for area growth and development.

Area school levies will also be reviewed. The event is at GU's Cataldo Hall, 502 E. Boone, from 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. It's $25 for GSI members or $55 for others. Registration: here.

Next Thursday, Jan. 19, Larry Swartz, president of Lydig Construction, will discuss the construction industry and company's 56-year history in Spokane. The event is the next Executive Connect Breakfast, hosted by the nonprofit Connect Northwest.

The event runs from 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. at the Georgian Ballroom, Spokane Club.

Registration is $30 and can be arranged by visiting the Connect Northwest reservation form.

If you still can’t figure out what INHS does, and what they’re doing in the area of electronic health records (EHR), the chance to get some answers is next week, during the next Executive Connect Breakfast, at the Spokane Club.

It will be a session Dec. 9 with Tom Fritz, CEO of INHS, the nonprofit company that does a number of administrative and service functions for area hospitals. Among them is the role of managing the electronic records system that allows many regional hospitals and clinics to keep a steady flow or medical data back and forth.

Fritz will be the speaker at the meeting, in the Georgian Ballroom, from 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. Doors open at 7 a.m.

Registration for $30 is required by going here. To ask questions, call 509.358.2114.

One of Spokane’s key venture groups, Spokane Angel Alliance, is hosting a workshop and presentation on “Trends in Raising Capital” on Sept. 30, 2 to 5 p.m.

It’s at Red Lion Inn at the Park, at 303 W North River Drive. A reception will follow until 6 p.m.

Cost is $50 but free to members of the alliance. To register, go to the site of Connect Northwest, which is coordinating the event; Northwest Venture Partners, of Spokane, is sponsor.

Bob Okabe, managing partner of RPX Group LLC, will be the key presenter. The topics covered are:

• A walk-through of basic analytic methods and tools.
•  A discussion of term sheet mechanics.
•  A discussion of the best practices for meeting investor expectations.
•  A review of company valuation methods.

For more information: contact Catherine Greer at catherineg@connectnw.org or 509-358-2114.

McKinstry Co. Executive Vice President David Allen is the next speaker in the Executive Connect Breakfast series, at the Spokane Club on Thursday, Sept. 23, at 7:30 a.m.

The breakfast series promotes area business networking and sharing of ideas.

Allen will discuss the work McKinstry is doing in the Spokane region related to energy and green tech. He is also chair of the Washington Clean Technology Alliance and was recently co-chair of Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce’s Regional Leadership Conference.

Tickets for the breakfast are $30, with registration suggested. For details go to www.connectNW.org.

Next week’s July 22 Executive Connect Breakfast will feature Jennifer Hall, one of the key people who helped launch the Main Market Cooperative, a full-fledged food retailer and nutrition education center.

Presented by Connect Northwest, the morning session starts at 7:30 a.m. in downtown Spokane, in the downstairs Georgian Room of The Spokane Club.

The breakfast runs until 9 a.m. Reservations are suggested and cost $30.

Hall has a slew of credentials. Beyond working to open Spokane’s Main Market Co-op, she has been a leader of the Slow Food Spokane River Convivium, co-chair of Slow Food’s National Ark of Taste Committee, and an appointed member of the USDA National Organic Standards Board.

For additional information, go to http://www.connectnw.org/news/eventview.aspx?eventid=22