LUANN ABRAMS
Founder of CEOX
Luann Abrams is the founder of CEOX and a partner at FoundersPad, an early-stage venture fund with a dedicated mentorship program in Bend, OR, where she brings some of the brightest upcoming entrepreneurs together with the most experienced business minds to drive innovation in the region. She is the inaugural member of the Women in STEAM group led by the Technology Association of Oregon (TAO), whose mission is to support and encourage women in male-dominated industries for a gender-balanced future. She was a founding board member of Strengthening Central Oregon Political Action Committee (SCOPAC) with the mission of recruiting and supporting under-represented groups in politics. Luann has a background in aerospace engineering and spent most of her 15 years in aviation working for a start-up aircraft company in Bend, OR. Here she led the certification engineering program at Columbia Aircraft where she oversaw the certification of several aircraft models and ensured that all designs met applicable regulations. Due to her diligence and integrity she was granted the authority to sign off on regulatory compliance on behalf of the FAA prior to aircraft delivery. When she is not working and living the Bend life with her husband and two sons, you will find her curled up with a good book and a hot cup of coffee.
LISA KEOWN
Career and Technical Education Coordinator for Bend High
Lisa Keown holds a BS in Wildlife Biology from Humboldt State University and a MSEd in STEM Education from Southern Oregon University, where she focused on the integration of Environmental Sciences and STEM education. Lisa spent the first part of her career as a Wildlife Biologist for the US Forest Service, but soon realized her real passion lay in education. She has since taught in a variety of educational settings where she has been able to apply her education and real-world experience, to developing dynamic curriculum and hands on, relevant, environmental, STEM, and Career and Technical Education (CTE).
Lisa spent the last year and a half as the CTE Coordinator for Bend Senior High where she works to develop, support, and strengthen eight educational programs including business, metals technology, mechanical systems, engineering, media and graphic arts, education and culinary. Prior to this, she spent six years at Crook County High School where she developed and taught a Career and Technical Education (CTE) Natural Resource Science Program.
In her free time, she enjoys exploring the Pacific Northwest with her husband, two sons and dog Zoe.
LAURA BREIT
CEO and Managing Principal of Colebreit Engineering
I’m excited to have the opportunity to speak to our community about some challenges that women in business face, especially those experienced by women in STEM related fields. While there are hindrances, I feel fortunate that I’ve had the support of many throughout my career. I believe that building strong support for women, starting in grade-schools and college, is critical to continuing to build a strong foundation for women in business. Advocating for women in business is of interest to me, to help those in my position as well as to advocate for the next generation of women leaders.
Laura Breit, PE, LEED AP is a licensed Mechanical Engineer and the majority owner and CEO of ColeBreit Engineering, a certified Women Business Enterprise in Oregon. ColeBreit Engineering specializes in Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing, Fire Protection, Commissioning, and Controls design and engineering services. She founded ColeBreit Engineering in 2013 with the vision of providing high quality, client-focused services to our local community. The firm quickly grew from her dining room table to a well-established team of 17 in 2020, to the 50+person firm across 6 offices in Oregon and California that it is today. Notable recent local projects include the 315-unit, 6-story Jackstraw project near the Box Factory and The Grove in Northwest Crossing.
Laura holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from University of California, Santa Barbara and a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. She is a LEED Accredited Professional and is committed to serving her community. Laura currently sits on the board of Growing Tree Children’s Center, and when not working, enjoys spending time with her husband Jeff and their three daughters.
Jess Orozco
SVP of Sales at Platform.sh
Jess Orozco is the SVP of Sales at Platform.sh, a company that builds websites and web applications that are fully automated by cloud infrastructure.
Platform.sh is the modern Platform as a Service (PaaS) for organizations to build, run, and scale websites and web applications. Unlike managed hosting providers, IaaS providers, or traditional DevOps tools, Platform.sh includes a diverse library of development languages and frameworks, built-in tools to manage application lifecycle at scale, and flexible workflows to enable teams to innovate together. With Platform.sh, organizations innovate faster, decrease time to market, improve collaboration, and redirect investment from infrastructure to customer impact.
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