Kauth is new face of SBDC, business outreach for UW-Green Bay
Ryan Kauth
He brings to the position significant private-sector experience in business banking and small-business consulting.
“Ryan has the experience, talent, and vision to not only continue the important work that the SBDC does in fostering economic development in the region, but to take the SBDC to new heights,” said Steve VandenAvond, UW-Green Bay’s associate provost for Outreach and Adult Access, in announcing the appointment.
Kauth was most recently an assistant vice president and business development officer for First Bank Financial Centre, an Oconomowoc-based bank specializing in Small Business Administration loans. He worked previously as a business banker for Heartland Business Bank, Green Bay and Sheboygan; and for Investors Community Bank, Manitowoc.
UW-Green Bay’s Small Business Development Center serves an 11-county area of Northeast Wisconsin.* The SBDC assists small businesses through management education, counseling, and programs that link local entrepreneurs to the expertise of the UW System, private sector resources, and federal, state and local government programs that encourage Wisconsin small business creation and growth. The Center is a partner in the regional Business Assistance Center, located on the Northeast Wisconsin Technical College campus. Kauth will be based at the BAC, 2701 Larsen Road, Green Bay.
Kauth’s duties, in addition to overseeing staff and everyday operations, will include small business counseling, developing seminars and workshops for prospective and current entrepreneurs, and identifying emerging small-business issues.
Kauth is a UW-Green Bay alumnus, having received his bachelor’s in Human Biology with minors in Business Administration and Chemistry in 1996. He worked as a quality-control microbiologist in the private sector before earning his MBA from Devry University’s Keller Graduate School of Management. He owned and operated his own business consulting firm, advising on cash-flow management, marketing, business growth, obtaining financing, and entrepreneurial resources.
He teaches part time at UW-Green Bay, and holds the rank of associate lecturer in finance and marketing with the Austin E. Cofrin School of Business.
Kauth is a former vice president and board member for the UW-Green Bay Alumni Association. His extensive list of community activities also includes work for economic development groups both in the Green Bay and Sheboygan/Manitowoc areas. A resident of rural Manitowoc, he is a 1991 graduate of Manitowoc Lutheran High School.
Kauth succeeds Christina Trombley as Small Business Development Center director. Trombley, who held the position since August 2006, was named the University’s new director of Adult Degree Programs in July.
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* The UW-Green Bay SBDC, part of a larger state network, serves clients in Brown, Calumet, Door, Florence, Forest, Kewaunee, Langlade, Marinette, Menominee, Oconto and Shawano counties.
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