SEATTLE, Wash.—Ellie He has been hired by the Washington Small Business Development Center (SBDC) to provide expert advising to small business owners and entrepreneurs who want to start or expand their export markets.
From 2010 to 2017, He worked on the global business development team of K&L Gates, an international law firm with lawyers across five continents representing corporations in every major industry. While with K&L Gates, she worked with legal teams to help identify and pursue international business opportunities and also represented the firm’s Asia practice in meetings with relevant agencies in Washington.
Most recently, He was the head of marketing at a private school in Bellevue WA and was one of the founding members that opened a luxury senior living community in Newcastle, Wash. She had also worked for six years in international education in China.
She earned an MBA from Pennsylvania State University, an MA in communications studies form the University of Montana, and a BA in English language and Literature from Yunnan University. She is bilingual in English and Chinese.
As an SBDC International Trade Business Advisor, He will participate as a working member of the Washington Export Outreach Team (WEOT), a collaborative group of local, state, regional, and federal export assistance agencies that provide Washington state companies with tools and resources to help them sell internationally.
He is located in downtown Seattle and is available to meet in person or via teleconference with clients across Western Washington. The SBDC export advisor in Eastern Washington is Vern Jenkins and he is located in Spokane.
SBDC advising is confidential, one-on-one and provided at no cost to the business owner.
The Washington SBDC is a network of more than 30 advisors working in nearly 20 communities across the state to provide small business owners with hands-on, practical advice on how to overcome challenges or move their business forward.
Washington State University is the statewide host of the Washington SBDC and provides administrative and funding support. The Washington SBDC receives half its funding from state and local stakeholders and the other half from the U.S. Small Business Administration.
Contact:
- Ellie He, Washington Small Business Development Center, 206-428-3022, ellie.he@wsbdc.org
- Hope Tinney, Washington Small Business Development Center, 509-432-8254, hopebt@wsu.edu
