Events

Wendy Porter is the Managing Director of Chicostart and facilitator of growTECH our Northern CA tech industry partnership.  She is also the California Community Colleges Information Communications Technology Deputy Sector Navigator for the Far North CA region.  Chicostart is a startup incubator located in Chico, CA.  Chicostart has launched 14 startups in the past 4 years and created over 105 quality jobs while nurturing a cohesive platform of connectivity for tech businesses, Chico State, Butte College, investors, mentors, workforce, and economic development groups to interact and uplift the problem solvers and difference makers of tomorrow.  Fostering the tech startup entrepreneurial ecosystem in Chico and Northern CA is a passion for Wendy and seeing the positive results is invigorating. 

After graduating from CSUC she launched her career in Silicon Valley at Hewlett-Packard.  Her successes at HP centered around managing releases and putting together programs and processes for the Software Development Life-cycle.  Building a web development business, and Implementing Change Management / Release to Production programs for HP IT departments were highlights in her career. 

Wendy moved back to Chico to raise a family and become an executive contributor at Shasta QA where she successfully brought many Silicon Valley companies on as clients for the rural-based tech company.  With two young girls at home Wendy then pivoted into the entrepreneurial space and found a home at Chicostart. 

Tim Sharkey has worked in the HVAC Fabrication Sheet Metal Industry for 15 years. With this experience he has seen the need for sustainable materials and practices. Moving to Chico in 2001 he has started a few small businesses creating California Habanero Blends. He has also worked as Sales Manager for the Work Training Center representing three of their manufacturing commercial services. An active member and Ambassador of the Chico Chamber of Commerce he is passionate about bringing the community together. 

Following the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the infamous Executive Order 9066, mandating the forced relocation of approximately 120,000 persons of Japanese descent, two thirds of whom were American citizens. They were summarily rounded up and sent to one of ten internment camps constructed in remote parts of the western United States.  One of those people was Jim Tanimoto, an eighteen old second generation American citizen living in Gridley who was forced to move with his family to the Tule Lake Segregation Center in far Northern California near the Oregon border.  Most families lost everything they owned after spending up to four years behind barbed wire and armed guard towers.  Today, at the age of 95, Mr. Tanimoto is the last living member of a group of 36 protesters in Block 42 who took a stand, and refused to sign loyalty papers.  That act of civil disobedience led to a supreme court decision that overturned Executive Order 9066 as unconstitutional.  In 1990, nearly fifty years later, Mr. Tanimoto received a letter of apology from President George W. Bush and a check for $20,000 to “recognize that serious injustices were done to Japanese Americans during World War II”.

Jim Tanimoto was born in Marysville, CA and lived most of his life in Gridley as a farmer.  His own father and mother immigrated to the United States legally, first to Hawaii and then to California.  He is the subject of the documentary films “Mr. Tanimoto’s Journey – The story of one man’s resistance and “Resistance at Tule Lake”.  Today at the age of 95, he still makes his home in Gridley and give talks to school groups and community organizations.

Dina grew up in Chico, California, surrounded by dogs, horses, chickens
andmore. As an only child of older parents, animals became her best friends.
Her entire life is dedicated to the connection between humans and animals,
particularly where we have helped each other survive. Her primary interest is where animals, dogs in particular, help humans.

Seeing eye dogs, bomb-detection dogs, search and rescue dogs, and cancer detection dogs are my inspiration. Very few creatures have coevolved the way man and dog have. We have actually effected each other’s evolution. Dogs guarded our agriculture, livestock, and our communities, helping man to make it past the agricultural stage, and bringing us to where we are now. We, in turn, have allowed these wonderful dogs into our homes, forever changing their evolution, as well. The connection between man and dog is magnificent. We were meant to help each other. There’s nothing else quite like it.” —Dina Zaphiris