Ruth Townsend, Enterprise Facilitator, Retires

Ruth Townsend has decided to retire on March 1st after almost seven years serving the Baker Enterprise Growth Initiative as an Enterprise Facilitator. In that time she has helped launch 74 new businesses and added 124 full-time jobs to the local economy.
Well-wishers, including BEGIN board members and many of the clients Townsend has helped to begin their business, praised Townsend's dedication toward business development and the trust and admiration she has earned from her clients.
Enterprise Facilitation®, a business development technique developed by the Sirolli Institute, teaches prospective business owners they must do — or hire or barter with someone else to do — three things to be successful: develop a product, market the product and keep accurate and detailed financial records and projections.
Ernesto Sirolli, who founded the system that trains enterprise facilitators and board members, stresses that entrepreneurs should follow their passion.
Sirolli couldn't attend Townsend's retirement party, so Yvonne Fizer, the Sirolli Institute's business development manager attended in his place.
BEGIN was one of Sirolli's early projects in the USA, and it's one he often holds up as an example, Fizer said.
"We look for certain qualities (among enterprise facilitators) because they've got an exceptional job to do," Fizer said. "What you have here is known around the world — in Canada, the UK, New Zealand — because of the work Ruth has done. There are countless people I have directed to Ruth."
In fact, Townsend and the BEGIN board are personally responsible for five Enterprise Facilitation® projects being developed in Kansas, Fizer said.
Sirolli sent Townsend a letter which praised her for transforming people's passions into lifelong careers.
Townsend wasn't the first choice for the job as enterprise facilitator, and Baker City wasn't Townsend's first choice, Zimmerman said. The committee selected an economic developer whose wife decided she couldn't live in Baker City, and Townsend opted for a job as chamber executive in a town in Washington. She soon discovered that job was not as advertised, so she agreed to come to Baker City for an in-person interview.
Fortunately for the fledgling program, Townsend and her husband, Malcolm, stopped at Geiser Pollman Park just before the job interview to walk their dogs (which was lawful at the time).
At the park they met Kathleen Chaves, who talked to the Townsends for an hour about her high hopes for the new program.
Board members share memories:
Peggi Timm said she enjoyed her time on the BEGIN board "because I got to serve side by side with people with whom I haven't agreed on anything for 25 years."
The secret to Townsend's success? Timm said it's her appearance.
"She doesn't look like a business lady," Timm said. "She looks like a friend."
Glynn Murphy of Unity dropped the moniker "Dr. Ruth" on Townsend, a name that Townsend said she is finally getting used to.
"Dr. Ruth has nursed a lot of businesses around here," said Murphy, a BEGIN board member. "Not only has she nursed businesses, she's nursed our board through a lot of trials and tribulations. She's given of herself, she's taken pay cuts, and she's gone way beyond what anybody could have asked."
City councilors Dennis Dorrah and Terry Schumacher, both members of the BEGIN board, were also on hand.
Dorrah said he's seen Townsend in action from at least three perspectives: as a city councilor, he's watched her "come to the city asking for money." As a client, he's been grateful for her help launching an Internet presence for his business. "We started selling on the Internet two weeks after meeting with Ruth," he said.
The last vantage point has been as a board member. "Ruth spends a lot of time obtaining funding," he said, "and I think that's paid off."
Added Schumacher: "Ruth and I may be at the opposite ends of the political pole, but we both get fulfillment out of seeing someone being successful and excited about what they're doing."
Schumacher said he had the privilege of offering the job to Townsend in 2000, because Zimmerman was out of town.
"You should have heard her. She was whooping and hollering at the other end of the phone, she was so happy," he said. "Now we're glad to call you Dr. Ruth, because you love to help people."
"It's been a grand and glorious journey," Townsend said at the event's conclusion. "It's been so satisfying to know that you've made this much of a difference in Baker County.
"Will some of these new businesses grow to become big businesses? Who knows? A lot of them just want to support their families.
"We do a lot of our work below the surface. We work on self-esteem and developing passion, and that's not something that's seen by people.
"But you don't bring money into the county without building the person up first."