Education: Bachelor's degree in business (accounting), University of Washington; master's degree in taxation, University of Denver. 

Who has been a significant influence in your life and career? My dad, John Helmbrecht, taught me a lot about business and hard work. I was fortunate in that he was both a mentor and a close friend. 

What's the best advice you've received? Measure success not only by the presence of positives, but by the absence of negatives. 

If you had one wish for Spokane, what would it be? To keep narrowing the gap between perception and reality. Spokane is an amazing community, and if it were a stock, I would say it remains undervalued with a huge upside. 

If you had to choose an alternative career path and money wasn't relevant, what would you do? I played keyboards in a college band, which makes me wonder, what if?

A longtime Spokane-area tech executive and entrepreneur, Steve Helmbrecht is now at the helm of one of the Inland Northwest fast-growing startups, Treasury4 Inc. Under his guidance, the fintech company secured $20 million in Series A funding last year, one of the largest sums secured by an Inland Northwest company in recent years. 

A 1981 graduate of Gonzaga Preparatory School graduate, Helmbrecht returned to Spokane in the late 1990s to work for LineSoft Corp., then moved with that company to Itron Inc. when it acquired the software maker. 

Now, in addition to leading Treasury4, Helmbrecht serves on the board of directors for Washington Trust Bank, the board of regents for Gonzaga University, and the board for the G-Prep foundation.