Doug Forkner’s engineering background and passion for entrepreneurship has made him a versatile asset for Spokane-based Avista Corp.

“My focus for most of my career has been in the engineering field, and I recently transitioned out of engineering into more investment-related work,” Forkner says.

The 32-year-old Spokane native is the strategic investment business partner at Avista Development, a subsidiary of Avista Corp.

Forkner’s role, essentially, is to help Avista Development find investment opportunities. 

“Because the utility is regulated, it limits our ability to do things like research and development and creating new products,” Forkner explains. “To counter that, Avista has taken a strategy of trying to find products that are the future of our energy industry, hopefully, and invest in them in small ways so that we can strategically find value back to the utility.”

The recent transition to investment-related work with Avista complements Forkner’s passion for the innovation and development of new technologies, entrepreneurship, and economic development in the Spokane region.

Forkner is involved with Spokane-based startup accelerator Ignite Northwest and serves on the board of the Spokane Angel Alliance. He has been one of the organizers of Sparks Weekend, formerly called Startup Weekend, for about a decade.

“He’s passionate about Spokane,” says Tom Simpson, CEO of Ignite Northwest and president of the Spokane Angel Alliance. “He’s passionate about entrepreneurship. He’s really a gifted engineer.”

Forkner says he loved watching startups grow and come out of those types of events.

Early in his career, he thought he may want to establish a startup of his own someday, but as he watched the founders who became successful, he determined that he didn’t want to give what it takes to build a company from the ground up.

He observed a lot of investors, however, and decided that would be a better path for him to take.

“I can contribute to the idea of success," Forkner says. "I can be a small part in the success of many things. There’s a lot to be gained, personally and for our community, by helping new, innovative ideas grow, especially locally.”

Forkner’s involvement with startup organizations has proven beneficial for his role at Avista.

“We certainly hope that strategic companies come through," Forkner says. "In fact one has here recently, in Blaze Barrier. It’s not an energy play, but it’s wildfire, and Avista has been really upfront about wildfire being one of our No. 1 risks for our communities, for the company, for a lot of reasons.”

As previously reported by the Journal, Blaze Barrier Inc. is a Spokane-based company that will offer a fire-extinguishing product, called the Blaze Barrier, which is intended to be a sustainable alternative tool in the defense against wildfires.

Avista Development was the lead investor in the company’s pre-seed funding round.

“Doug was really involved in getting that company funded,” says Simpson. “He has a lot of expertise in wildfire management.” 

Forkner graduated from Mead High School and Gonzaga University, where he earned a degree in civil engineering. He also taught an engineering course as an adjunct professor at Gonzaga for about five years.

He started at Avista as an intern in 2011 and was hired as an engineer in 2013.

“I’ve done just about everything under the sun at Avista,” Forkner says. “I’ve built dams. I’ve worked on our gas systems. I’ve worked downtown building underground structures.”

Forkner also developed Avista’s wildfire modeling systems in his previous role.

“In my time at Avista, I think I’ve done a good job of showing that there are places we can add value and develop new, innovative approaches to things,” Forkner says.

He hopes to see Spokane continue to build a strong startup community and eventually grow beyond startups.

“I think the goal is to have a few companies that really get to size and scale,” Forkner says. “Those big businesses are really what bring economic money back to Spokane from the world.”