The Washington State Small Business Development Center Network, the Spokane-based statewide business advisory organization, has named Duane Fladland as its director.

Anson Fatland, Seattle-based associate vice president for economic development and external affairs at Washington State University, which has hosted the Washington SBDC since its inception in 1981, says Fladland served as interim director for the SBDC from April through August, before being named to the permanent position. Fladland had served as associate state director here, a position he’d held since January 2010, prior to assuming the interim position. 

The Washington SBDC is a network of certified business advisers and international trade experts, Fatland says, with 24 offices around the state. 

“We’re a federally and locally supported program that allows these business advisers and trade experts to provide no-cost, no-fee advice to individuals looking to either grow a business or start a business,” he says. 

Fladland is replacing previous Washington SBDC director Brett Rogers, who joined the organization in 2003 and retired earlier this year.

Prior to moving to Spokane, Fladland spent about 25 years working with SBDCs in other states, he says. 

“I actually started out in South Dakota, and then moved to New Mexico, and then came here,” he says. “I spent about almost eight years in New Mexico as the associate state director there.”

As director, Fladland’s duties include providing administrative oversight to the statewide program, and also serving as a liaison between the development center and its partners. 

In 2013, the Washington SBDC met with more than 2,700 clients statewide, and helped those clients acquire more than $37 million in capital, Fladland says. 

“So that means loans, equity, investments … that people have invested in those businesses,” Fladland says. 

The organization also either created or saved 924 jobs statewide, Fladland says, and helped start 97 new businesses in 2013. 

For the future, Fladland says his goals for the organization are to expand its partnerships with other public service entities and solidify some of its funding.