Team
Angela Jackson, Director
Angela Jackson oversees the Portland State University Business Accelerator, with 30+ resident biotech, technology and cleantech companies. She is also a founder and managing director of the Portland Seed Fund, a $3 Million private/public seed fund investing in high growth, capital-efficient companies in Oregon. She brings a decade’s experience placing ~50 angel investments in multiple sectors and a serial entrepreneur family history to her work. Prior, she advised entrepreneurs and seed‐stage companies across a broad spectrum of industries at AB Jackson Group and Emergent, a tech and consumer product incubator. She serves as President of the Portland chapter of Keiretsu Forum, the largest angel network in the world, and was Chair of the state’s premier angel investment event, Angel Oregon, in 2010.
Xan Pedisich, Operations Manager
A recent PSU grad in Liberal Studies and Applied Linguistics, Xan comes from a family of entrepreneurs and is excited to bring her diverse talents to the PSU Business Accelerator. In addition to her experience in retail management and HR administration, she has worked as a research assistant for PSU's Dr. Nike Arnold, analyzing audio and video recordings for a study on language learning and anxiety. She is currently building a mobile game application for second language learning with a design collective lead by PSU's Dr. Steven Thorne. In her spare time, she loves to travel, volunteer with local literacy organizations, and is devoted to using her Fitbit to quantify her attempts at athleticism.
Emily Ediger, Marketing Assistant
Emily Ediger combines the worlds of science, technology and writing as Marketing Assistant at the Portland State University Business Accelerator. Currently pursuing a B.S. in biology at PSU, she is also an accomplished writer with a passion for science and technology. Using her B.A. in English, Emily is a freelance writer specializing in business productivity software. She has written 250+ articles for eHow.com, Chron.com and Ask.com. In her free time, Emily is a volunteer naturalist for the Nature Conservancy and information team member at the annual Wordstock literary festival.
Korey Marquez, Administrative Assistant
Korey is a native Oregonian who has recently returned to Portland after spending most of the past 15 years in Seattle, the Bay Area, and abroad. A PSU graduate, Korey is a former writing and English as a Second Language instructor. Over the years, she has held a variety of teaching and administrative positions in higher ed, including at PSU. In her spare time she writes and scores English language proficiency exams for a number of international testing programs.
Mentors
The Accelerator team recruits and matches skilled mentors to company needs, from fundraising to supply chain to go-to-market. To be considered, apply here. Mentor selection is a competitve process driven by current company needs. Staff will contact you if there is a fit.
Advisory Committee
Applicants to the Accelerator present to a group of seasoned investors and executives in order to be admitted to the program. Expertise includes cleantech, biotech, software, hardware, commercialization, investment and more.
