Our People

Mr. Miguel Hampton, MSM is a multi-talented self-starter who believes “in order to achieve what one has not achieved, one must do what they have never done”. Miguel has a diverse-managerial background with experience in downsizing strategies, which include the refocus of management, consumer and employee development/retention, brand marketing and advertising, internal and external sales, corporate retail and marketing sales, as well as multi-level retail management and development. After aggressively climbing the corporate retail ladder, Miguel chose to make a career change from retail into marketing where he spent several years as a Senior Sales Representative and later the VP of Sales. He later returned to retail for a short stent prior to starting his own Marketing Company, F5 Enterprises, LLC in 2007 and Food & Beverage Brand in 2012, Sancho Miguel’s Salsa. Miguel has his bachelor’s degree in Business Management from Wilberforce University and his Master in the Science of Management from Indiana Wesleyan.

Andra L. Hargrave is a military service disabled veteran who served in both the U.S. Army and the Minnesota Army National Guard. He has over 20 years of state and federal business development expertise. Mr. Hargrave is a former Denver SBDC Consultant of the Year, Colorado SBDC Consultant of the Year, Pueblo SBDC Consultant of the Year and has helped the Colorado based companies secure in exceed over $120 million in state, federal and corporate awarded contracts. Hargrave is currently hold the Colorado SBDC Veterans’ Representative and also serves on the Colorado Department Transportation’s Connect 2 Dot program and works with the Colorado SBA Veteran’s Boots2Business program and the Colorado Minority Business Office. Andra is a registered procurement analyst and his knowledge of federal set-asides, certification, and acquisition strategies is without equal.

Arquella Hargrove brings a successful 25-year track record of creating and implementing productivity-inducing practices through the application of strategic planning and organization development in both the public and private sector. She has supported both established organizations and entrepreneurial ventures advising them through their stages of creation, growth, and stabilization.

The combination of teaching and business has been a part of Jason's life for his whole professional career. He has spent the last 7 years working with one of the biggest and fastest growing companies in Idaho helping to train and coach business professionals and entrepreneurs from across the US and Canada. Working with everything from very small businesses to multi-million dollar, global enterprises Jason has helped business owners develop the skills and enhance the attributes that lead to success. While business is one of his passions, there is nothing he loves more than to teach. Jason has a Master’s degree in Education and spent 5 years teaching high school. Creating a learning environment that fosters interaction, growth and achievement have been skills that he has developed over a decade of teaching and coaching.

Mark is the Managing Partner at MKP Inspired, a consultancy firm focused on economic development and he’s also a Partner at Vortylon an M&A advisory consultancy. He has a foot in both camps so to speak, one in growth and scaling businesses and the other foot in helping owners exit and sell their business. He brings extensive experience in sales, marketing, and business development growth strategies. Mark is an acknowledged leadership coach and has built a world-class sales organization for a fortune 500 company in Europe before transferring to the US in 1997.

Darwin Hopwood has extensive financial and business management experience. Darwin has worked in the investment industry, for a large regional bank and for an agency of the U.S. Treasury Department as a bank regulator. In addition, Darwin was 50% owner of an electrical contractor in Las Vegas for 18 years. Darwin holds a bachelor’s degree in economics, a master’s degree in business administration, Series 7 and Series 66 securities licenses, a Nevada real estate license and business broker permit. Darwin consults with small business owners on the use of planning and financial management tools to grow their business and develop exit plans. Darwin is also an adjunct professor at the Lee Business School at UNLV where he teaches finance, commercial banking, and management and leadership.

Mr. Huggins is a Senior Executive, Entrepreneur and Consultant with solid leadership, program management, business acumen, strategic planning, and business development skills. He has over 30 years of experience in the Telecommunications and Information Technology industry; with over 15 years of experience of starting and leading small business enterprises. For the past 7 years, he has provided business operations and business development consulting support to small and medium sized businesses. Mr. Huggins is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP); and has over 18 years of project management experience.

Channelle D. James is a faculty member in the Bryan School of Business and Economics at University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She also is the President and Executive Director of Community Ventures Inc. a non profit startup focused on creating social good in the City of Greensboro through entrepreneurship and social innovation. She publishes articles and book chapters based on her research in sustainable/social entrepreneurship, diversity, and community support of entrepreneurship for vulnerable communities. Channelle is a native of Asheville North Carolina where she developed an early interest in social change and community engagement. Channelle is also the producer of the Sustainable-E Podcast and an upcoming podcast titled “Hold My Purse While I Slay These Dragons,” where she challenges us to deeply examine how popular culture and society impacts our lives.

Mr. Tim Kovar, co-founded Kovar’s Karate Centers in Sacramento in 1987 which grew to 20 locations in 4 states by the time he retired in 2007. In the process Tim helped transform the martial arts industry from bare knuckle, back alley operations to one of modern, customer centric, business systems. Tim earned his Bachelor’s in Applied Economics from the University of San Francisco and a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of St. Leo. Tim brings thirty plus years of successful business ownership, management, and marketing experience. He has started businesses from scratch, acquired existing businesses, and done a few mergers along the way. His teaching experience includes 20+ year as a martial arts instructor, and over six years an Adjunct Professor at American River College, Sierra College, and William Jessup University.

John Liddy has over 15 years of managerial experience and currently serves as the entrepreneur in residence for several colleges and universities. Mr. Liddy also is the Director of the Syracuse Student Sandbox, which is an accelerator program for college student run businesses. He has been part of five startup companies, primarily in an operations and finance role. Immediately preceding his tenure as EIR, Mr. Liddy headed a business unit for a publicly traded company where he had full P&L responsibilities for a $300 million dollar business and had over 300 employees reporting to him. John received his undergraduate degree from the University of Vermont and received his MBA from the Whitman School at Syracuse University in 2003.