The assistant director for the Shenandoah Valley Small Business Development Center has received a promotion – taking over the reins as director after the retirement of Joyce Krech.
Allison Dugan has been a business advisor with the small business development center since 2015 and became assistant director in 2019. Dugan has a strong business education background and more than 20 years of tourism, sales and marketing experience.
“The Shenandoah Valley SBDC is very adept at one-on-one advising that can be customized for each individual business,” said Dugan. “We want to continue to enhance those services by listening to what businesses and localities truly need, finding gaps in services, and then using the expertise and resources available throughout our extensive network to drive business opportunities and skills to the next level.”
Dugan plans to leverage the resources available through the SBDC network, SV SBDC host institution James Madison University, the SV SBDC Advisory Council, and other regional business programs and initiatives to identify and develop targeted services needed to build and grow small business vitality and agility.
Krech served as director for more than 20 years. Friends, colleagues and business owners came together for her retirement in March.