Published: June 17, 2008 12:03 pm         

West-Central Indiana Small Business Development Center names new director

TERRE HAUTE — Heather Penney has been named director of the West-Central Indiana Small Business Development Center, which is housed in Indiana State University’s College of Business.

The nationwide Small Business Development Center program provides entrepreneurial assessment, free one-on-one counseling, small-business development products, and business planning workshops for persons interested in starting a business or who are in the initial startup phase. The SBDC also lends assistance to existing small businesses.

A certified business counselor, Penney has assisted aspiring and current business owners as director of the Tennessee Small Business Development Center at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tenn.

“Heather Penney is very well-qualified, with three years of experience as director of another Small Business Development Center and an MBA degree. With her success in Tennessee, we are sure we will see continued progress in the West-Central Indiana SBDC,” said Nancy Merritt, dean of the College of Business at ISU.

The center serves six counties — Clay, Parke, Putnam, Sullivan, Vermillion and Vigo — and Penney said increasing the center’s visibility is one of her goals.

“I would like to establish satellite locations at each county's chamber of commerce so that an SBDC representative is available for counseling and training a minimum of once per month,” she said.

Penney also expressed a desire to offer more diverse training and counseling programs to reach established business owners and provide online training and counseling to aspiring and current business owners whose schedules may make face-to-face meetings difficult.

“I am looking forward to working with the staff of the center and being a team that can offer and serve this community and region,” Penney said. “The West Central SBDC has a knowledgeable and helpful staff. I look forward to working with the staff to reach small-business owners.”

An Air Force veteran, Penney previously worked as a marketing consultant for Cumulus Broadcasting LLC and U.S. Broadcasting. She earned a bachelor’s degree and master of business administration from Mercer University in Macon. Ga. Penney began her new duties in Terre Haute on June 9.