Staff

Carmen DeHart

Director of UMKC Small Business and Technology Development Center

As Director of the UMKC Small Business & Technology Development Center, Carmen assists small business owners, executives and entrepreneurial CEO’s in the Greater Kansas City area by integrating public, private and educational business outreach services and developing programs that promotes business growth, expansion, increased productivity and management improvement. Carmen’s business development counseling is comprehensive and personalized for each client with which she engages. Her portfolio of skills includes business strategy, financial analysis and business operations from start-up to acquisition.

An entrepreneur for over 20 years Carmen has co-owned and managed several successful businesses including WARD & GARRISON CO., INC. (Sugar Creek, MO 1981 to 2003) an industry leader in machinery rebuilding, design and fabrication for metal manufacturing which earned the Boeing Eagle Award for Outstanding Performance.

Carmen is an alumnus of the Henry W. Bloch School of Business and Public Administration, University of Missouri-Kansas City, where she received her BS in Business Administration.

Elaina Smith

Administrative Executive

Elaina is the administrative executive of UMKC’s SBTDC, and helps manage events, courses, and correspondence for the center. Her background includes a Bachelor of Arts in English from UC Santa Barbara and experience in both administrative functions at the University of Missouri (Columbia) School of Medicine and event planning at the University Club. Her hometown is Columbia, Missouri with some time spent in various parts of California, but for now she is enjoying getting to know Kansas City.

Larry Lee

Business Development Specialist, Technology and Commercialization

Larry has over 25 years experience in senior management positions and has a solid foundation in corporate and financial management. He has also been an active entrepreneur launching and operating several successful businesses on a full and part-time basis. Prior to his involvement with UMKC SBTDC, Larry was the Director of the Enterprise Development Laboratory at UMKC where he was responsible for programs that took student and faculty entrepreneurs from start-up to commercialization. Prior to coming to UMKC Larry was vice president of Provident Bank, where he had responsibility for commercial loans and servicing business customers. He has also been an effective advocate for small business owners, promoting their economic interest during critical times. Larry is a native of Kansas City and holds an M.B.A. from Northwest Missouri State University.

Jill Z. Meyer

Technology Development and Commercialization Specialist

Jill Meyer is a skilled and successful senior manager with over 20 years of leadership, marketing, human capital and consulting experience, working with start-up organizations as well as multi-national corporations to impact change and drive profit. Prior to joining the SBTDC, Jill had her own consulting practice working with entrepreneurs to grow their business by developing and integrating operational, marketing, product and technical improvements in alignment with business priorities. Her experience as an executive coach as well as business driver further insured the implementation and assimilation of her clients’ new strategies. Previously, Jill was with Korn/Ferry Futurestep, where she was a senior member of the management team and played an integral role in the formation of this online middle-management recruiting division of Korn/Ferry International. An entrepreneur herself, prior to Futurestep Jill was founder and Managing Director of a human capital consulting firm, Aeon Strategies, LLC, and before that, spent nine years with Talent Tree Staffing Services where she was Senior Vice President. In both roles Jill had extensive experience articulating a strategic roadmap for revenue growth, and training and leading staff to translate those goals into executable operating plans. Jill holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Public Policy Studies from Duke University and a MBA from Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern.

Diane Scott

Manager, Professional Development Program

Diane designs and manages innovative professional development programs for industry specific groups through a partnership between the UMKC Innovation Center, the Small Business & Technology Development Center and the University of Missouri Extension. Diane is an expert in fine arts entrepreneurship and the principal curriculum developer and program manager for KCArtistLink, a consortium of non-profit organizations that provides Kansas City artists with cutting edge programming to master the business end of their art careers. Previously, Diane was an award winning member of the management faculty at Wichita State University for 12 years. Diane’s has a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre and a Master of Business Administration from WSU.

Elaine McMilian

Assistant Manager/Professional Development Program

A 1991 graduate of UMKC with a BA in English, Elaine is happy to be working at her alma mater as part of the UMKC Innovation Center. After many years in the advertising industry and performing as a professional singer and musician, Elaine recently completed the Artist INC program, which provides creative people with business skills, and works with Diane Scott as Assistant Program Manager on the KCArtistLink team. Her organizational skills also attracted the attention of the SBTDC team, where she now assists with data and training administration. Elaine is a lifelong musician who writes and performs her own music, hosts and produces music events, and sings in a variety of musical projects that go from punk rock to jazz standards. Her second CD of original music, “The Messenger,” is set for release in July of 2011.