Sheryl McGrath
State Director
Before joining the Washington SBDC, Sheryl was president of the Washington Agriculture and Forestry Education Foundation. Previously, she served as an administrator and senior legislative aide for the City of Spokane and has held several top leadership positions for nonprofit organizations including President & CEO of the South Snohomish County Chamber of Commerce. Sheryl also owned and operated her own full service restaurant in Spokane for five years. She holds a Master’s degree in Interdisciplinary Studies from Eastern Washington University and actively participates on multiple Boards and committees state-wide.
Jennifer Dye
Associate State Director
Jennifer is an experienced and innovative leader in business management/leadership. A previous small business owner herself, she is passionate about empowering others and nurturing the entrepreneurial spirit. She excels at partnering with her clients to find solutions to the often complex challenges faced by today’s business owners. A believer in life-long learning, she graduated from the University of Washington’s Leadership MBA Program and the Leadership Eastside’s 2-year Adaptive Leadership program in 2016.
Craig Abbs
Administrative Manager
Craig comes to the Washington SBDC from WSU Applied Sciences Laboratory, a division of the Institute for Shock Physics, where he served for over 5 years as the Administrative Coordinator for the center. Before moving to Washington, Craig served as the Director of Finance and Administration for a non-profit applied research organization based in New York, and managed the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine’s grants and contracts office. While at the University of Pennsylvania, Craig gained almost 20 years of experience providing administrative support for various schools and departments.
Stacey Dacar
Marketing Manager
Stacey is a native of the Pacific Northwest and has a long history of championing the underdog. One of her first jobs out of college was working with the Spokane Indians, a minor league baseball team affiliated with the Colorado Rockies. Nobody knows how to market like minor league baseball and Stacey strives to bring that sense of fun and possibility to the Washington SBDC network. Unfortunately, we do not have “player cards” to celebrate our SBDC advisors and staff, but Stacey uses social media to highlight their incredible work to help clients succeed. Stacey is responsible for all of our statewide marketing collateral as well as communication with federal legislators. Prior to joining the SBDC, Stacey was with Comcast Spotlight, first in Spokane and later in Albuquerque as the marketing manager. She is a graduate of Eastern Washington University with a bachelor’s in business administration, management.
Hope Tinney
Communications Manager
Hope is responsible for both internal and external communication projects for the Washington SBDC. A former newspaper journalist, she enjoys writing client success stories because, by definition, every story is about entrepreneurs confronting a challenge, figuring it out and moving forward. Doing client success stories is also great cover for spending time and talking with interesting and engaging people—aka SBDC clients. Prior to joining the SBDC, Hope spent nearly a decade working for Washington State University in marketing and communications, where she wrote stories about WSU research, teaching and service. She has a masters of journalism degree from U.C. Berkeley, and an English degree from the U.C. Santa Barbara.
