Heather Otter has been appointed as executive director for the startup mentorship nonprofit Southwest Colorado Accelerator Program for Entrepreneurs.
In August, Otter will take over SCAPE’s executive director position from Elizabeth Marsh, who served for more than 11 years. She said she wants to continue Marsh’s work to stimulate Durango’s local startup economy and foster economic growth.
“I am really dedicated to helping emerging businesses scale, grow and have access to what they need,” Otter said. “Especially in what can be a competitive environment, I want to make sure that our emerging businesses here in Southwest Colorado have the tools and the funding they need to accomplish their dreams.”
SCAPE is a 501(c) nonprofit organization that seeks to mentor fledgling business startups in the Southwest by offering them resources such as education, guidance and exposure to local investors, Marsh said.
“We have about 60 businesses in our portfolio, and have helped them raise about $60 million,” she said. “A lot of what we do is getting the company to the place where it makes sense to invest.”
Marsh said that SCAPE partners with 65 local investors, and that the organization helped local companies such as Farm to Summit, Base Medical and Timber Age, get their starts.
Otter currently works in the Colorado Region Nine Economic Development Office, which is how she learned about SCAPE.
“A lot of the work that we do in the economic development district focuses on job creation in one way or another,” she said. “The partnership between SCAPE and Region Nine has been in existence for quite some time, over a decade.”
Otter has a background in education and has worked to start small businesses of her own. But as a long time Colorado resident, she is excited to help grow the community she loves by bringing in more businesses, she said.
“I’ve lived in Southwest Colorado for over 35 years,” she said. “Part of my excitement and enthusiasm is just that many of our startups, our entrepreneurs and our businesses contribute greatly to the communities that they live in.”
sedmondson@durangoherald.com
