Minnesota SBA Honors Financial Services Champion - Jenny Dougherty

INTERNATIONAL FALLS – Jenny M. Dougherty, Small Business Development Center (SBDC) Professional Business Consultant for Koochiching Economic Development Authority (KEDA) in International Falls, has been named Minnesota Financial Services Champion of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration.

The Financial Services Champion award is presented annually in each state to individuals who assist small businesses through advocacy efforts to increase the usefulness and availability of accounting or financial services. Elaine S. Hansen, Director of the University of Minnesota (Duluth) Center for Economic Development and the Northeast Minnesota Small Business Development Center, nominated Dougherty for this award.

Dougherty has served Koochiching County as a Professional Business Consultant for the SBDC since 2007 in a part-time capacity. Her job responsibilities include business planning, financial analysis as well as cash flow and profitability analysis, assistance with access to capital, loan packaging and market research. Dougherty also is a QuickBooks Pro Advisor and teaches QuickBooks and other business workshops in her community. Recently, because of her efforts and the need for her services, Dougherty’s position was changed to a full-time position.

Dougherty is a 1986 graduate of St. Cloud State University, with a Bachelors of Science, majoring in Finance. She earned her Master of Business Administration from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul in 2002. Spending her career in the financial industry, Dougherty worked for banks and mortgage companies in the Twin cities area before moving to International Falls, Minnesota. Throughout her twenty-four years in the financial industry, her experiences in mortgage loan origination and processing, underwriting, customer service, bookkeeping and much more, gave Dougherty the expertise she uses now to assist small businesses in Koochiching and Northern St. Louis County.

Dougherty also teaches workshops in starting a business, QuickBooks and other business-related topics at Rainy River Community College. She has developed strong relationships with local banks within the county, joined several local committees and organizations in support for the business community.

She has helped create a Women’s Business network in International Falls, serves on several boards including the International Falls Visitors and Convention Board (2005 – Present), and has been a Girl Scout Leader, President of Scandia Preschool, and serves on the First Lutheran Church Budge Committee (2007 – Present).

Dougherty and her husband, Dan Herman, have six daughters and reside on Rainy Lake in International Falls. Her husband has been a small business owner for over thirty years and her parents and siblings are all owners of small businesses. This experience and family perspective provides a first-hand understanding of the challenges that small business owners face.


For more information:

Jenny M. Dougherty
SBDC Professional Business Consultant
Koochiching Economic Development Authority (KEDA)
PO Box 138
405 3rd Street
International Falls, MN 56649
218-283-8585
jenny.keda@northwinds.net

Release Date: March 29, 2010 Contact: Sherree Stratton (612) 370-2325
Release Number: 2010-04 Internet Address: www.sba.gov/mn