Fourteen northwest companies present at Oregon Entrepreneurs Network Venture Northwest Conference

Portland, OR  November 5, 2007 – On Friday, Jive Software and nLIGHT Corporation were named the winners of the 2007 Outstanding Achievement Awards at the Oregon Entrepreneurs Network (OEN) Venture Northwest conference.

“As winners of the Outstanding Achievement Awards, Jive Software and nLIGHT represent the high caliber of companies and entrepreneurs in this region. These are two globally competitive companies that have proven that they are attractive to investors anywhere,” said Wayne Embree, managing partner of Reference Capital Management, LLC and Chairman of Venture Northwest 2007. “They remind us what is possible with the support from programs such as Oregon Entrepreneurs Network and Venture Northwest.”

Portland based, Jive Software exists for one painful reason: it's much easier to find people, updates, and answers on the internet than it is inside a company.

Every day companies lose critical knowledge, ideas, and connections by not making it easy for people to get work done. Focused on this issue, Jive Software has introduced "social productivity" software that brings together employees, partners and customers into a unified collaboration system so they can create better products, faster processes and improved relationships; and in the process, capture valuable unstructured content that adds transformational value to business processes. This vision is validated by over 2000 customers, including over 15% of the Fortune 500.

"Moving our company to Portland was one of the best business decisions we ever made. We quickly discovered that Portland has an immensely supportive entrepreneurial community and it has provided our company with a great environment in which to grow," said Jive Software CEO, Dave Hersh. "Being chosen to receive this award is a great honor."

 nLIGHT is a privately held company established in 2000 that designs and manufactures high-power semiconductor lasers. nLIGHT has manufacturing in over 100,000 sq. ft. of facilities in Vancouver, WA, Hillsboro, OR, Lohja, Finland and Shanghai, China. nLIGHT is growing rapidly and was named the fastest-growing technology company in the Northwest by Deloitte and Touche in 2007. 

"We are honored to be selected for this award which acknowledges the hard work of the entire nLIGHT team," said Scott Keeney, president and chief executive officer of nLIGHT. "We moved nLIGHT to the region five years ago and now have facilities in both Vancouver and Hillsboro. Our region is a great place to build a company and OEN is filling an important role promoting start-ups."

Venture Northwest also showcased fourteen northwest companies representing everything from web 2.0 companies, to exciting new clean transportation technology, to sustainable athletic gear. It was truly a strong, yet eclectic group of companies playing in fast-moving industry areas, with great traction in the Northwest.
 

About Oregon Entrepreneurs Network
Founded in 1991, the Oregon Entrepreneurs Network is a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to providing opportunities for Oregon entrepreneurs and improving the business climate for emerging, growth-oriented companies statewide. The organization has members from throughout Oregon and southwest Washington. For more information about the OEN, visit www.oen.org.