Community-driven. Entrepreneur-focused.
2026 SPEAKERS
2026 BVC Keynote Speakers:
Keynote: Jens Molbak
Building What’s Next: Finding Opportunity Where Others Don’t
Jens Molbak is an entrepreneur with a habit of recognizing patterns — spotting overlooked opportunities and finding new ways to put existing resources to work at scale. That way of thinking shaped Coinstar, which Jens founded and built, turning billions of dollars in forgotten coins into spendable cash and creating benefits for consumers, retailers, nonprofits, and government along the way.
Today, Jens is founder and CEO of NewImpact, a nonprofit that develops tools and frameworks to help entrepreneurs and organizations across the private, public, and social sectors recognize similar patterns, make better use of the resources around them, and design stronger, more scalable business models. He also coaches, mentors, and advises founders across startup and accelerator communities.
Jens is an avid hiker, backcountry skier, and enthusiast of landscape architecture. He holds an MBA from Stanford University and a BA from Yale University.
Keynote: Laura Putnam
Building Resilient Companies in an Age of Uncertainty - Don't Fight the Water. Fix It.
Laura Putnam is a bestselling author, leadership catalyst, workplace wellbeing expert, and global keynote speaker who’s been pioneering manager-led wellbeing movements for nearly two decades. As founder of Motion Infusion, she’s worked with hundreds of organizations and trained more than 50,000 leaders to spark culture change that lasts.
Her book, Workplace Wellness That Works, has been a trusted playbook for organizations worldwide, and her work has been featured in The New York Times, Forbes, Fast Company, MSNBC, and more
What sets Laura apart is her background. A Division 1 competitive gymnast, professional dancer, and public high school teacher, she brings unmatched energy and heart to the stage—flipping the script on wellness from personal responsibility to a leadership and culture imperative.
Panel: Funding Without a Formula: How founders can build and fund companies on their own terms
Moderator: Julie Harrelson
Julie Harrelson is a strategist and keynote speaker whose career is centered on helping leaders drive growth, innovation, and meaningful change. Often described as the “angel on the shoulder” to more than 100 CEOs, she has advised founders and executives who employ thousands across multiple sectors.
As Managing Director of eight Cascade Funds, Julie she made than 100 investments while becoming a trusted advisor to startup leaders. Before venture capital, she served as a founder and executive in six early-stage companies and as a strategist in a boutique consulting firm she founded focused on executive advisory work.
Known for bringing candor, humor, and humanity into conversations, Julie is a lifetime student of the human spirit, and TEDX speaker. She divides her time between the Oregon Coast, Portland, Vancouver, BC, and global adventures that inspire her work.
Ryan Comingdeer
Ryan Comingdeer is Co-Founder and CEO of Platformr, an AWS CloudOps automation and governance platform he launched after leaving Amazon in 2023 — the fifth company he's founded in a 25-year run as a CTO, entrepreneur and advisor. Along the way he's served as fractional CTO and technical advisor to dozens of startups, helping founders pressure-test their product strategy, build their first engineering teams and get to a fundable milestone without over-building. He's deeply invested in Central Oregon's startup ecosystem: he sits on the board of the Oregon Entrepreneurs Network, mentors through the region's accelerators and university programs, and is a frequent guest lecturer and judge for local student and founder pitch events.
More speakers to be announced soon! Keep checking back for updates!
EMCEE
Shanan Kelley
Shanan Kelley is a professional emcee, auctioneer, writer and comedian. She is known for her magnetic energy and heart-centered and humorous approach to live events, creating meaningful experiences for audiences across the country. She lives in Oregon with her two long-eared, short-legged dogs.
ATTEND \ PRESENT \ INVEST