OEN News2025 OEN Community Catalyst Honorees Announced
Oregon Entrepreneurs Network (OEN) today announced the honorees for the third annual OEN Tom Holce Community Catalyst Award. The winners will be celebrated at a ceremony with the theme of Choose Your Own Adventure on Thursday, November 13th, 2025.
OEN introduced the Community Catalyst Award in 2023 to recognize an individual or community organization that creates opportunities for connection, education, and services in support of local founders and entrepreneurs. This category was created to highlight organizations and individual members of the community who serve tirelessly, often behind the scenes, and are a vital part of what allows the local entrepreneurial ecosystem to thrive. The award is named in honor of long time local entrepreneur and OEN support Tom Holce.
This award is special because the previous Community Catalyst winners lead the selection process for each year’s class. The members of this year’s class truly embody the spirit of this award and include a long time member of Portland venture capital community, a mover and shaker transforming the entrepreneurial community in Vancouver, and OEN’s first Eastern Oregon recipient. The winners have each been actively supporting entrepreneurs and startups for more than a decade, producing tangible improvements and economic impact in Oregon and Southwest Washington.
The 2025 Community Catalyst Award Honorees are:
- Dave Barcos | North Bank Innovations | Born in Silicon Valley, Dave Barcos co-founded his first digital-design startup at 23 before relocating to the Pacific Northwest in 1990. Throughout the 1990s, he led creative work for Nike, Intel, ESPN, Whole Foods, and Adidas, collaborating with agencies such as Wieden+Kennedy and Cole & Weber. In 2017, he founded North Bank Innovations, an independent incubator based in Vancouver, WA. Supported by a strong network of founders, operators, and investors, North Bank offers hands-on programs, mentorship, and capital connections. Its flagship meetups, Vantechy and Startup Conversations in the Couve, have supported more than 1,200 entrepreneurs and drawn thousands of attendees.Dave is focused on expanding the North Bank Incubator and connecting Seattle’s founder community with the Portland–Vancouver region to create a unified market for talent, capital, and ideas.
- High Desert Partnership | Based in Hines, Oregon in Harney County, the High Desert Partnership is a mature-stage nonprofit that brings people together to address rural challenges through collaboration. Their distinctive approach invites diverse stakeholders to engage openly and respectfully, emphasizing inclusion and the value of differing opinions to create positive community impact. Through the Biz Harney Opportunity Collaborative which exists to help frontier Harney County businesses start, grow and succeed while also helping to build a thriving business environment, over 60 entrepreneurs have participated in *CO.STARTERS, supported the High Desert Biomass Cooperative in partnership with the Forest Service, and developed the Shop Harney program which has over 70 participating businesses with over $125,000 spent with frontier rural Harney County small businesses.
- Jon Maroney | Formerly Oregon Venture Fund | Jon Maroney is a former General Partner at Oregon Venture Fund (OVF), Oregon’s largest early-stage venture capital firm. For a decade, Jon focused on identifying and supporting the next generation of world-class companies in the region. Before joining OVF, he founded, led, and exited two pioneering mobile phone software companies.Jon serves on the boards of several rapidly scaling startups including Honey Mama’s and OneApp. His expertise spans team building, early go-to-market strategy, product strategy, and bridging the gap between entrepreneurs and investors. His impact on the state’s startup ecosystem is unparalleled and every entrepreneur has pitched to him during his time at OVF.
“Being a part of this award process is absolutely inspiring,” said OEN Executive Director Cara Turano. “Every year the nominees reflect the spirit of the award, tirelessly advocating, supporting and encouraging entrepreneurs around the state. It is incredible to be able to recognize that work from Vancouver, Washington to Harney County this year. Congrats to all the nominees and winners.”
The 2025 OEN Entrepreneurship Awards will be held from 5:00-9:00 pm on November 13th at the Hilton Portland Downtown. Individual tickets can be purchased at https://www.oen.org/2025-awards
Oregon Entrepreneurs Network (OEN) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to helping local entrepreneurs start up and scale up. The organization hosts entrepreneur education and angel investment programs, including Angel Oregon Tech (AOTech), Angel Oregon Bio (AOBIO) and Oregon Angel Food (OregonAF), in addition to the annual OEN Entrepreneurship Awards. Learn more at www.oen.org.
