Two Montanans to testify at Chairman Tester’s hearing Wednesday

Hearing will focus on job creation, economic growth

(U.S. SENATE) – Two Montanans will discuss job creation, economic growth and innovation during a Wednesday Senate hearing chaired by Senator Jon Tester.

Tester, a member of the Senate Banking Committee, is chairman of the Economic Policy Subcommittee.   He organized this week’s hearing, titled Access to Capital: Fostering Job Creation and Innovation through High-Growth Startups.

High-growth startups are new small businesses that have significant potential for job creation. Montana has numerous  high-growth startups, including LigoCyte Pharmaceuticals in Bozeman.

Tester invited two Montanans to testify during Wednesday’s hearing, which will be streamed online at banking.senate.gov beginning at 7:55 a.m. Montana time Wednesday.

•    Liz Marchi is the Fund Coordinator of the Frontier Angel Fund, Montana’s first angel fund. She is a co-founder of Northfork Strategies and has served as the President and CEO of Montana West Economic Development and Flathead County Port Authority, focusing on access to capital for economic and entrepreneurial development.  Marchi lives in Polson, Mont.

•    Dr. Robert Bargatze is the Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer of LigoCyte Pharmaceuticals. Bargatze was a founding member and Research Manager of Quidel, an early 1980s biotech company that produced immunology-based products.  He is Chairman of the Montana Bioscience Alliance, which facilitates communitication between biotech companies and scientists. Bargatze lives in Bozeman, Mont.

Joining Marchi and Bargatze at Tester’s hearing will be Dr. Ted Zoller, Vice President of Entrepreneurship of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. Zoller guides the Foundation’s entrepreneurship programs, including the Kauffman Laboratories for Enterprise Creation, an initiative focused on developing the “science of startups.”

Information about Tester’s hearing:

            What:              Senate Banking Committee’s Economic Policy Subcommittee Hearing
            Topic:             Access to Capital: Fostering Job Creation and Innovation through High-Growth Startups
            Date:               Wednesday, July 20
            Time:              8 – 10 a.m. Montana Time (10 a.m. – 12 p.m. EDT)
            Where:           538 Dirksen Senate Office Building
                                                banking.senate.gov

On Friday, Tester is hosting his eighth Small Business Opportunity Workshop in Billings.  Information about the workshop, which is free and open to the public, is available online HERE.