---
title: 'Matt Nees named new Software Association of Oregon (SAO) president'
date: '2009-07-06T15:13:40-07:00'
type: post
word_count: 416
char_count: 2675
tokens: 541
categories:
  - MattNees
  - Oregon
  - Organizations
  - president
  - SAO
  - Software
tags:
  - 'matt nees'
  - Oregon
  - president
  - SAO
  - 'scott kveton'
  - 'software association'
---

# Matt Nees named new Software Association of Oregon (SAO) president

There’s nothing like good news to start the week. So how about this: the [SAO has found a new president](http://blog.oregonlive.com/siliconforest/2009/07/sao_picks_a_new_president.html "SAP picks a new president"). And that’s triply good news.

Why? First, it’s good news for the organization, itself, which has been hard at work to become more relevant for the changing Oregon tech industry. Second, it’s good news for [Scott Kveton](http://kveton.com "Scott Kveton"), who just received confirmation that [his interim SAO presidency](http://siliconflorist.com/2009/04/13/kveton-named-interim-president-of-the-software-association-of-oregon-sao/ "Scott Kveton named interim president of the SAO") would indeed be as brief as promised. Third, I think it’s good news because this new president gets this whole Portland tech startup scene—[and Twitter to boot](http://twitter.com/smbguru "Matt Nees on Twitter").

Meet [Matt Nees, the new SAO president](http://www.linkedin.com/in/matt1nees "Matt Nees").

I’ve had the pleasure to chat with Matt. And I’m excited to see what he can do for this organization. Especially because he brings a decidedly balanced background—with both startup and corporate experience—to his new gig.

Scott shares a similar take on Matt, as [he told the Portland Business Journal](http://portland.bizjournals.com/portland/stories/2009/07/06/daily5.html):

> Scott Kveton, the interim SAO president and a board member, said Nees’s background working for both established tech companies as well as start-ups will prove invaluable in working with Oregon’s tech community, which includes a balance of start-ups and corporate behemoths.

Matt seems to understand what’s going on around here and how the SAO needs to participate if it wants to continue to remain a relevant component of the burgeoning Oregon Web and mobile industry. Not only that. I’ll think he’ll be invaluable in getting some productive efforts underway with the [equally well-balanced SAO board](http://siliconflorist.com/2009/02/03/software-association-of-oregon-board-adds-familiar-faces-twitter/ "Software Association of Oregon adds familiar faces").

[As Matt told Mike Rogoway at *The Oregonian*](http://blog.oregonlive.com/siliconforest/2009/07/sao_picks_a_new_president.html).

> “The scope of the environment has definitely changed,” he told me, noting more active startup and software communities in the region.\[HTML2\]
> 
> “The SAO is really going to start to play a major role in this space,” he said.

Good luck to Matt in his new role. I’m looking forward to seeing what he can accomplish.

\[HTML1\]