Bio
Mitch is a 4th generation Arizonan who made his way to the Northwest via a childhood in West Phoenix and education at Arizona State University (Forks Up!).
The entrepreneurial path hit Mitch early and led him to cofound Arizona Outback Adventures, a venture that is still going strong today down in the desert. But a falling out with the investors (folks can relate, right?) led him away from AOA and to the founding of Morange Design. Over the past many, many years, he has worked on branding and digital projects for a wide variety of clients from startups to the Power Rangers, Paul Frank, and Harbor Freight Tools.
Once in Portland, he got involved in a few local organizations including the Oregon Entrepreneurs Network where he became a Board member for six years, including two as Board Chair. Out of that experience, he cofounded Built Oregon with Rick Turoczy and Terry St. Marie.
A passionate advocate for Oregon’s entrepreneurial ecosystem—especially the consumer product companies and founders—Mitch is currently focused on building a startup accelerator for Oregon’s consumer product ecosystem.
What are you up to?
I’m still a bit sad about the Timbers early exit from the playoffs, but remain completely RCTID. I can’t wait for a (hopefully) healthier team to make a run in 2018.
But beyond that sadness, there is quite a bit of fun and excitement on the horizon. We (Built Oregon) just wrapped our first Built Up Festival which saw over 700 people over 7 days attend 17 events focused on connecting, supporting and inspiring Oregon’s consumer product industries.
Now, we are working to launch the nation’s first consumer product nonprofit accelerator. It is our hope that, beyond working with incredible companies, the accelerator will become the front door to resources, collaborative opportunities, and the voice for what is happening throughout Oregon.
In addition to the Built Oregon projects, we are wrapping up some rebranding projects for a couple of clients here in Oregon that I’m super excited about announcing over the next few weeks.
Why Portland?
The simple answer is that I’m here because my wife is from here… and she wasn’t moving to Phoenix.
But now that I’m here I can’t imagine living any place else. Growing up in Phoenix where everything is so far away and shopping local many times meant the local Target, Portland (and Oregon as a whole) immediately brought me in and created a sense of community.
There are simply too many things to list as ‘favorite things’ in Portland from a food, drink, and experiential perspective. But one favorite thing would have to be the people. Open doors and conversations that include incredible levels of thought exchange occur in this city and around the state every single day. We may not stand on mountaintops and shout how awesome we are to the world, but what we do is collaborate on a level that is unique. We are aggressively humble in the best possible ways.
Links
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