Carrie Heaton | President

Carrie has worked in the financial services industry for over 15 years and currently works in Risk Management and Security at Kitsap Bank where she also helps lead the bank’s Community Reinvestment Act efforts. She chose to move from corporate banking to a local family- and woman-owned bank because of its commitment to fostering relationships with small businesses that help our communities thrive. Carrie has worked with CIE and its previous programs for the past several years and is a strong believer in the power of supporting the often-overlooked entrepreneurs residing in rural areas. She has seen the impact first-hand the programs have made in Clallam County. Carrie is committed to bettering the community she lives in. In addition to serving on CIE’s board, she also serves on the board of the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Olympic Peninsula and the Sequim Food Bank. Carrie and her husband live in Port Angeles, own a small business, and love exploring with their two dogs. She holds an MBA from Portland State University and an MS in Integrative Health & Wellness from Creighton University.

Rita Ordóñez | Vice President

Rita Ordóñez worked in the non-profit and education sector for 25 years before founding Birdsign Consulting in 2015. She has committed her entire career to building community by connecting organizations and people with needed resources. Her small business, Birdsign Consulting, provides grant writing and project management services to non-profit organizations, businesses, and government entities. 

Over the last 16 years, much of Rita’s work has been centered on increasing access to healthy, locally-grown food. She has worked on farm-to-school, farm-to-food bank, and farmers market food access projects. Rita has a deep interest in financial education, electronic payment technologies, and alternative currencies. She is a part of the PNW BIPOC Food System Network and served as a mentor for three sessions of the Center for Inclusive Entrepreneurship’s Start-Up Skagit program.

Rita and her husband live in the Skagit Valley where they raised their two children.  She likes to read novels, garden, cook, hike, swim, listen to music, and spend time with her family and 2 cats.  In 2018, Rita was awarded the SWAN Woman of the Year award for mentorship of women. She holds a BA in Geography from Western Washington University and an MA in Geography from the University of Washington.

Anthony Gromko | Secretary

Anthony has collaborated with CIE and its predecessor programs for over 10 years, exploring all aspects of community development work from purpose to implementation and from business plans to sustainability. For Anthony, serving on CIE’s board is an opportunity to formalize this collaboration and help the organization unleash its potential for positive impact on more communities throughout the Northwest.

Anthony served in the Peace Corps in Bolivia in 2002-2005 working with groups of indigenous artisans on microenterprise development and has been doing community and economic development work ever since. From 2006 to 2016, Anthony managed the microloan program and contributed to business training programs at Mercy Corps Northwest in Portland, OR, and Seattle, WA. Anthony currently serves as the Acting Director, Snohomish County Extension, at Washington University Extension.

Anthony holds an MBA in Sustainable Systems from the Presidio Graduate Institute (formerly, Bainbridge Graduate Institute) and a BA in Business Administration from Gonzaga University.

Shanthi Gudavalli

Shanthi has 20+ years of experience spanning technology and new product launches. She is currently the Head of Trust and Safety Execution for the Payments Initiatives at JP Morgan Chase, working on initiatives that apply emerging technologies and machine learning. In addition to serving on CIE’s board, Shanti is on the board of Destination Imagination primarily forming and guiding teams to foster creative thinking for elementary and middle school children. She champions manager excellence and mentoring and supports autism talent, where her work is rooted in the principles of empathy, attitude, grit, learning, and expertise. Shanthi has a Bachelor’s in Computer Science and Engineering from India and a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Chicago - Booth School of Business.

Ram Hariharan

Ram currently works at a major technology company solving business problems at the intersection of people and technology, like helping engineering teams to safely accelerate their delivery of complex software systems. While he has more than 20 years of working experience in large technology companies, he also has strong connections to entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship, having been involved in about half a dozen different startups and small businesses throughout his career, not counting the first-version products he helped launch at big companies. His experience growing up in Hawaii motivates his volunteer work for inclusion and broadening economic opportunity. Ram has an undergraduate degree in computer science from the University of Hawaii and an MBA in Sustainable Business from the Pinchot program at Presidio Graduate School.

Chris Harjung, CPA | Treasurer

Chris studied and graduated with an undergraduate and master’s degree in Accounting from Siena College in the Albany NY area. He is currently a licensed CPA in New York and Massachusetts and remains up to date with the relevant Accounting, Finance, and continuing education training in those relevant fields. He started his career in external auditing which included experience in various industries including NPO, CPG, Energy, Insurance, Education, and Medical Devices. 

After 7+ years in the Accounting field, Chris moved to a sales, business development, and global account management role with the same firm and currently holds that position today as a Client Relationship Director. This role includes some of the industries mentioned above, but most notably the Energy and Aerospace and Defense industries. 

Chris and his wife (Jolie) live in a small town of under 7,000 people in Westbrook CT with their Golden Retriever, Crosby. They enjoy spending time with family, friends, and the broader neighborhood community they live in. Chris and Jolie have joined and served on their neighborhood board – Middle Beach Association since November 2022.

Casey Pearlman

Casey is passionate about wealth building within BIPOC and LGBTQ2S+ communities. She has 10+ years of experience in Portland, Oregon's vibrant startup community, where she worked with startups and funders across multiple industries with a special interest in emerging sectors such as clean tech and cannabis. Serving on CIE's board is an opportunity for her to unite her skills in resource gathering with her unbridled enthusiasm for entrepreneurship.

 She currently serves the Tribal communities of the Northwest through her work in Business Development at the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians Economic Development Corporation, a Native CDFI serving 57 Tribes in the region. She is also Treasurer of Underscore News, a non-profit journalism company covering Indigenous communities in the Northwest. She received her BA in Business Management & Leadership and Human Resource Management from Portland State University.