SOREDI Announces New Committee Chair, Kathy Peckham

Medford OR – SOREDI’s Business Recruitment and Retention (BRR) Committee is proud to announce Kathy Peckham, Banner Bank’s Vice President/Commercial Relationship Manager, as the new committee chair. Peckham has worked in the banking industry for over 39 years, with a concentration in Commercial Lending for the last 35. Peckham provides a combination of skilled and practical lending insight along with a passion for providing friendly, high touch service to her clients. She has extensive experience with many types of business clients including manufacturing, distribution, high-tech and others.

The BRR Committee meets monthly to discuss strategies for marketing Southern Oregon outside the region as a business destination and to share concerns gathered from established companies.  It is an active group, engaged in making outreach visits to listen to local businesses and planning events such as the annual Site Consultant Tours, tradeshows and business receptions for companies who may consider relocating.

“As the new BRR Chair, I look forward to facilitating the open forum for healthy dialog that advances issues and matters of concern for businesses in our valley,” says Peckham. “This committee will continue to innovate and implement ideas that strengthen our business climate, provide resources to business, listen to companies and influence positive change. It’s a lofty goal, but we’d like to create the healthiest climate for business on the West Coast. We measure our success when we’ve helped a company face a challenge.”

Peckham has collaborated with SOREDI on many successful loans and projects since she returned to the Rogue Valley from the Portland area in 1991. Peckham was introduced to SOREDI through their loan fund. SOREDI often collaborates with traditional lenders in order to fund businesses that are creating jobs in the region. Peckham has served as a member of the BRR Committee for 2 years.

Peckham continues, “SOREDI brings together all the available resources in a collaborative style including local, state and federal agencies to help business succeed. Whether a business is growing, relocating from outside the area or just starting up, SOREDI’s role is to facilitate business access to capital, including funding and a skilled workforce. I am constantly amazed at what the “small but mighty” staff is able to accomplish in support of their mission: ‘To Help Business Launch, Relocate, Prosper’ and I am so pleased to be able to participate.”

About SOREDI: SOREDI is a private, membership-based, non-profit organization, governed by a board of directors. Its six-person staff is charged with local business expansion and new business recruitment efforts, financial assistance to start-up companies through its business loan fund, and management of Enterprise Zones in Jackson and Josephine Counties. The agency was formed as a regional economic development agency in 1987. Learn more at https://soredi.org.