Frank Helle, CEO of Axian, Inc., will lead an interactive discussion about what to look for as you're selecting and growing your executive team. We’ll focus on leadership team issues and the warning signs that, if left untended, can derail executives' careers -- and in the process can torpedo both the culture of your team and your growing company. Share with other CEOs your experiences, insights and frustrations in working with your own and others’ potential career derailers, and gain insights for proactively addressing these leadership issues.

Our featured content expert is executive coach Rebecca Perry. As a former manager in a Fortune 50 company, and with 20+ years of experience as coach and sounding board for leaders in start-up and growing organizations, she brings to our table her curiosity, insights and lessons-observed.

The content of this session will include a brief description of the Hogan Leadership instrument -- a unique personality assessment so incisive it’s a legally-defensible predictor of leadership success. You'll hear about the 11 most common ways leaders shoot their careers and their company cultures in the foot. This information can help you notice warning signs in your team before they become show-stoppers.

Our group will discuss lessons-learned in creating alignment on a leadership team, and fostering an environment where we’re bringing out each others' best especially during the intense and often stress-producing phases of a young company.

Open only to CEOS or Presidents of currently operating companies that have employees. Boxed lunch will be served. This program is limited to 12 participants, and is available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Date: Tuesday, May 24, 2011 Time: 11:30-1:30 pm Location: 309 SW 6th Ave. Ironstone Bank Conference Room Portland, OR 97204 Registration: OEN Member - $46 Non-Member - $80

Moderator: Frank Helle, CEO of Axian, Inc. – www.axian.com Content Expert: Rebecca Perry, Executive Coach – www.linkedin.com/in/rebeccaperryleadership

Speaker: Frank Helle Frank Helle is CEO of Axian, Inc., a privately-held web-services engineering firm building custom software and data solutions. Previously, he was a senior global leader at Monsanto Company. He lived in Brussels Belgium for 5 years managing manufacturing, engineering, and supply chain for Europe, Middle East, and Africa. He then lived in Singapore for 5 years as Asia-Pacific Managing Director for 3 Monsanto Divisions.

Frank's leadership helps organizations realize more of their full potential, and often focuses on turnarounds and turbo-charging growth.

Aside from positioning Axian to be "built to last," Frank mentors and coaches local CXOs to help them compete in the global marketplace and create more jobs in Oregon. Frank is an active Board Director of Oregon's Association for Corporate Growth as Past-President, is an active Board Director of Oregon’s high tech trade association, Tech America, is on the Software Association of Oregon CEO Roundtable Steering Team, and is an active volunteer with the Oregon Entrepreneurs Network - Chairing the CEO Roundtable.

Frank Helle, CEO of Axian, Inc., will lead an interactive discussion on the use of strategic partnerships. The session will focus on options that can provide leverage to your organization when internal resources are scarce. Too often, CEO’s neglect these attractive options due to uncertainty on how to establish them or how to make effective use of them. Practical discussion will highlight:

Key areas for consideration:

•Determining where leverage is needed in your organization •Keys to initiating relationships •Practical suggestions for consideration Your insights and considerations will be welcome and integrated into the discussion.

Our featured content expert is Peter Arezzini, Principal, Arezzini Consulting. Arezzini Consulting specializes in strategic planning and development of growth strategies for mid-market companies. Peter Arezzini has served as a President/Chief Operating Officer for over 15 years. He has taken divisions of Fortune 500 companies to double-digit growth through organic as well as acquisition strategies that are simple, yet powerful. He has experience in high technology as well as industrial-based companies. Peter has successfully grown, consolidated and positioned companies for IPO and ultimate sale to other public companies.

Open only to CEOs or Presidents of currently operating companies that have employees. Boxed lunch will be served. This program is limited to 12 participants, and is available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Moderator: Frank Helle, CEO of Axian, Inc. - www.axian.com. Content Expert: Peter Arezzini, Arezzini Consulting Inc.

To register for this event, please contact Kirsten Ringen, OEN Director of Membership Services, at 503-222-2270 x 113 or [email protected]. Registration: OEN Member - $46; Non-Member - $80.

Ever struggled to get to a downtown or West side location to join a lunch discussion? Then a virtual "pub lunch" may be the answer!

This agile lunch discussion is a collaborate effort between Seattle and Portland agile minds, and we're hoping it won't stop there. The event is held on a zoom conference line. It is modeled after the AgilePDX Downtown Pub Lunch, which is an open round table with discussion topics sourced from the participants. Towards the end of each lunch discussion we will ask for topic suggestions and vote which one to pick for our next meeting. And we'll close out the discussion with a quick review feedback - so we can learn what works and what doesn't.

For this kick-off meeting, we will borrow the AgilePDX Downtown Pub Lunch topic about Hiring: What qualities do you hire for? Technical skills, learning attitude, team fit, emotional intelligence,... and to what extent does your search focus on building team diversity? These questions are only the beginning.

Join us in this new experiment and connect with the greater community of the Pacific Northwest. Visit our meetup page to RSVP and get the zoom conferencing information: https://www.meetup.com/AgilePDX-User-Group-Portland-Metro/events/252496023/

Have traffic and work schedules prevented you from joining an agile event on a topic which could help you or your teams? Then a virtual "pub lunch" may be the answer!

This agile lunch discussion is a collaborative effort between Seattle and Portland agile minds, and we're hoping it won't stop there. The event is held on a zoom conference line. We've learned using video is best, and you might consider your environment before joining -- find a quiet space where you won't be interrupted or feel self conscious. We're monitoring chat as a back channel, so if you can't find a spot in the discussion, add your question in chat and our hosts will try to work it in.

This weeks topic: Agile Outside of Engineering! The tech industry has collaborated for some time now to find new and better ways to tackle complex problems and deliver value to our stakeholders. And it seems companies have taken notice and agile "good practices" or "lessons learned" are being adopted outside of engineering groups. Methods like limiting your work in progress, planning & working in smaller increments, daily updates & coordination, review & adapt sessions are popping up in other departments and disciplines. Invite your friends to share stories and insights of such agile practices outside of software teams and IT departments. We can all learn from each other and would love to see new voices join, sharing unique challenges and solutions.

Please RSVP at our Meetup event and get the zoom connection info: https://www.meetup.com/AgilePDX-User-Group-Portland-Metro/events/254179707/