Betsy Seanard is the Associate Director of the Midland College BEDC. She was a counselor for the Midland College BEDC for nearly two years before assuming the responsibilities of the BEDC Coordinator in November 2003.  She has a bachelor’s degree from LSU and an MBA in Management from UTPB.  Her prior work experience includes 11 years of training/teaching, three years of retail management in which she supervised a staff of 60, and eight years of business ownership, including a sole proprietorship (catering business and cooking school), a limited partnership (restaurant), an S-corporation, and a C-corporation.  Currently she is a member of the Leadership Midland Curriculum Committee and the Midland Chamber’s Business Retention Committee.  In the past she was a peer reviewer for HUD’s Hispanic Serving Institutions Assisting Communities (HSIAC) grant and Community Outreach Partnership Center (COPC) grant.

John Martinez, Ph.D. has provided BEDC services in both English and Spanish since January 2004, including business counseling, presenting professional interpretation of BEDC seminars and classes for the Spanish speaking community. John has had a variety of educational and business experiences. He was a manager of educational programs for 27 years. During these years, he was responsible for management of local, state and federal programs including their operating funds.  He has been in the business world for 10 years.  His has been operating a consulting firm for the past seven years. During that time he has written and reviewed proposals; conducted performance and management reviews; conducted various workshops on supervision and provided individual consultations to several businesses. Dr. Martinez is a licensed court interpreter. Dr. Martinez is a member of the Midland Chamber of Commerce Business Retention Committee and the Midland Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Education Committee.

Bob Lothringer is a business counselor for the BEDC. Bob has a Bachelors degree in Business Administration and graduate level MBA coursework. He has over 40 years of experience helping small businesses, including banking, preparing business plans, SBA loans, auditing, and VA assistance.  Bob started a business that he sold to Goodyear after thirteen years.

Paul McCord is a business counselor for the BEDC. Paul has been a self-employed Business Development Strategist and Consultant for the past five years.  He has fourteen years of business ownership experience. Paul is the author of two bestselling business sales books, with another book out in the fall.  He has authored over 100 articles published in media such as Business Week, Entrepreneur, Forbes, Reuters, and others. Paul has eleven years of banking and mortgage management experience. Paul has a Bachelors degree in Literature and Philosophy from Texas A & M commerce.

Christina Subia joined the BEDC staff as the full time secretary in November 2007.  She has an Associates Degree in Business from Midland College and 35 years of office experience.