LYNNWOOD—Hundreds attended this year’s Business Builder Expo Resource Fair hosted by the Economic Alliance of Snohomish County, featuring over 60 business resource organizations and service providers at the Lynnwood Event Center.
The full-day event on Tuesday ran from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., bringing together entrepreneurs, lenders, advisors, and industry experts for activities focused on growth and resilience. Attendees enjoyed a resource fair, networking opportunities, a catered lunch session, and four blocks of concurrent workshops and panels.
The Expo opened with Ray Stephanson, President & CEO, Economic Alliance Snohomish County, Lynnwood Mayor George Hurst, and Apollo Fuhriman of the U.S. Small Business Administration providing opening remarks. Amy Sallin, Director of the Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Washington Foster School of Business delivered the keynote presentation.
Mary Ann Bradfield of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Disaster Recovery and Resilience shared with the Lynnwood Times that her team is offering low-interest disaster loans to homeowners, renters, businesses, private nonprofits, aquaculture operations, small co-ops, and others impacted by the back-to-back December 2025 atmospheric rivers.
The loans cover physical damage or economic injury with rates as low as 2.875% for homeowners/renters, 4% for businesses, and 3.625% for nonprofits with terms of up to 30 years with no payments or interest accrual for the first 12 months.
Bradfield shared that she has received fewer applications than expected and urged residents to take advent of the relief packages to help refinance higher-interest debt or aid in their recovery.
Businesses can apply online at https://lending.sba.gov/, https://www.sba.gov/funding-programs/disaster-assistance, or visit the Disaster Loan Outreach Center at the Snohomish Library.
Dei-Marlon Scisney, Founder and CEO if The Data Guys, delivers data and AI solutions for businesses of all sizes—from small to multi-million-dollar clients he told the Lynnwood Times. The Data Guys perform business process mapping, data unification/systems integration, and AI/automation layering to improve the efficiency of an organization.
Mary and Holly with All Things HR, an on-demand human resources support for small to mid-sized companies for over 20 years, shared the company’s flexible and agile approach to affordable outsourced HR services that included payroll processing, employee handbooks, investigations, and manager training.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) was on hand at the Expo to provide advice on employee benefits (health care/insurance), S-Corp vs. sole proprietor tax savings, and new 2025 tax changes such as up to $25,000 tip deduction, American-made car loan interest deduction, and overtime exemptions.
Representatives with First Citizens and WaFD banks answered questions about direct business financing, relationship-building, and community-focused banking to help small businesses expand.
Even the Secretary of State’s Office attended to assist attendees with official filings and educating businesses on charitable giving and scam awareness for donors.
For workshops, participants chose between two parallel tracks across four blocks. Each session delivered expert-led content tailored to real-world small business challenges: Selling to the Government, Alternative Financing for Small Business, Cybersecurity Essentials for Small Business, Business Opportunity: From Ideas to Impact, Tax Preparedness for Small Business, Roadmap to Starting a Business, Unlocking AI, and Harnessing the Power of Digital Advertising.
Author: Mario Lotmore
