The Niagara College Business Development Centre (BDC) has been the Coordinator of services for the Self-Employment Benefit Program since 1991 to Beamsville, Grimsby, Jordan, Niagara Falls, Niagara-on-the-Lake, St. Ann's, St. Catharines, Thorold and Vineland. The College has been very successful in offering these services, and the Centre's clients boast an 80% success rate three years after their program completion. This success rate is one of the highest in the country, and the BDC has shared its expertise with partners across the country and around the world.

Rena Posteraro
Project Coordinator and Business Development Officer

Rena Posteraro is the Project Coordinator, Business Development Officer and Business Advisor for the Business Development Centre and Workplace Development Services. She is active in assisting many entrepreneurs in getting their businesses started as well as strategically helping them grow their businesses. She has taught several business courses in the Business and Entrepreneurship Division of the College. She has been involved in family businesses for the past 25 years; in 2006 she sold the women’s fitness studio that she had opened in 2000. Rena is also the President of Business Mentoring Inc., through which she assists businesses and corporations in implementing mentoring programs. She delivers presentations on self-employment and mentoring at business conferences internationally.

Rena holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business and French and a Masters of Education Degree in Organizational and Administrative Studies from Brock University. She also has her Teaching Adults Certificate. She is a certified APEC-IBIZ business counselor and an I.S.O. auditor.

On behalf of the International Department at the College she has delivered entrepreneurship and mentoring workshops at Walter Sisulu University in South Africa, ITLA College in the Dominican Republic and King Faisal Hospital in Saudi Arabia. She is participating in a Mentorship Plus Pilot Program at Brock University.

Rena is a former Board of Director for Brock University Alumni Association and serves on the Women in Niagara, Niagara Entrepreneur of the Year Awards, Small Business Club Niagara and Partners in Enterprise committees. Rena is the proud recipient of the 2007 YWCA Women of Distinction Award for the Trades, Profession and Entrepreneurship category.  

905-641-2252 ext. 4405
rposteraro@niagaracollege.ca

Steve Stunt
Business Advisor

Steve Stunt is the main Business Advisor for the Business Development Centre.

Steve started his career with the Toronto Blue Jays and knows first-hand that starting a new business takes careful planning and a lot of hard work. As the General Manager of the very first professional baseball team in St Catharines, Steve had the opportunity to start a new business from the ground up.

He began teaching marketing at Niagara College in 1986 and continues to do so. Since starting with the Business Development centre in 1993, Steve has worked with over 500 individuals in helping them fulfill the dream of starting their own business.

Steve is active in the Niagara business community and has an extensive network of business associates in Niagara. Well versed in marketing, he’s also a business generalist who is prepared to roll up his sleeves for the BDC clients. He understands the challenges that individuals have in starting out their ventures. and lends much-needed moral support as well as business advice to get them on the right track.

905-641-2252 ext. 4429
sstunt@niagaracollege.ca

Mary Ann Martin is the Client & Office Assistant for the Business Development Centre. She has been with Niagara College, working in other areas including Continuing Education, since 1992 and with the BDC since 1996.

Mary Ann is your first contact person for all services offered at the Centre. Her focus is on providing quality customer service to clients and managing a database of over 5,500 small and medium-sized businesses. She also handles all client inquiries with Employment Ontario.

She assists the business advisors, organizes workshop schedules and instructors and is the primary assistant to the Business Development Officer. Her outstanding technical, organizational and communication skills enable her to manage this challenging position. Mary Ann prides herself on her superior customer service skills and enjoys meeting and working with all the new entrepreneurs who come through the Business Development Centre. She enjoys networking at the Small Business Club of Niagara and numerous other functions.

Mary Ann is also a true entrepreneur - she has been involved in her family business for several years.

905-641-2252 ext. 4456
mmartin@niagaracollege.ca

Erica Jurus
Administrative Services

Erica Jurus is the BDC departmental secretary. She was self-employed as a graphic designer and copy writer for 13 years. She is a graduate of Brock University and brings organizational and graphic design skills, along with entrepreneurial insight, to her position at the BDC.

Erica maintains the website and produces the BDC’s marketing materials. She also interviews, photographs and writes the monthly Success Stories and creates the newsletter. On behalf of the department she coordinates the budgets and purchasing; coordinates and updates the training courses and manuals; administers the departmental payroll; and organizes the Centre’s events.

Erica is the graphic designer for both the Support Team Recognition Day Committee and the United Way Committee at the College; in addition, she created and maintains the College’s United Way website. She creates the multi-media animated flyers for both committees.

Erica and her husband are avid travelers, and the cultural experience that she gains on her trips enhances her understanding of the diverse BDC clients. Erica has delivered photo presentations about her travels in Africa on behalf of the College, and is looking forward to continuing her exploration of the global community. She is now also coordinating the College's new educational travel program, will be serving as host and photojournalist for the first 3 trips, and will be delivering a Kid's College course this summer on Jungle Exploration.

905-641-2252 ext. 4435
ejurus@niagaracollege.ca

Karen Martin
Business Advisor & Business Development Officer

Karen Martin is a business advisor, instructor and Business Development Officer for the Business Development Centre, where she assists entrepreneurs starting new businesses. She is also an APEC Certified Business Counsellor.  

Karen holds a Bachelor of Journalism Degree from Carleton University in Ottawa and has worked as a reporter and editor for a variety of newspapers and magazines in northern and southern Ontario. She is an established writer, having written regular business columns for a daily newspaper, as well as writing professionally for a Toronto-based company that publishes guides to topics ranging from First Aid to iPods.  On behalf of the BDC, she teaches subjects ranging from business communications, to marketing, to business plan development.

She also delivers seminars outside the college on topics such as branding, relationship marketing, and advertising and promotion.

Karen is also a founding partner of JustPlay Sport Services, which delivers behaviour and risk management programs in youth sports and has annual sales of $1 to $1.5  million. Karen sits as a director on the non-profit arm of the company, the Civic Sport Group.

905-641-2252 ext. 4428

kmartin@niagaracollege.ca 

Paul Morgan
Business Advisor

Paul Morgan is the President of Morgan, Ross and Associates Ltd., which owns and operates Plan2Profit.ca. He has managed a variety of businesses across Canada; has acted as a consultant, contract manager and business advisor; and has delivered courses, seminars and keynote addresses in management and business.  

Paul knows what it’s like to walk in a business owner’s shoes. He’s started up, operated and sold his own businesses, and has helped business people who are just getting started as well as those who’ve been in business for years and want an objective evaluation of their operation. He has secured loans from banks and the government, signed personal guarantees and suffered through many a sleepless night working through cash flow projections in his head.  

Paul joined the BDC team in 2007 as business advisor and instructor, and specializes in helping agricultural business owners succeed in today’s challenging markets.

905-641-2252 ext. 4181
pamorgan@niagaracollege.ca

Larry Bitner
Business Advisor

Larry Bitner is a Business Advisor and instructor for the Business Development Centre. He has over 30 years of experience in marketing, advertising and business development. 

Larry delivers the BDC’s online business courses to both BDC clients and to the Construction and Engineering Technology students at the College. He is an instructor for the new Business Skills Training for Farm Families course, is also an instructor in the College’s Hospitality and Tourism Management program. 

He is a Certified Business Counselor, trainer, professional speaker and writer who specializes in helping business professionals and their organizations achieve greater personal and professional success through strategic planning, problem solving and Winning Formula® development.

 
905-641-2252 ext. 4181
lbitner@niagaracollege.ca

John Young
Business Advisor

John Young is a Business Advisor and instructor for the Niagara College Business Development Centre, teaching diverse topics like concept development, client satisfaction, sales, marketing, advertising, communications and entrepreneurship.

John came to the BDC from a career in newspaper and magazine publishing. In the mid-nineties he formed JCY associates, a marketing and sales consultancy specializing in small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs).

Using his insights on trends and communications, John delivers seminars combining marketing, advertising and selling to create fully engaged client relationships. He also writes, speaks, consults and coaches under the umbrella of creating the “will to buy”®.

As a Certified Business Counselor under APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation), John’s designation certifies him to counsel SMBs in Canada and participating global economies. Known for a sense of people and what makes clients tick, John Young offers a wealth of experience in marketing, advertising and customer engagement to a wide variety of organizations and small to medium-sized businesses.

905-641-2252 ext. 4181
 

Bruce Sinclair
Business Advisor

Bruce Sinclair is a retired Commercial Banker with 30 years of experience in dealing with commercial business accounts. He served as the Senior Commercial Banking Manager, Niagara Region, and the Senior Manager of Commercial Market Development for the Bank of Montreal.  

Bruce has been involved with the self employment assistance programs at the BDC since 1993 as an Advisor, and sits on the Review Committee. 

He remains active in the business community as a part-time Membership Communication Coordinator for the St. Catharines Downtown Association; Treasurer for St. Giles Presbyterian Church in St. Catharines; and President, Treasurer and Property Manager of Niagara North Condominium Corporation #64, a 15-unit condominium townhouse complex in St. Catharines.

905-641-2252 ext. 4456

Other Funding

As a result of changes in the government funding structure for the Self-Employment Benefit Program, as of January 2007 Employment Ontario assumed the administration of the program. The federal and provincial governments continue to be enthusiastic supporters of small business, providing, through their delivery agents, both funding and mentoring for new entrepreneurs. Click here for more information about Employment Ontario.

 

Where We're Located

The College has campuses in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Welland and Niagara Falls. The Business Development Centre, located at the beautiful Niagara-on-the-Lake Campus on the QEW Highway off the Glendale Avenue exit, attracts clients from all over the Region. Our address is:

NOTL Campus, Rm. W115
135 Taylor Road, S.S.#4
Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON   L0S 1J0
Phone: 905-641-2252
Fax: 905-988-4310

Clients can enjoy the many aspects of the campus, including: use of the many resources – both print and online – in the Learning Resource Centre; the Niagara Culinary Institute's outstanding restaurant; the Wine Store, featuring award-winning wines from the College's Teaching Winery; a wide selection of plants available at the Greenhouse; and the views of the surrounding Niagara Escarpment in every season.

Click here for a map of the Niagara-on-the-Lake Campus

Client Testimonials

Feedback from participants consistently indicates that, while the financial support offered through the BDC is important, it is the mentoring and access to resources at the Business Development Centre that makes business success possible. Clients of the BDC have collectively earned millions of dollars in revenue while building a renewed sense of purpose and self-confidence.