Welcome to our newest OK Facilitator, Geoff Clark! 

Geoff is new as a co-facilitator of OK 19, but he isn’t new to OK at all! Here’s Geoff’s story:

When and why did you join OK?

I originally joined OK 4 back in 2000 and at that time we had Jim Schell and Larry Sirhall as our team’s facilitators. At that time I was working as General Manager for a Bend business Jim had recently purchased and it was my first time taking on a role beyond what had been a fairly self-directed sales career.

My OK group was tremendously helpful in ramping up my skills and expanding my local and regional resources in the small business community and it helped to create some incredible professional friendships that continue today almost 18 years later.

I am currently in OK 19 and was among the original founding team members of this “sales & marketing professionals” group, one of the first OK groups of its kind to target help to those in critical positions within their organizations but who were not necessarily owners.

What’s your favorite OK memory? OR What’s one thing OK has helped you do, understand or accomplish?

I have many great memories of some of the various characters that have come and gone from Opportunity Knocks but two things have happened that have had lasting and positive impacts on my personal and professional life.

The first is that I made a very close lifelong friend via my involvement with OK and this person has served as a source of advice and counsel on most every twist and turn my career has taken in Bend over the last 20 years.

The second is that OK has helped me with some very critical decisions about my role within my company and with the support and wisdom of our team I’ve gained a better understanding of where I am going professionally, greater confidence in addressing challenges successfully, and connecting with some amazing and brilliant folks that care enough to share their challenges in the spirit of learning and growing.

Why did you decide to become a co-facilitator for OK 19?

My decision to become a co-facilitator was brought on by a couple of factors but the biggest pull was that our group originally had two facilitators and about two years ago we lost one of them and the other was so strong and organized we just kept it as one and all were happy.

It had worked well but we realized there would be times when having a back-up would be necessary and it was certainly a help to have someone else to split up the duties both in and outside of our monthly meetings.

I also felt as a committed OK member that I had a level of stability and capacity in my professional life that would allow for me to step into this role seamlessly and discovered that I very much enjoy listening to others and offering up the many creative resources for help that were available to me all those years ago when I was new to OK.

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