When Sarah Mailloux, state director of the Pennsylvania Small Business Development Center network, gathered 15 professional development centers at Penn State's University Park campus, she wasn't just hosting a conference — she was reinforcing a promise: that Pennsylvania's entrepreneurs wouldn't be left behind as the business world transforms.
The annual PASBDC Growth Summit has become the connective tissue holding together a statewide support system designed to help small businesses navigate an increasingly complex landscape. This year's gathering centered on a simple but urgent theme: "Impact & Innovation." As artificial intelligence reshapes how businesses operate and market themselves, SBDC advisers — the frontline counselors who guide entrepreneurs through everything from startup logistics to scaling challenges — need to evolve just as fast as their clients do.
The summit sessions were laser-focused on practical adaptation. Brad Zdenek, Penn State's director of economic development and student programs, walked advisers through concrete examples of how AI tools could strengthen their consulting practices and entrepreneur engagement efforts. Beyond the classroom, marketing strategy and data analysis workshops ensured that advisers across the commonwealth would return home equipped with fresh approaches to supporting the diverse businesses in their communities.
But the summit wasn't all lecture halls. Attendees toured Penn State's Learning Factory, a hands-on fabrication and innovation space tucked into the Engineering Design and Innovation Building. Alongside Shop Supervisor Steve White, they saw firsthand how access to equipment — metal and wood fabrication, additive manufacturing tools — and collaborative training could spark the kind of creative problem-solving that turns ideas into products. For a network dedicated to supporting entrepreneurs, witnessing that space proved the summit's central thesis: that creativity, technology, and hands-on learning drive real business growth.
What made the experience click was the human element woven throughout. Attendees didn't just hear abstract lessons about supporting small business — they met them. Happy Valley Improv and Manny's Live Performance Space, both current Penn State SBDC clients, brought their stories and challenges into the room. These encounters reminded the advisers why their work matters: behind every business is a person navigating real opportunities and obstacles, a community depending on their success.
Tim Keohane, director of the Penn State SBDC, framed it clearly: "As the needs of small businesses continue to evolve, it's critical that our advisers continue learning alongside them." That philosophy shaped every session, every tour, every conversation at the summit.
The network itself is buoyed by substantial support. Funding flows through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Department of Community and Economic Development, and Penn State itself. The summit's sponsors — a roster including Customers Bank, Huntington Bank, Bridgeway Capital, and a dozen others — underscore how seriously the state takes this infrastructure for entrepreneurship.
As businesses across Pennsylvania face the challenge of integrating AI, shifting consumer expectations, and tighter margins, having a unified network of advisers staying sharp and connected isn't a luxury. It's essential infrastructure. The Growth Summit exists because, as Mailloux said, Pennsylvania's small businesses deserve a support network that doesn't stand still — one that grows as fast as they do.