Keith Ogata Elected Secretary of National SCORE Board of Directors

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Sep 22, 2010, 09:00 ET

Corporate Executive Brings Extensive Background in Management & Finance

WASHINGTON, Sept. 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Keith Ogata of Honolulu, Hawaii, has been elected Secretary for the board of SCORE "Counselors to America's Small Business." Ogata will help lead SCORE's mission to grow 1 million small businesses by 2017 through a national network of more than 12,400 volunteer mentors. His term as secretary begins October 1. Learn more about SCORE at www.score.org.

Keith Ogata is the president of 3-K Financial Corporation in Nevada, a private investment and consulting firm. Prior to that, he was chief financial officer and treasurer of the National Education Corporation in Irvine, Calif., a leading education, training and publishing company. His responsibilities included accounting and finance, strategic planning, investor and public relations, human resources, risk management and information systems.

Ogata also shared chief operating responsibilities with the CEO in turnaround situations involving underperforming subsidiaries. He served on the board of directors of Career Education Corp., a multi-billion dollar education organization, from 1998-2007.

Ogata holds an MBA from Duke University and a bachelor of science in business administration from the University of Southern California. He was a Peace Corps volunteer in Chuuk, Federated States of Micronesia, where he implemented a computerized accounting system. He has served as the district director overseeing SCORE offices in Hawaii since 2001.

SCORE Board Chair Doug Kindred says, "Keith Ogata offers his expertise as CFO, company president and entrepreneur to help SCORE meet its goal of growing 1 million small businesses by 2017." Kindred adds, "Keith is committed to supporting the entrepreneurial spirit of America and the success of small businesses, which is especially important as our nation recovers from the recession."

About SCORE: Since 1964, SCORE has helped more than 8.5 million aspiring entrepreneurs. Each year, SCORE provides small business mentoring and workshops to more than 375,000 new and growing small businesses. More than 12,400 business experts volunteer as mentors in 364 chapters serving local communities with entrepreneur education to help grow 1 million small businesses.

For more information about starting or operating a small business, call 1-800/634-0245 for the SCORE chapter nearest you. Visit SCORE at www.score.org and www.score.org/women. Connect with SCORE at www.facebook.com/SCOREFans, http://twitter.com/SCOREMentors and www.scorecommunity.org.

SOURCE SCORE Association