MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
Learn more about the people behind our local businesses!
Jesse Zamudio
Plumbing Concepts, Inc.
Jesse Zamudio is not a man who boasts about himself or his accomplishments. But those who know him might rightly call him a mechanical ace. Even as a kid, Jesse was gifted with a keen talent for anything mechanical. And it was a high-school instructor who ignited Jesse’s core passion.
“My electronics teacher taught me how to problem-solve. He taught troubleshooting as a mindset,” Jesse explained. It’s a skill that has defined Jesse’s true calling, and informed the best work he and his licensed, COBID-certified company, Plumbing Concepts, Inc, have delivered for clients such as Portland’s Lloyd Center.
Janique Bacharach
Bacharach Construction LLC
Countless companies and leaders tout the importance of 21st-century values in business — priorities such as DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion), work/life balance, mutual respect, and human sustainability. But very few actually walk the talk. And even fewer do so in the field of construction.
Bacharach Construction LLC, a Portland-based general contracting firm, is one such company. A rare breed, led by an equally rare leader, CEO Janique Bacharach.
Reyna Badillo
Summit Wood Creations
“Working with PBDG has been the springboard to making the leap into the commercial sector and diversifying my business.”
Reyna Badillo knows the importance of purpose. Whether it’s a greater need spurred by swiftly changing circumstances, or the driving desire that fuels any self-starter, Reyna witnessed the power of purpose in action at a very young age.
Leticia Nuñez
Columbia River Painting, LLC
Leticia Nuñez has always held an unwavering commitment to family. In fact, her drive to start her own business came from her desire to be present for her growing children. For years as a single mother, Leticia juggled the demands of parenting with those of a full-time job. “It was very difficult, having a job and raising two active boys,” she said.
“I realized I needed the flexibility to be there for them.” In thinking about a solution, she realized she knew some of the ins and outs of construction. It was this knowledge that helped her zero-in on the painting trade as the right pursuit. And so, with a clear idea, guidance from an ally, and time spent in classes offered by various paint companies, Leticia ultimately got her license, and Columbia River Painting, LLC was born.
Jeff Hairston
J3 Painting and Construction, LLC
By the 1990s, Jeff Hairston had amassed a metaphoric toolshed of important construction skills — knowledge that included how to repair houses, paint houses, install roofs, and much more.
Those skills were taught to him by his father, and Jeff had honed them through multiple projects and on-the-job experience. By 1996, Jeff decided to take an entrepreneurial leap, turning his knowledge into a small, local company, J3 Painting and Construction LLC.
Alicia Chapman
Willamette Technical Fabricators
In the spring of 2023, Governor Tina Kotek nominated PBDG member Alicia Chapman to serve on the Oregon Transportation Commission (OTC). Alicia’s appointment acknowledges the work she has accomplished, both as the owner and CEO of Willamette Technical Fabricators, and as a champion of triple-bottom-line values — 21st-century business practices that center people, planet, and profit.
Alicia’s DBE (Disadvantaged Business Enterprises) designation, her experience as a vocal transportation advocate, and her interest in clean energy were all factors in allowing Governor Kotek to establish more diversity within the Commission when naming this highly experienced new commissioner.
Carlton Pascal Renan Bennefield
Pascal Welding + Design, LLC
Carlton Pascal Renan Bennefield was lucky. He was hit by a bolt from the blue — a bright spark of inspiration — when he was just a little boy. Suddenly, on an otherwise unremarkable day in Carlton’s native state of New York, his lifetime dream became crystal clear. Carlton remembers the moment like it was a scene from a movie.
“When I was about six years old, I was in the car with my family, and we were stuck in traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge. As I looked out the window, I saw these bright sparks, like fireworks shooting up into the air. I asked my father what was going on — what were they doing? And he answered, ‘They’re welding.’ And I said, ‘That’s what I want to do. I want to weld, and build bridges!’” And with that, his career-path was set.
José David Berdeja Guzman
Berdeja Painting Enterprises, LLC
José David Berdeja Guzman has always been an entrepreneurial self-starter. From a very young age, José worked to become a refrigeration technician in his native town of Coyuca de Benéitez, Guerrero. There, after years managing his family’s coconut farm, he diligently learned the HVAC trade and established his own small business, El Cooler.
But it wasn’t until a desire to advance his family’s prospects, and years waiting to immigrate to America (including six years living on the Mexico-U.S. border during the bloody Calderón War) brought him to Rockport, Maine, where he decided to pivot toward the painting trade.
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