SCORE Bucks County elects Langhorne resident David Boster as new chairman
By Samantha Bambino
The Times
When the nationwide business mentoring service SCORE formed in 1964, it was an organization comprised mostly of retired executives. While that may have been suitable at the time, the dynamics of the business world have drastically changed over the years. More young people aspire to be entrepreneurs while social media and creative advertising serve as the backbone of most startups’ success.
Today, SCORE Bucks County, which has headquarters in Fairless Hills, Doylestown and Quakertown, boasts approximately 50 members of all ages, including a growing number of mentors who are in the workforce or running their own businesses. With this number continuing to rise, volunteers knew they needed a fierce leader to guide the local chapter through the industry’s constant evolution.
Earlier this summer, SCORE Bucks County announced the election of Langhorne resident David Boster to the role of chairman. Boster replaces co-chairs Ray Valukonis and Erwin Michelfelder, and will serve a two-year term through Sept. 30, 2020.
A native of Harrisburg, Boster received a master’s degree in biology at Bloomsburg University before working for 35 years in the biotech industry, primarily on the sales and marketing side. His experience includes 10 years as director of sales at QIAGEN, and nearly nine years as director of sales and marketing at Tosoh Bioscience LLC.
Though Boster has since retired from the professional field, he’s positive his vast career has prepared him for his ongoing volunteer role with SCORE. According to Boster, the skills he has acquired, which include everything from business strategy and planning to human resources and internal communications, are transferable across all industries.
“I’ve acquired a lot of experience and knowledge,” he said. “What better way to utilize that than to give back to people?”
Boster joined SCORE Bucks County three years ago. In addition to mentoring small business owners and entrepreneurs, he previously served as chairman of the chapter’s seminar committee. While he admitted his new role comes with the most responsibilities to date, Boster is up for the challenge with a few objectives already in mind.
A key initiative for him is bringing more diversity to the existing membership pool of SCORE Bucks County mentors. According to Boster, it’s vital the mentors have commonalities with the local business people they’re mentoring. For example, there’s a current push to recruit more young people and women as mentors since both groups are becoming dominant forces in the industry.
“Women are launching new businesses at a faster rate than men,” explained J. Kelly Hoey, author and networking professional who provided the keynote speech at SCORE’s recent Women Building Businesses conference at Parx Casino. “Women directly or indirectly influence 85 percent of all personal and business purchasing decisions.”
In addition to recognizing the industry’s ever-expanding demographics, Boster isn’t naive to the digital age and its direct impact on business. To keep up with the modern era of technology, Boster said the chapter will offer a new digital marketing series beginning in September, with topics including Facebook, LinkedIn, websites and other digital outlets.
Moving forward, SCORE Bucks County will continue to offer the popular workshops that tackle the subjects of starting and running a business. Boster promised webinars of various topics will also remain a SCORE staple, with a number of one-hour sessions planned for the remainder of the year.
Nationally, SCORE has helped more than 8.5 million aspiring entrepreneurs since 1964, providing mentoring and workshops to more than 375,000 new and growing small businesses. Locally, SCORE Bucks County provides more than 1,500 services annually to local small business owners through one-on-one counseling and seminars.
As Boster prepares to step into his role as chairman, his hope is that the efforts of himself and SCORE’s band of dedicated volunteers help these statistics continue to climb.
Business mentoring services are available at SCORE Bucks County’s three locations: Lower Bucks Chamber of Commerce, 409 Hood Blvd. in Fairless Hills; 11 Weldon Drive, Suite 100 in Doylestown; and Upper Bucks Chamber of Commerce, 21 N. Main St. in Quakertown.
For more information or to learn more about getting involved as a volunteer mentor, email [email protected] or visit buckscountyscore.org. ••
Samantha Bambino can be reached at [email protected]
