Accelerate your business success

with in-person advising in Alameda

We have partnered with the City of Alameda Economic Development and the Alameda Chamber & Economic Alliance to provide no-cost in-person advising sessions to small businesses in Alameda. Ask your questions, get advice and learn how East Bay SBDC can help you start and grow your business.

Schedule

Click on the image below to schedule your in-person advising session with one of our expert advisors.
Appointments are for businesses located or doing business in Alameda.

Schedule your advising session in Alameda


View Calendar

Location
Alameda Chamber & Economic Alliance
2215 A South Shore Center
Alameda, CA 94501

Schedule
First and Third Tuesday of the month, between 12pm – 4pm (45 min appointments)

February 17, 2026
March 3 & 17, 2026
April 7 & 21, 2026
May 5 & 19, 2026
June 2 & 16, 2026
July 7 & 21, 2026

August 4 & 18, 2026

September 8 & 22, 2026
October 6 & 20, 2026
November 3 & 17, 2026

Our Advisors

Laurie Zerga

Laurie Zerga

Schedule
4/7/2026
6/2/2026
8/4/2026
10/6/2026
11/17/2026

Laurie Zerga is a Strategic Business Advisor at SBDC and loves helping entrepreneurs with marketing, IT, customer service, startups and p&l accountability from $2M to $45M. She is an accomplished senior executive, C-Suite officer, consultant, entrepreneur, thought leader, and board member with over 25 years of success across financial services, food, international technology and engineering industries.

Sandra Markus

Sandra Markus

Schedule
3/17/2026
5/19/2026
9/22/2026

Sandy Markus has been in entrepreneurial environments her whole professional career in corporate divisions, venture capital funded start-ups, and launched her own small business. She has been a lead SBDC Advisor and Trainer for startup businesses for six years.

Sandy brings a unique understanding and experience in and with start-ups, marketing, and business development in the service, retail, wholesale, software-as-a-service, education, and nonprofit sectors.

Peter Lou

Schedule
3/3/2026
5/5/2026
7/7/2026
9/8/2026
11/3/2026

Peter Lou is a banking professional with 25+ years of experience working for Ernst & Young Management Consulting, Wells Fargo Bank (1998-2024; VP and Director: Business Banking, Corporate Banking, Corporate Treasury, Private Banking, Treasury Management); Union Bank (Corporate Credit Policy & Portfolio Management, Commercial Real Estate CRE Lending Group ). Recipient of UCLA Instructor Excellence Award 2023. Golden Gate University (GGU) / Stanford University: Distinguished Adjunct Professor. Teach classes in Business Finance, Bank Management, Business Fundamentals, Business Risk Management, etc.

Additional Information

Sign up to be East Bay SBDC Client First

If you are not a current East Bay SBDC client, you need ro use this link https://www.eastbaysbdc.org/join/ to sign up to be a client first before you can start the in-person advising.

Waitlist
Please email ebinfo@eastbaysbdc.org with your preferred dates to be added to the waitlist. If a cancellation occurs, we will reach out to you.

Cancellation Policy

We have limited resources available for in-person one-on-one individual counseling in Alameda.

To save spaces for those individual/business who need one-on-one counseling, if any business has “No Show” or “Same Day cancellation” for their appointment session with the SBDC Advisor, this individual or business will no longer receive any counseling service from the East Bay SBDC in the future, especially not in-person advising in Alameda.

If you must cancel your appointment, please remove your name from the schedule and notify us by Thursday the week before your appointment to give us time to fill your spot with another business. If a business does not confirm their appointment by Friday 8 am the week before, their appointment time will be given to another business that is waiting for an appointment time slot.

Our Partners