Having blazed her own bright professional trail for decades, Gena B. Westergaard is co-founder and the managing partner of Sugar Fire Consulting LLC, launched in 2023 in Cornelius, Oregon. Overseeing the company’s finances, marketing efforts, structure, and future development, Ms. Westergaard brings more than 40 years of highly relevant experience from the restaurant industry. She credits her success to the invaluable mentorship she has received throughout her career, with special thanks to Pat Naughton, and believes that maintaining a strong professional network continues to be integral to her accomplishments. In this vein, Ms. Westergaard became a member of the National Association of Women Business Owners in 2023.
Ms. Westergaard excels at operating Sugar Fire Consulting LLC due to the knowledge and expertise she employs when working with various companies in the restaurant industry, providing vital training and business consultation services. She counts helping to create the company according to her unique vision as her most significant achievement to date and takes pride in the way it is run—reflecting her core values, guiding principles, and personal mission. Possessing pure passion for the restaurant industry, Ms. Westergaard works with her partner to help as many people and companies as possible while staying true to her ideals.
Before launching her company, Ms. Westergaard was the director of training with the Ascend Hospitality Group, working with them for three years, and was the general manager of Stanford’s Restaurant, a steakhouse in Hillsboro, Oregon, from 2016 to 2020. For more than a decade prior, she was the manager of the restaurant, thriving in this role from 2004 to 2016 and netting three Best Steak House in the City awards during her tenure. The celebrated establishment was additionally honored as Restaurant of the Year. In 1994, Ms. Westergaard began her career as a general manager with Shari’s Management Corporation, remaining until 1999. For the next two years, she was an assistant general manager for the American chain restaurant Red Robin.
Ms. Westergaard feels “right at home” as a business owner. Raised by her grandmother, she points to the beloved matriarch as a heavy influence and professional inspiration. Her grandmother owned and operated restaurants and taught her the importance of training and efficient business operation. A living legacy today as a consultant to the restaurant industry, Ms. Westergaard looks forward to the continued expansion of Sugar Fire Consulting LLC and hopes to help more companies, even those that cannot afford executive-level leadership consulting and training services.
Although she describes entrepreneurship as sometimes feeling akin to being underwater, Ms. Westergaard never fears and “comes up for air” whenever necessary—an attribute that has qualified her to advise other emerging individuals and businesses on how they might overcome their own challenges. Even so, she prioritizes listening to her clients and others, always letting them speak first while taking mental notes on all the information she receives. As a lifelong go-getter and self-starter, Ms. Westergaard remains calm in her decision-making and is proud of what she has been able to build. Moreover, she refuses to compromise her values, recognizing that now is the time to construct the foundations upon which her growing business will expand and ultimately rest.
Since Ms. Westergaard’s grandmother ignited her love for the restaurant industry and sparked her decision to follow the same path, she is grateful that she has remained devoted to her work, even after decades of experience, and enjoys seeing people grow and succeed. Throughout her career, she has been motivated by being underestimated, recalling when she took over a new restaurant location and was tasked with repairing the building’s water system, regarded by others as impossible. True to form, Ms. Westergaard accepted the responsibility, hired competent professionals, and solved the issue.