Huntsman School Taps Dozens of Entrepreneurial Leaders for Lecture Series

A former winner of the Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award who founded a mentoring and angel investing firm is the next speaker at the Entrepreneur Leadership Series at Utah State University’s Jon M. Huntsman School of Business on Jan. 29.

Amy Rees Anderson is former CEO of MediConnect Global and founder and managing partner of Rees Capital, a mentoring and angel investing firm. Anderson, who also earned the Utah Business CEO of the Year Award, has founded an organization that mentors entrepreneurs called “In Pursuit of Perfection” or IPOP. Her presentation is called: “Building a Worldwide Medical Information Company.”

The lecture series, which is free and open to the public, will be held Wednesdays at 6 p.m. in the Orson A. Christensen Auditorium in the George S. Eccles Business Building on the USU campus. The speakers are expected to discuss such things as the importance of innovation, customer service, community service, and to share tips for start-up companies seeking capital.

Michael Glauser is the executive director of entrepreneurial programs at the Huntsman School of Business.

“Our speakers have been carefully selected and each of them will share insights that entrepreneurs and anyone interested in gaining a competitive edge through constant innovation can benefit from,” he said. “We are grateful that so many outstanding entrepreneurs have agreed to volunteer their time to make this a remarkable and informative series.”

Here is a list of the speakers who are scheduled to visit campus:

Feb. 5 — Corbin Church is CEO of Miche Bag, a company that sells handbags. He has built and sold five different companies and took this company from three employees in 2007 to a direct-sales firm that now has more than 7,000 sales representatives and business owners. His presentation is called: “Selling Innovative Products with a Unique Business Model.”
Feb. 15 — Steve Cloward is the former CEO of Big O Tires and the owner of Grease Monkey International. Grease Monkey is a small chain of businesses that offer lube and car wash services. Cloward was president and CEO of Big O Tires for 15 years. He is also the director of the Northfront Business Resource Center at Davis Applied Technology College in Kaysville, Utah. His presentation is called “Building an Exceptional Customer Service System.”
Feb. 19 — Brady Murray is president of Mass Mutual Intermountain West and founder of RODS (Racing for Orphans with Down Syndrome.) Murray, who has a son who has Down Syndrome, founded the organization that helps orphaned children with Down Syndrome find loving homes. He has competed in numerous triathlons to raise awareness for the organization. The topic of his presentation is “Building a Business with Heart.”
Feb. 16 — Judy Robinett, founder of JRobinette Enterprises, LLC., worked for a publicly-traded biotech company for eight years. She now helps early-stage companies grow and develop funding strategies. She once received the Malcom Baldrige National Quality Award from President Bill Clinton. The award is given to organizations that demonstrate quality and performance excellence. Her presentation is entitled: “Building a Powerful Team and Network for Success.”
March 5 — Three leaders of Qualtrics, Scott Smith, the founder; Stuart Orgill, co-founder and Ryan Smith, a cofounder and CEO, are scheduled to speak. Qualtrics is a company that offers survey research tools used in half of the Fortune 100 companies and 95 of the top 100 business schools. Their presentation is called “Bringing Silicon Valley Funding to a Utah-based Company.”
March 26 — Steve Bain has served as president and CEO of Simply Mac since it was founded in August 2006. His talk is “How to Build a Successful Partnership with Apple.” He is a member of the National Reseller Advisory Board for Apple. Bain has worked in the wireless and consumer technology industries for 20 years.
April 2 — Ken Wooley is the founder and executive chairman of Extra Space Storage. He has been involved in the self-storage industry since 1977 and has been directly responsible for developing more than 165 properties and acquiring more than 625 self-storage properties in the United States. His presentation is called: “Building the Best Company in the Industry.”
April 9 — Alan Martin is the founder of Campusbookrentals. Martin’s company was named one of “America’s Most Promising Companies” by Forbes and Martin was named Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year in 2012. His lecture is called “Building one of America’s Most Promising Companies.”