Whether it be working on a startup or competing in campus-wide competitions, students had a wide variety of exciting entrepreneurial activities they could be involved with during the semester. One such activity was our weekly Distinguished Entrepreneurs Lunch Program. These lunches have helped entrepreneurially-minded students network with and get personal insight from entrepreneurs who were once in their shoes.
The Distinguished Entrepreneurs Lunch series included a variety of diverse speakers who shared their stories — including their triumphs and defeats — with our students. We had professionals from all walks of life that represented different industries such as music and sports entertainment, venture capital, insurance, technical engineering, fashion, food production, health and wellness, and toy design and production. During Innovate Week, a week packed full of entrepreneurship events, challenges, and workshops, we had a speaker from Google discuss in depth how she oversees a team that delivers digital marketing solutions to healthcare firms. It was fascinating to hear of the different journeys these speakers took to get where they are today.
We would like to thank our long-time sponsor Neider & Boucher, S.C. and specifically their co-founder and WAVE Advisory Board member Joe Boucher for their continued financial support of these lunches. Their support helps foster students’ learning about different entrepreneurial possibilities and insights through these speaker events.
Listed below are the speakers that were featured in the Fall 2022 semester:
September 14: Derrick Holt, Music Producer & Director, Land by the Lake
September 21: Mike Rogers, Partner, Interplay Ventures
September 28: Kyle Nakatsuji, CEO of Clearcover Insurance
October 5: Laura Rozumalski, Principal Engineer at Anchor QEA; Founder of FreshWater Engineering
October 13: Sydney Caine, Head of Industry, Health Systems at Google
October 18: Marissa and Samantha Harkness, Co-Founders of Pill Skills
October 26: Conor Caloia, CEO/Managing Partner, Big Top Sports and Entertainment
November 2: Kristin Wild Cooper, VP of Sales for Bluebird; Founder of Atticus Shop
November 9: Kwadwo Owusu-Ofori, Founder of Satori Food Project
November 16: Tom Kalinske, Venture Partner at Alsop Louie and Former President and Co-CEO of Mattel
November 30: Cindy Joers, former Owner and Operator of The Little Gym
Thank you to all of our wonderful speakers this semester! We appreciate you taking time to come and talk to our students. The Distinguished Entrepreneurs Lunch will start up again in the spring semester on Wednesday February 1st.
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