Our
campus community and guests from the Coastal Virginia region are
invited to participate in Virginia Wesleyan University’s student-led
business conference April 23-27. “The Marlin Prestige” will feature
workshops, presentations, and interactive panels that embrace the spring
2018 theme, “Business Reimagined Through Globalization, Innovation,
Leadership, and Diversity.”
The Marlin Prestige represents months
of hard work by students in the Virginia Wesleyan business course,
“Principles of Management.” Students coordinate all elements of the
event, exercising key management skills such as product development,
networking, project and financial planning, and more.
Throughout
the semester I’ve had the pleasure of meeting with many of our
conference participants, including student leaders Julie Manning, Chief
Executive Officer, Faith Auad, Chief Operations Officer, and Dylan
Ardinger, Chief Marketing Officer. Together with their classmates and
Virginia Wesleyan business faculty, this group has worked hard to create
a conference that focuses on the importance of globalization,
innovation, leadership, and diversity as essential components of a
successful business model in today's marketplace.
I am proud to
share that among this semester’s guest speakers are
Virginia Wesleyan graduate Joe Ruddy '83, Chief Innovation Officer for
the Port of Virginia and a member of the University's Corporate Leaders
Council, and alumna Sydney Covey '15, Sustainability Program Analyst at
Hourigan and recipient of VWU’s 2017 Graduate of the Last Decade (GOLD)
Award.
They join presenters Chris
Stuart, Vice President of Top Guard Security, Dr. Tony Astro, a United
States Navy veteran and Founder/CEO of Mvoss Creation LLC, Maxine
Williams, Human Resource Manager/Employee Relations Lead at Busch Vacuum
Pumps and Systems, Heidi Brinker, '18, Strategic Planner at VisualZen,
Inc., Patrick Suttle '19, Public Relations Correspondent for The Marlin
Prestige, Douglas Jackson, Assistant Professor of Visual and Performing
Arts
at Elizabeth City State University, and former Peace Corps volunteers
Emily Nuss and Jennifer Jiggetts.
Daily activities will once
again include the popular “Shark Tank” presentations, which closely
mirror the ABC television series, and presentations by “Information
Systems Programs” (ISP) students. For more information and a complete
schedule of events, visit The Marlin Prestige webpage.
Many
thanks to Dr. Paul Ewell, Batten Associate Professor of Management,
Business, and Economics, and all business department faculty and
students for hosting this educational event for our community.
