WORLD ENTREPRENEURSHIP DAY

This two hour event will give students and the community a chance to witness first hand some of the amazing creativity and innovation that the next generation of entrepreneurs here in Arizona as well as across the U.S. are showcasing to the world. This event will highlight the millennial generation and what its impact will be on the future of business and entrepreneurship.

This event is free to the public, but be sure to get your ticket now as space is limited!

Agenda:

7 - Introduction to World Entrepreneurship day

7:05–7:20 – Dave Cooke – “Capturing the power of the millennial mindset”

Dave Cooke is a sales strategist by trade, but tonight, Dave isn’t going to teach you how to sell, he’s going to explain to why millennials are the change the world needs to embrace.

Speaker Bios:

Chris Boshuizen: Chris is currently a small spacecraft technical liaison at NASA Ames. He has a phD in Physics from the University of Sydney and is a member of the National Space Society of Australia. Chris has always wanted to be an Astronaut. A couple years ago, he began to think that the effort spent getting himself into space, could equally be spent making a system to get to space, and if done right, everyone else could get there as too. So Chris now lives by the goal of making getting into space as easy as catching a bus. He aims to make the idea of living and working in space a reality.

Bambi Francisco CEO Vator.TV: Bambi is a former award winning journalist for the DowJones company covering Internet trends and investments across the public and private sectors. She was a morning business anchor for CBS in San Francisco and reported on MarketWatch’s business magazine show on CBS. Bambi came up with the idea of Vator.TV while she was a columnist at MarketWatch, and in April 2007, she left DowJones to turn Vator.TV into a website that catered to the Voice of the Entrepreneur.

Eric Crown: Eric is a 1984 graduate of what is now Arizona State University’s W.P. Carey School of Business. While pursuing a degree in computer information systems, Crown, 46, wrote a paper on a potential mail-order business that would sell parts for the burgeoning computer market. He got a C on the assignment because, he recalls, the professor didn’t deem the idea viable. However, two years after his 1984 graduation, Crown started just that business. Launched with a $2,000 credit card loan, by 1999 Insight Enterprises, Inc. had grown to a billion dollars in sales. Today the Fortune 500 company has clients in 170 countries, counts more than 4,000 employees and notched $4.8 billion in revenues in 2007.

Dr. Matt Pittinsky: In 1997 Dr. Pittinsky co-founded Blackboard, Inc., the educational software company. Blackboard’s applications are used by millions of students at thousands of schools and universities around the world. In 2008, Dr. Pittinsky resigned as an executive officer at Blackboard and became an assistant professor of sociology at Arizona State University’s School of Social and Family Dynamics. He received his undergraduate degree from American University, his master’s degree from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education, and his Ph.D. from Teachers College, Columbia University. He has served on the Board of Trustees of American University, the Board of Directors of In2Books, and on the President’s Advisory Committee at Teachers College. Before co-founding Blackboard, Dr. Pittinsky was a consultant with KPMG Consulting. His honors include the Kilby Laureate (Kilby Awards Foundation), People to Watch (Washingtonian Magazine), Entrepreneur of the Year for Emerging Companies (Ernst & Young), and Top Under-30 Technology Executives (Washington Techway).

Doug Ducey: Doug, known for his intense focus and his ability to inspire, joined the iMemories team to infuse the same leadership and national growth plan he successfully executed while at Cold Stone Creamery. Doug‘s career spans nearly 20 years, including executive sales and marketing positions with Procter & Gamble and Anheuser-Busch. An Ohio native and a graduate of Arizona State University, Doug was recently inducted into ASU‘s W.P. Carey School of Business Hall of Fame and has been featured as a successful leader and entrepreneur in dozens of national media outlets. Doug is also a candidate for Arizona State Treasurer in the 2010 Election.

Dave Cooke: Dave is a nationally recognized revenue strategist and development counselor and is the Founder and Chief Growth Officer of Strategic Resource Group, LLC.  Popularly referred to as “The Sales Cooke”, Dave leverages over 25 years experience creating profitable “selling” strategies to transform companies and ignite their revenue engines. Dave is also the author of “Cooked Up Sales” and “Your Daily Sales Guide”, two unique sales books emphasizing the power of relationship building and solution selling behaviors.  The Sales Cooke is a regular cast member on The John Adam Show, a radio program that supports small businesses, broadcast locally in Phoenix.

Troy Byrd: Troy has a wealth of experience, expertise, and contacts in the entrepreneurial field and is known around the country for his leadership in creating innovative programs for entrepreneurs which have featured distinguished leaders such as Ted Turner, Steve Wozniak – co-founder of Apple, Kenneth Cole, Jack Welch, and CEOs of J.Crew, Kinkos, and Jet Blue Airways to name a few. Troy co-founded the Bryant University Global Entrepreneurship Program (GEP) and in less than a year took GEP from inception to national rankings by Entrepreneur magazine. In 2003, Troy was recognized by the U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy and Congress as 1 of 50 ResearchAdvocates of the Year for his 139-page study on college entrepreneurship.

In addition to being a TEDster, he is also a former Pat Tillman Foundation Mentor and Sam Walton Fellow. Troy serves on numerous boards and provides consulting to new venture start-ups, emerging-growth companies, non-profits, and to entrepreneurial initiatives at more than a dozen universities nationwide including: Princeton, Harvard Business School, Brown University, Columbia University, University of Florida, among others.He most recently helped create the Singularity University hosted at NASA and funded in part by Google co-founder Larry Page.

Brandon Willey: Brandon is twice a dad. He plays percussion and thinks about how to improve the future. He is a leading business entrepreneur committed to creatively improving the human experience in the worlds of business and technology. Brandon is a native Arizonan armed with a keen interest in human-to-human relations. To quote Alan Kay, Brandon adheres to the belief that “the best way to predict the future is to invent it.” As a result of this world view, and with an eye for change, for constant improvement of the world around him, he founded Willey Industries in 2006 to begin making this passion a reality.In 2007, Brandon continued his ventures with the founding of redPear, a Tempe, Arizona-based web, software, and mobile development company that takes a unique approach to the industry. As of 2009, Brandon also serves as Chief Visionary Officer of PackFlat Projects, a guide and reference organization that will be setting a new bar for comprehensive sources of information.

ABOUT WORLD ENTREPRENEURSHIP DAY

World Entrepreneurship Day is the internationally-recognized day for the celebration of the world's entrepreneurial heroes. In April 2009, 22 countries joined in the inaugural celebration by hosting & sharing events, conferences and parties to celebrate their community's entrepreneurial heroes. WED's 2nd annual worldwide celebration takes place on April 16th, 2010. The Kick-off @ the United Nations takes place April 14th, 2010.