November 19, 2015
2015 Leadership Summit Had 130 in Attendance
Written By: Laura Madden, Assistant Professor of Management
On Friday November 13th, the ECU College of Business and Greenville Chamber of Commerce led the 2015 Leadership Summit. Dr. Aneil Mishra and Scott Senatore hosted the event, which showcased many area leaders including Cathy Andruzzi, Dr. Karen Mishra, and Dr. Stan Eakins. Many COB faculty and students offered rave reviews of the event and its participants.
The event featured several panels so that the 130 attendees could hear from speakers individually and in tandem by topics related to being leaders in the Greenville area and in the social entrepreneurship space. During the first panel, Two Men and a Truck executives Tim Kirian and Brian Churney and Game Theory Group CEO Vin McCaffrey spoke about their warm welcome to Greenville as entrepreneurs, and Kris Carroll, Parker Overton, and Walter Williams discussed the development of their highly successful businesses in congruence with Greenville’s growth. Management department faculty member Dr. Amy McMillan described their panel as “a great opportunity for students to hear from business leaders at multiple stages of their careers who have used creativity and American ingenuity to create and grow organizations that feed back into the community.”
Dr. Aniel Mishra (left) and Brian Welke (right).
The second panel highlighted eastern North Carolina’s growing population of social entrepreneurs, particularly those veteran-owned businesses that seek to do good while doing business. Flying Scarfs CEO Josh Carroll addressed the challenges of funding outreach efforts by selling handmade fashion from female artisans in Afghanistan, Kenya, and Haiti, and Andre Hollis, CEO of Tiger International Advisors, echoed from his experiences offering business consulting services internationally. Additional voices on this panel included Dr. Alan Finkel, who has developed new technologies for delivering migraine and post-traumatic headache relief, and Brian Welke, who spoke extensively about the leadership skills developed in the military and their applicability to the modern workplace. Attendees were particularly moved by this panel, including Joseph Kissinger, who is a Finance MBA student at ECU. He specifically noted the speakers’ “inspiring dedication to serving people and their encouragement for other members of the community to see the enormous potential veterans offer as employees and entrepreneurs.”
Many summit attendees also spoke highly of the keynote speaker, Steve Cunanan (’87 and ’91 alum), and the stories he told of his journey. Keislia Spencer, a graduating Management major, decided to attend the Leadership Summit to see in action the leadership characteristics she’s heard so much about in her classes. Of her experience at the summit, she reports, “I learned something valuable from each speaker, but Steve Cunanan was my favorite. It was great to hear his story and what he’s learned from each position he’s been in with each company he’s worked for. His willingness to try anything once and genuine concern to make things better sound a lot like me. I spoke with him after the event about his career in industrial psychology as it may be something that would match my strengths well and he gave me great advice.” Ms. Spencer’s feedback mirrors other attendees who noted that one of the best parts of the leadership summit was the opportunity to spend the morning talking to and hearing from great local leaders in a variety of contexts. Chris Kincheloe, a graduating senior, summed it up best when he said, “The Leadership Summit was a fun, informative, and inspiring event that I would definitely recommend to classmates for next year.”
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