I am a starter, with big ideas. The kind that make you sit back in your chair (or jump out of your chair, depending on your risk tolerance).

I am not a finisher – details and I have an on-again-off-again relationship. I need a community to create impact, and I know I would have one in the USASBE family, because we are so woven together in our pursuit of becoming the boldest teachers, scholars, and practitioners we can be. (btw, please join hundreds of entrepreneurship educators in New Orleans this January for our annual USASBE Conference!)

I have seen the operations of this organization for many years, both as a member and how we engage with our members, and as a Board member and how we run the organization. Nothing is perfect, and while we do a fantastic job of delivering an great conference experience, we leave the other 51 weeks of the year largely ignored.

We can do more! We can do better!

I have some ideas how:

• Most of us currently do or aspire to host any variety of competitions on our campus. Pitch competitions. Business model competitions. Design competitions/hackathons. Business plan competitions. I would like to see USASBE become the leading authority on how to develop and deliver an innovative competition experience for students. I think many of our competitions are fairly ineffective in accomplishing sustainable and responsible impact for the students. What if we were the go-to resource for anyone looking to implement a robust competition on campus?
• On each of our campuses, we currently do or aspire to host any variety of guest speakers. Maybe you’re looking for a classroom guest. Or an event keynote. Maybe you’re looking for a student club keynote. No matter what your need, if you are looking for any sort of entrepreneur guest on your campus, we should be the go-to resource for any guest speaker needs. What if we built a USASBE Campus Entrepreneur Speaker’s Bureau? (and monetized it, just like we teach our students to do)
• In our membership, we have a hugely diverse mix of folks new to the academy, some who have been around the block more times than they can count, and anything in-between. Our members represent all kinds of colleges and universities, from all kinds of departments and centers. This diversity screams for developing a transformative Member Mentor Network. The newbies need help navigating this career path. The old folks need help keeping up with current trends and technology. Everyone should be a lifelong learner. We all like to learn, and we all like to give back. What if we built a Member Mentor Network that deeply engaged every member in meaningful learning and professional development?
• USASBE membership is a nationwide blanket; we have members in every state across the US, and many foreign countries. In all our individual communities, we see many social problems that could use an entrepreneurial solution. What if we leveraged our national network to begin attacking some national social problems that affect all our communities (recidivism, hunger, etc.)?

These aren’t even the scary ideas (I’ll save those for later!), these are just the kinds of things I think about on a daily basis.

I do bring some shortcomings to the table. I am not the best with keeping track of details. I struggle mightily with work-family balance, and am learning how important it is to put family first. I have lower-than-average emotional intelligence so sometimes I step in it – but always act with the best innovative intentions.

I love to collaborate. I love to build scaleable things. Whether it’s an award-winning curriculum, or a transformative experience for high school girls, or anything else, my professional passions are:

1. To fix our broken education system by giving students a voice and control.
2. To motivate younger generations to be comfortable owning their dreams and creating their own careers.

You can see I’m firmly student-focused. I don’t make apologies for that, as I believe that is how I can create the most impact for others. Similarly, I believe in USASBE I can make the most impact by disrupting normal routines and tired procedures to help our members create more value for students on their campuses.

I look forward to serving the USASBE community long into the future, in whatever role the community decides is best. Thank you for the opportunity to share a bit of me, and the opportunity to lead us into the next exciting chapter!

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