Students gathered in room 206/207 in the Wattis Business Building Smith Lecture Hall on the Weber State University Ogden Campus on Sept. 8, marking the beginning of this year’s Ralph Nye Lecture series for the fall semester. This event is held every Thursday at noon throughout the fall and spring semesters.
Weber’s Goddard School of Business Economics website explains that “this lecture series exposes you to the experiences and philosophies of outstanding regional and national business leaders.”
The current CFO of Recurly, Scott Bennion, was the first speaker for this lecture series.
Bennion started his lecture by sharing stories from his life and how they pertained to ten tips he felt were important to be successful in the business world.
The tip he started with was about becoming a lifelong student. “You’re always going to be learning,” Bennion said, “even after you’re done with school. It’s good to have curiosity about things, about things that are going on in the world, about things that are going on in your industry. It helps you figure out relevance in what you’re doing and also just makes you a more informed person.”
His next tip was about keeping an open mind. Bennion shared experiences of living internationally. He moved from England to Malaysia, helping start up a company and place the right people in the right positions. After this, Bennion moved from Malaysia to Singapore for another job. He informed students to keep an open mind because trying new things was another way to get the jobs they want.
The next couple of guidelines included developing an international perspective, being flexible and open to change and International experience. Bennion quoted business magnate Richard Branson in saying, “My biggest motivation? Just to keep challenging myself. I see life almost like one long university education that I never had—everyday I’m learning something new.”
According to Goddard’s website, this series is about “students getting practical advice on how to be successful from men and women who have made millions, served as state senators, acted as advisers to the European Union and developed marketing campaigns for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.”
Next week, on Sept. 15, CEO of the Utah Association of Certified Public Accountants Susan Speirs will be speak. The following week, on Sept. 22, the Vice President of Reliability and Performance Analysis Melanie Frye will feature as the lecturer. All students and community members are welcome at this event.
For a list of all other lectures in the series go to http://www.weber.edu/goddard/dropdowns/ralphnyelectureseries.html
