Do you like listening to the best and brightest business minds share their own experiences? Then the Albers Executive Speaker Series is perfect for you!
Sponsored by the dean’s office, the Executive Speaker Series is offered twice a quarter in the fall, winter, and spring. Executives from around the Puget Sound region are invited to speak on a topic of their choice and then respond to questions from a selected panel and the audience. These events are free and open to the public.
Interested in checking one of these talks out? Here’s a list of upcoming Albers Executive Speaker Series sessions:
Rich Barton – Tuesday, April 19, 2016 – Pigott Auditorium, 5:30-6:30 p.m.
According to his CrunchBase profile, Barton is co-founder and executive chairman of the board of Zillow Group and served as the company’s first chief executive officer from 2005 until September 2010. Before co-founding Zillow, Rich served as president, chief executive officer and board director at Expedia, which he founded inside Microsoft at age 26 and then spun out through a successful IPO in 1999. He remained at Expedia until 2003, following the company’s acquisition by InterActiveCorp.
Barton is also co-founder and non-executive chairman of the growing global job search and employer-review site Glassdoor, and Trover, where travelers share photos and stories from around the world. Barton is also a venture partner at Benchmark and is on the boards of directors at Netflix, Avvo, RealSelf and Nextdoor. In 2014, Barton was named a Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship by President Obama.
Mark Mason – Thursday, May 12, 2016 – Pigott Auditorium, 5:30-6:30 p.m.
According to his company profile, Mason is Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of HomeStreet, Inc. and HomeStreet Bank. He has extensive experience in banking and real estate operations, lending, and finance as well as a successful record of raising capital for financial institutions, addressing portfolio challenges and effectively working with investors and regulators.
Since joining HomeStreet, Mason has led the turnaround of this once highly-troubled institution, recapitalizing the bank through an initial public offering and returning it to substantial profitability.
Mason previously served as Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer, Chief Lending Officer and Chief Financial Officer of Fidelity Federal Bank; Chief Financial Officer of First Alliance Corporation; Chief Financial Officer of the Eadington Companies; and as a Senior Manager of Deloitte & Touche. He has also served as an independent director of The Bjurman Barry Mutual Funds, San Diego Community Bank and Hanmi Bank.
Kurt Beecher Dammeier – Tuesday, October 18, 2016 – Pigott Auditorium, 5:30-6:30 p.m.
As the founder of Sugar Mountain foods, Dammeier has tried to “change the way people eat by showing them how delicious food is in its natural state without any unnecessary additives or processing.” He calls this his company’s “Pure Food Commitment” and pledges to its customers “that we serve food with integrity, full of incredible flavors and wholesome nutrition.”
Sugar Mountain also operates the Beecher’s Pure Food Kids Foundation, a non-profit funded by 1 percent of sales from Beecher’s, Bennett’s, Pasta & Co, and Maximus/Minimus. Aimed at educating people about the prevalence of food additives and their possible health risks, Pure Food Kids is about giving people the tools they need to make healthy eating choices for life.
You can read about additional upcoming talks here.