Panelist Bios
Paul Orfalea
Paul Orfalea founded Kinko's in 1970 near the University of California at Santa Barbara with a simple idea: provide college students with products and services they need at a competitive price. From its modest beginnings, Kinko's grew into a leading business services chain that impacted business and society. It is now FedEx Office.
In 2000, Orfalea retired from his position as Kinko's Chairperson, and assumed the role chairperson emeritus. He refers to his retirement as being "repurposed" and is now involved in a range of activities, including West Coast Asset Management Inc., Stone Canyon Venture Partners LP and other business ventures.
Orfalea, his family, and Kinko's have a long history of supporting educational initiatives including scholarships and child development programs. The Orfaleas also support organizations addressing "learning differences" for those challenged with different learning styles.
Kay Vorheis
Kay Vorheis, ’77, is the finance director at V2 Bio-Consulting, a specialized business providing cGMP (good manufacturing practice) and operational expertise to the BioPharma industry. Headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area, the company seeks to address the special needs of its clients from compliant strategic planning to tactical management.
A member of the leadership team, Voheis has more than 25 years of experience with privately-held and publicly-traded businesses in software and services industries as both controller and CFO. The foundation of her career includes working as a practicing certified public accountant with KPMG Peat Marwick. Her depth of practical experience has proven key to guiding the finance, accounting and managerial operations of V2 Bio-Consulting throughout its growth.
Vorheis earned her bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1977.
Jeff Noordhoek
Jeff Noordhoek, ’88, is the CEO of Nelnet, a company which provides student loan services in addition to other products to help customers achieve education dreams through every part of the education lifecycle – pre-K through college. Noordhoek leads the executive team in the development and execution of corporate strategy and is responsible for the company’s financial performance and growth.
Previously, he served as president of Nelnet, senior vice president of National Education Loan Network, Inc., a subsidiary of Nelnet, and as vice president of Nelent’s predecessor, Union Financial Services, Inc.
Noordhoek earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1988 and a master of business administration from Boston University in 1996.