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Executive Insights Provides Career Clarity

The School of Accountancy and Department of Finance at the College of Business Administration welcomed more than 100 business students at the second annual Executive Insights, a series of interactive panels, focused on opening student’s minds to career possibilities in their respective fields.  

The event began with separate accounting and finance panels titled “Setting Your Career Compass: Career Paths and Degrees,” featuring four speakers each. Students asked questions of the speakers about how they made their career choices and found their way in the business world.

Accounting focus panel
Accounting focus panel
Dr. Kathleen Farrell, chair of the finance department and State Farm Professor of Finance, helped initiate the event. She was particularly excited to see spontaneous networking happening before and after the opening sessions.

“I saw a lot of students taking advantage of the networking,” Farrell said. “I even received an email from one of our panelists who wants me to introduce them to one the students to follow up to help the student get additional connections for job opportunities.”

Immediately following the panels a joint session was held featuring four more speakers who each had unique connections to executive management. “How the C-Suite is Changing” focused on providing insight into what it takes to manage people from the top of a company.

Finance focus panel
Finance focus panel
“The real advantage for our students is to hear from professionals about what they are doing now, as well as some of the challenges they faced. A lot of students can’t quite imagine how they’ll get to where they want to go. Seeing how people’s careers have evolved can be really valuable and we had a good diversity of panelists that complemented each other,” Farrell said.

The event, which was sponsored by the School of Accountancy and Department of Finance advisory boards,concluded with a networking reception for students that included members from the panels, along with CBA faculty. Farrell said she hopes to continue the event on an annual basis and provide even more opportunities for networking going forward.

Accounting Focus Panel

Mike Klintworth '90 - Executive Vice President and CFO, The Cattle National Bank & Trust Co.
Ron Nebbia '85 - Partner, Lutz & Company, PC 
Michelle Walker '97 - Partner, Ernst & Young, PC
Carrie Weber '96 - Vice President of Audit Services, Ameritas

Finance Focus Panel
Laura Classen '10 - Executive Director, Nebraska Angels
John Geiger '86 - President, Johnson County Division
Ryan Mendlik '06 - Co-Founder, Ironvine Capital Partners
Shawn Radtke '02 - CFO, 3Bear Energy

C-Suite Panel
Bill Gerber - Executive VP and CFO, TD Ameritrade
Andrea Gronenthal '91 - Partner, Ernst & Young, PC
David Graff '05 - CEO, Hudl
Kevin Yost '89 - Executive VP, The White Wave Food Company
Published: October 13, 2015