Upcoming Sessions
Planned Sessions
Future Date | Venture Capital and Business Financing
Description forthcoming.
John F. Harris is President and CEO of NeuroVista and brings more than 20 years of experience successfully developing and commercializing innovative medical device technologies. Prior to joining NeuroVista in December of 2004, John was an Executive in Residence at Versant Ventures, a healthcare-dedicated venture capital firm, providing consulting on early-stage medical device opportunities.
Prior to Versant Ventures, John was a founder and the Vice President of Marketing and Business Development for Northstar Neuroscience, Inc., a Seattle-based medical device company seeking to improve neurological recovery following stroke through targeted electrical stimulation of the brain.
Prior to co-founding Northstar, John was a founder of Heartstream, a Seattle-based company that revolutionized the treatment of sudden cardiac arrest with uniquely designed external defibrillators that make the deployment of these devices practical in a variety of settings. In addition to his founding role, John was a member of the executive team responsible for guiding the company through formation, product development, venture financing, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance, product launch, manufacturing scale-up, an initial public offering, worldwide sales and distribution, and the sale of the company to Hewlett-Packard. The company is now owned by Philips Medical Systems. Prior to co-founding Heartstream, John held engineering and marketing positions at Physio-Control and ROLM Corporation.
John received a BS in industrial engineering from Stanford University and an MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.
Future Date | The Quality - Price - Service Triangle
Bob Pritchett, CEO of Logos Bible Software, will be talking about the tradeoffs every business makes to position themselves in the market. He’ll address choosing your corner, the benefits (and weaknesses) of different positions, and how to change the game in a crowded market.
In 1992 Bob co-founded Logos Bible Software and serves as President/CEO of Logos and its subsidiaries, Libronix Corporation and Logos Electronic Publishing, Pty. (South Africa). Bob speaks regularly at industry conferences and to academic groups on electronic publishing and digital libraries. He is a 2005 winner of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award, and was included in the Puget Sound Business Journal's 40 Under 40. Bob lives with his wife Audra and two children (Jacob and Kathleen) in Bellingham, Washington.
As a freshman in high-school Bob Pritchett founded a software company and developed and marketed programming tools used world-wide. He left high-school a year early to attend Drexel University in Philadelphia, where he majored in Computer Science. After a second internship at Microsoft Corporation he left Drexel early to accept a position as one of Microsoft's youngest program managers.
Bob's first book, Fire Someone Today, And Other Surprising Tactics for Making Your Business a Success, was released in April, 2006.
TBD | Property Leases
The good, the bad, and the ugly. shares tips on negotiating a lease, what to watch out for, and tales of nightmare leases.
TBD | Cash Management
Introduces the principles of cash management and tools you can use to manage cash flow.
TBD | Hiring
Talks about the importance of finding the right people and shares best practices for recruiting and interviewing.
TBD | Graphic Design for Business
Will talk about the importance of great graphic design in our design-aware culture. He/she will provide 10 Quick Tips non-designers can use to create better looking materials and web sites, as well as advice on choosing a great designer and a whirlwind course in evaluating design work.
Previous Sessions
Tuesday, November 2nd | The Myths of Innovation
This fun, fast paced, interactive talk, based on the bestselling book The Myths of Innovation (now out in paperback), will explore the truth about ideas. What are the most dangerous misperceptions about finding and developing ideas? And converting them into successful businesses or world changing inventions? And what assumptions do even successful veterans make that lead them astray? You'll hear inspiring true tales of invention and creative thinking you can use in your life and your work.
Scott Berkun is the author of three bestselling books, Making Things Happen, The Myths of Innovation, and Confessions of a Public Speaker. He was a manager at Microsoft from 1994-2003 on projects including v1-5 (not 6) of Internet Explorer. He makes a living as a writer and speaker, and his work has appeared in The New York Times, Forbes magazine, The Economist, The Washington Post, Wired magazine, National Public Radio and other media. He contributes to Harvard Business and BusinessWeek and has appeared as an innovation and management expert on MSNBC and on CNBC. He writes frequently on innovation and creative thinking at his surprisingly popular blog: scottberkun.com and tweets at @berkun.
Monday, October 4th | Leadership - Leveraging it to achieve great Outcomes for your Business
What is leadership? How can you leverage leadership to create the rights things for your business, organization, or team? Leadership makes a major difference in the results you achieve. Learn how to generate results using leadership. . . your own and just as importantly, leadership from the people around you.
Janice P. Anderson is an experienced business leader, strategist, and entrepreneur with a proven track record in technology marketing and global operations. Her career includes executive management positions in communications, web-based solutions and enterprise systems and software with Muze Inc., Onyx Software, Lucent Technologies and AT&T Corporation as well as with several technology startups. She has led organizations in multiple roles as President, CEO, Chair and Director. Her leadership focus is on delivering breakthrough results in growth and profitability -- from small start ups with less than $1M in revenue to far-reaching global operations with almost $1B in revenue. Ms. Anderson has a BA in Commerce from the University of Toronto and an MBA in Finance and Strategy from York University. She is the former Vice Chair of Ryerson University, an adjunct professor of management at Seattle University, an active member of Young Presidents Organization, the Vice Chair of the Washington Technology Industry Association and a Director of the Technology Alliance.
Tuesday, September 7th | Keys to Leading and Managing our Multi-Generational Workforce
This session will cover the 4 R's of a Multi-Generational Workforce: Recruiting, Rewarding, Retooling and Retraining. Included will be ways of creating, classifying, capturing and retaining knowledge and expertise, as well as managing and leading multi-generational workforce.
John Gibson has over two decades experience as a consultant, executive, personal and family coach, counselor, mediator, facilitator, trainer, and speaker. He is a graduate of both Corporate Coach University International's Business Coaching Program and Peer Resources, Inc. Personal and Mentor Coaching Programs and is a certified mediator and mediation trainer. John holds degrees in psychology, social work, applied statistics and a Specialization in Aging, focusing on adult development, family and intergenerational relationships and psychological factors in health and illness. He has been on the faculty of Columbia University, the University of Washington, and taught at Fordham and New York Universities. John is a graduate of both Columbia University and the University of Michigan.
Tuesday, August 3rd | Social Media for Business
Learn how local businesses are using social media to find new customers, create buzz, and generate sales!
Derek Johnson of Tatango will speak, along with Anne-Marie Faiola of Bramble Berry and Bob Pritchett of Logos Bible Software.
