Touring the “Grate Room” at Tillamook Creamery’s Portland location, the Tillamook Outpost.
Women in Leadership trip opens secret Nike labs, “grate” room at Tillamook, and connects students with business leaders
The 2019 Women in Leadership Spring Break Trip, co-hosted by the Women in Leadership (WiL) student organization and the OSU Center for the Advancement of Women in Leadership, took 22 OSU student leaders representing six different colleges (and numerous student clubs) on an overnight visit to Portland. The trip included meeting and networking with women leaders at companies big and small, and attending the National Diversity Council’s Women in Leadership Symposium, an event sponsored by Lane Powell, featuring Portland women business leaders.
WiL student chapter president Lily Beck had a leadership role in planning the trip. “Since it was over spring break, not everyone was centrally located on campus. Some people were at home in Portland or around Corvallis, and we even had an online student fly in from Idaho. I had a lot of help to make sure all the logistics were lined up,” Beck said.
Tillamook, Nike and Green Zebra
Among the visits, the group toured Tillamook Creamery’s Portland location, the Tillamook Outpost, and sat for a workplace culture discussion with Sheila Murty, Tillamook’s executive vice president of people and culture, and Sibel Candemir, their vice president of categories.
Sarah Busmire, the Ecampus student from the College of Agriculture who flew in for the event, felt that the diversity discussions were the most valuable to her. “I learned a lot, and the question-and-answer session was awesome,” Busmire said. “I realized that many women face the same challenges in various times of life-from college students all the way to CEOs. It is important as a society that we begin to recognize those challenges and create workplaces where they don’t occur.”
Up next the group headed to Nike, paused to sign non-disclosure agreements and then embarked on an exclusive visit to Nike’s top secret, innovation-focused Valiant Labs. The discussion was led by Nike’s Shaherose Charania, senior director at Valiant Labs, and Liz Freuler, their director of brand and consumer marketing. Many suggested it was a highlight – but did not say much more!
The group then visited Green Zebra, a women-owned grocery chain that features local and organic food in communities that lack larger food retailers. Evelyn Murphy, Green Zebra’s chief people and operations officer, met the students and discussed their philosophy for the small local grocer as a community focal point.
“Green Zebra was really impressive in the fact that they wanted to make sure people in Portland had access to food in a healthy sustainable way,” said Beck. “They mentioned that they wanted people to be able to walk or bike in 20 minutes or less to be able to get to a grocery store. This desire to serve people was also evident in the environment they created among their workers as open and engaging people who were extremely inviting to our group.”
Networking and symposium
An evening networking mixer construed into a “flash mentoring” session allowed trip attendees to circulate through various tables for prompted discussions. Each station would seat two Portland professionals, and about six students taking on the topics.
“We structured the conversations so that students could learn about the challenges women face in the workplace, how to navigate those challenges and how to lead and create change,” said Audrey Iffert-Saleem, center director.
“I learned a so much about the incredible work being done by women in industry to empower other women and make a difference in the organizations they work in,” said College of Engineering student Umayal Annamalai. “I also had the chance to meet so many amazing women from OSU with a variety of backgrounds and aspirations.”
The following morning the group attended the National Diversity Council’s Women in Leadership Symposium at The Nines hotel in downtown Portland, joined by panelists from Bank of the Pacific, Tonkon Torp, Lane Powell, Portland Trail Blazers as well as College of Business Dean Mitzi Montoya. Attendees discussed topics such as building up the women around you, defeating gender-based harassment, the imposter syndrome and using technology for work-life integration.
Following the event, the group engaged in additional discussion over lunch with Portland business women, including members of the panel.
“We were all able to benefit from the connections we made, and the people we talked to. It was an amazing experience for me to be able to plan this kind of trip, and I would do it again in a heartbeat,” Beck said.
Students across OSU will have the opportunity to enhance their professional sales skills, thanks to a newly launching initiative in the College of Business. The Sales Academy comes to OSU in the 2018-19 academic year with the backing of numerous regional and global corporate partners.
The Sales Academy combines both academic and extracurricular activities, giving students interested in developing or improving their knowledge of professional sales tactics and strategies.
The Sales Academy is centered on a series of learning modules that culminate with a resume-building certificate from the College of Business Sales Academy. An annual sales competition will pit area universities’ best sales teams in a real-world scenario to test their skills.
The Sales Academy extends from a corporate partnership wherein sponsoring businesses, those with a stake in cultivating a talented pool of sales employees, get involved as mentors, teachers and backers of the academy’s multiple learning opportunities.
Pacific Office Automation, title sponsor of the Sales Academy, is an office management and office information technology solutions provider with locations throughout the Pacific Northwest and Southwest United States.
POA President Doug Pitassi says that the topic of access to trained sales professionals is a common discussion point among his network of small- to medium-sized businesses owners and executives. These businesses all seek the same solution – a better supply of trained workers.
Pitassi also seeks to create a deeper understanding of the negotiating, relationship-building skills, and expertise of a sales professional. He seeks to elevate the value and sophistication of sales skills as a professional skill set.
“A big objective for me is to connect with students and convey that there’s a great deal of security in sales, and this is about an investment in your ability to conquer a great skill, whatever product or service you’re selling.”
Danelle Kronmiller, director of strategic partnerships at the College of Business, says that the POA title sponsorship is just one of the many ways that businesses can turn thought leadership on a solution that benefits an industry in particular or the economy of Oregon.
“POA has helped us address one area of concern that sales-driven business models face,” Kronmiller said. “We have room for more partners in the Sales Academy. But ultimately we are ready to execute on the next great idea that will support our students and contribute to the economy of Oregon.”
Paint manufacturer, distributor and seller paint coatings and related products Sherwin-Williams, is a bronze sponsor of the 2018 Sales Academy, and Modesto, Calif.-based E. & J. Gallo Winery, the largest winery in the world, also is a bronze sponsor.
Contact:
Danelle Kronmiller
Director of Strategic Partnerships
Oregon State University College of Business
Tel.: 541-737-6648
About the OSU College of Business: The College of Business educates students for success in managing and developing sustainable, innovative enterprises in a dynamic economy. With strong graduate and undergraduate programs, internationally recognized scholarly research, and an emphasis on experiential learning, the college helps students and businesses succeed.
At a “Selling in a Digital World” training site, Gallo employees break for lunch.
Gallo keeps its sales team best in class with custom training
E. & J. Gallo Winery, a family-owned company and leader in the U.S. wine industry, is recognized for distributing and marketing its wine, spirits and other alcoholic products in more than 110 countries.
Lifelong learning is more important now than ever, and Gallo invests in its employees through a Sales Leadership Development Program. To keep pace with a changing global marketplace, Gallo turned to the professional development expertise at Oregon State University.
OSU created a custom hybrid in-person/online training program in digital marketing to upskill employees and expand their capabilities.
Challenge
Provide a national sales team with multifaceted training and digital marketing experience.
Set-up
Gallo met with OSU’s executive and professional development team to discuss training and professional development needs.
Combining OSU’s online capabilities and subject matter experts from the College of Business, a custom program with multiple formats was created for Gallo.
Gallo’s sales team completed a pre-assignment online, then received instructor-led training at three training roadshows held across the country.
Results
Upskilled employees: Gallo’s entire sales team learned about selling in a digital world and how to participate in retailers’ marketing efforts. After completing the training, employee ratings exceeded Gallo’s target beginning and ending net promoter scores. Selling in a Digital World earned a 95 percent employee satisfaction score!
Business, leadership, health, strength and service to society ― these are some of the many torches our lineup of panelists carry to the first Corvallis-based Advancing Women in Leadership strategic discussion this month.
The November 29 meeting, hosted by the OSU Center for the Advancement of Women in Leadership and the OSU Women in Leadership student club, brings together Julie Jones Manning, former Corvallis mayor and vice president for marketing, public relations and community health promotion at Samaritan Health Services; Ilene Kleinsorge, professor and dean emeritus, OSU College of Business, and Marianne Vydra, deputy athletics director for administration/senior woman administrator, Oregon State Athletics.
The Corvallis discussion series follows the model of the highly successful Portland-based series now entering its third year of quarterly events. Though the Corvallis-based series does aim to facilitate student involvement, expanding the series makes OSU’s academic thought leaders, Corvallis and the area’s entrepreneurial-minded leaders even more accessible to our students.
These signature networking and discussion series are part of the core activities of the Center for the Advancement of Women in Leadership, founded with the mission to change the landscape of business leadership by moving women into leadership roles in industry and create the pathway for women’s perspectives to have equitable influence on business decisions and growth.
Thursday, Nov. 29, 5 to 7 pm | Austin Hall, Stirek Auditorium | Corvallis, OR 97331
Julie Jones Manning is vice president for marketing, public relations and community health promotion at Samaritan Health Services, a Corvallis-based regional health system comprising hospitals, physicians and health plans serving Linn, Benton and Lincoln counties.
In addition to her responsibilities at Samaritan Health, Manning served as mayor of Corvallis for four years from 2010 to 2014.
Manning remains an active community volunteer. She co-chairs the Early Learning Hub of Linn, Benton and Lincoln counties and is a member of the Oregon State University Board of Trustees. She is also a board member of the Benton Community Foundation, Oregon Humanities and the Greater Oregon chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA). She serves on the Oregon Community Foundation’s Leadership Council for the Southern Willamette region.
She was named Corvallis’ First Citizen in 2004.
Ilene Kleinsorge, professor and dean emeritus retired in June 2015 as the Sara Hart Kimball Dean of the College of Business at Oregon State University. Kleinsorge had served in that capacity for more than 12 years. She directed a business program that educated nearly 5,800 students including 3,900 business majors and pre-majors, nearly 850 business and entrepreneurship minors and more than 800 students in the School of Design and Human Environment.
A faculty member of the College of Business at OSU since 1987, she served as department chair of Accounting, Finance, and Information Management from 1995-2001 and again from 2001-2002. She was appointed dean in 2003. Most of Dean Kleinsorge’s teaching and research focused on cost and managerial accounting systems with emphasis on multinational companies and healthcare.
Kleinsorge also served as the technical advisor for the Governor’s Oregon Innovation Council, is past chair of the Western Association of Collegiate Schools of Business, was a member of the Executive Commercialization Advisory Council for OSU, and served on numerous boards. She was at Oregon State for 25 years and is often known to say, “I came for a job and stayed for the people.”
Marianne Vydra, deputy athletics director for administration/senior woman administrator, Oregon State Athletics, is a part of an executive team that has guided OSU Athletics into a new era that encompasses success on the fields of play, but also outside of the competitive arenas through leadership initiatives and academic programs.
Vydra was promoted to senior associate athletic director/senior woman administrator in 2008 by then Director of Athletics Mitch Barnhart. In February 2015 CollegeADnamed her one of the top 10 senior woman’s administrators in the NCAA. She served as OSU’s interim director of athletics in July 2015.
As part of the executive team that oversees 17 sports and over 500 student-athletes, Vydra’s vast array of responsibilities include heading the senior staff strategic planning group, human resource management, student-athlete welfare (sports medicine, strength and conditioning, NCAA Life Skills, and the Leadership Institute), and is the supervisor for several men’s and women’s sports. She is the department’s liaison for Title IX/gender equity, student fees and the Athletic Advisory Council. Vydra also serves at the NCAA Certification Steward and assists with the department’s budget development.
The native of Missouri serves on numerous OSU, Pac-12 Conference and national governance committees. She currently is the chairperson for the NCAA Women’s Soccer and Softball Committees, is a member of the NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Committee and is on the President’s Commission on the Status of Women. Vydra recently served as the vice president of the executive board of the Pac-12 and has been a member of the Long Range Planning Committee, Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, the Diversity Initiative Committee, the women’s basketball tournament committee, and the league’s television committee.
(l to r) Lane Community College President Margaret Hamilton and OSU College of Business Dean Mitzi Montoya signed a degree partnership agreement today to open a fast-track pathway to a bachelor’s degree.
One year to a bachelor’s degree, with our Lane Community College fast-track arrangement
One year to a bachelor’s degree, you’ve read that right!
Graduates with a business associates of applied science from the Eugene, Ore.-based Lane Community College can earn their bachelors degree in business from Oregon State University in one year thanks to an innovative new plan. College of Business Dean Mitzi Montoya and Lane Community College President Margaret Hamilton signed an agreement today in Corvallis, the first fast-track arrangement between the two educators.
Lane Community College and OSU College of Business have developed the agreement for LCC associate of applied science business graduates to transfer to Oregon State University and complete the coursework necessary for a bachelor’s in just one year.
Oregon State University has degree partnerships with all seventeen Oregon community colleges to provide a smooth path for Oregon students to earn their four-year degree. However, the LCC agreement is the first of its kind to build out the expedited curriculum plan. This is a great opportunity that paves the way for similar partnerships between LCC and other colleges at OSU.
“We’ve looked for a partner to establish this model, and we expect others to follow suit,” said Hamilton. “It’s a great day for our business programs, and it has been wonderful to see how well our students are treated when they get here.”
The agreement effectively creates a “2 + 1” degree that opens up options for Lane business students that aren’t available locally. The agreement will save students hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars while completing a bachelor’s at an outstanding business school.
Under the agreement, OSU will accept up to 120 credit hours from LCC that will count toward undergraduate business administration degree requirements. Students will then complete 60 upper-division credit hours at OSU to earn their bachelor’s degree.
“We’re excited to pave the way with innovative partnerships that give more students access to an OSU degree,” Montoya said.
The agreement provides for close personal attention for students to ensure success, including orientations, trainings, personal advising, appointment scheduling, access to scholarships, access to upper-division hybrid courses, and other assistance.
LCC and OSU anticipate improved admission, retention, and degree completion as a result of the arrangement.
Jim Bernau, Founder/Winegrower, Willamette Valley Vineyards
If you ask Jim Bernau how long he has worked in the wine industry, he will tell you that he can only remember ever working two days.
Maybe someday he will tell us which two days those were…
Dean’s Executive Series with Willamette Valley Vineyards founder
This story begins like it did for many of us. Being served small amounts of wine at the dinner table by our parents. But in Bernau’s case, it was made by the first emigrating winemaker since Prohibition: UC Davis graduate Richard Sommer, who believed it was in Oregon ― not California ― where he would grow world-class pinot noir.
Sommer needed a lawyer to obtain the necessary licenses that the state hadn’t issued in more than 30 years, so he drove his pick-up truck into the small town of Roseburg to find himself a lawyer, and hired Bernau’s dad. By 1963, Sommer had produced 200 gallons of wine.
First motivated by its effects more than its flavor, Bernau began by fermenting the concord grape juice that his mom kept in the freezer, guided by information on fermentation in the family encyclopedias, later graduating to Sommer’s grapes – hiding the bottles under the crawl spaces of the house.
While Bernau’s father wanted him to return from Willamette Law School to the family practice, he chose to pursue his interest in government and wine, representing the Oregon Winegrowers in the passage of the Oregon Wine Advisory Board for the research and promotion of the industry in 1981, his first piece of legislation as a young lobbyist.
In the same year, he began searching for vineyard land, found an old overgrown pioneer plum orchard in the Salem hills and began planting pinot noir in 1983, watering his vines with 17 lengths of 75-foot garden hose he’d bought on special. Bernau named it Willamette Valley Vineyards – later to become grandfathered into federal law when the American Viticultural Area was federally authorized.
While the vines were growing, Bernau concentrated on helping the Oregon Winegrowers by passing legislation on making wineries a permitted use on farmland, the direct shipment of wine, wine tastings in stores and restaurants, and later the establishment of the Oregon Wine Board. Bernau’s personal gift to Oregon State University established the first professorship for fermentation science in the nation.
His fellow winemakers recognized Bernau’s early work with the industry’s Founder’s Award followed by the Governor’s Gold, presented by Oregon’s four living Governors. His wines created quite a stir by when they appeared on the television shows “West Wing” and “Friends,” and were later served at White House State dinners. Willamette Valley Vineyards was eventually listed among the top 100 Wines in the World by Wine Spectator, named “One of America’s Great Pinot Noir Producers” by Wine Enthusiast and was dubbed “Winery of the Year” by Wine and Spirits.
The recognition Bernau values most came from his fellow winegrowers when he involved in creating the first system of environmental stewardship in American agriculture, the Low Impact Viticulture and Enology program, followed by awards presented by the Rainforest Alliance and the American Wine Society.
Bernau believes among healthiest forms of business organization are those owned by the community. He conducted one of the earliest “crowd funding” in the nation to build his winery by obtaining permission from the Securities and Exchange Commission in 1988, resulting in a growing fabric of laws allowing community-based funding for small businesses. Willamette Valley Vineyards has grown to more than 16,000 wine enthusiast shareholders and is listed on the NASDAQ under the symbol WVVI.
Join us for our next AWL strategic discussion and networking event
What do you get when you combine public policy research, serial entrepreneurship, and diversity-focused executive leadership? ― You get our next Advancing Women in Leadership strategic discussion, that’s what.
We’re hosting our November 6 meeting at the OSU Portland Center in Pioneer Square, our first at OSU’s new location in the heart of downtown. This is an opportunity to gain insights from the impressive panelists we have on board as well as visit the new learning hub that we are all so passionate about.
We’re grateful to our panelists for this quarter’s Portland event.
Su Embree, President, DHM Research
Su Embree is the CEO and President of DHM Research, a well-respected opinion research firm based in Portland, Oregon, with offices in Seattle, Washington, and Washington, D.C. The firm specializes in public policy issues and studies the values of everyday people in communities across the country. Su’s interest in research began early in college where she learned the power of data to improve outcomes. Today, she dedicates her time in highlighting the voice of our community to executive teams, elected officials, and boards of directors.
DHM Research has cultivated strategies to increase community impact, specifically around diversity and equity. She takes a leadership role, serves on boards, and engages with community leaders to increase support for women and minority-owned businesses. Embree also is committed to developing young leaders of color in corporate and community leadership.
Embree graduated from the University of Tennessee, the first in her family to graduate from college. She serves on the boards of the Oregon Community Foundation (OCF), Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI), and Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO). As the past chair and President of EO, she has led the member organization to reach a 50 percent diversity goal.
Embree has called Oregon home for the past 23 years. She lives in Portland with her husband and two daughters.
Robin Jones, Chief Operating Officer, Public Market
Robin Jones is a startup “Jill-of-all-trades” and Public Market is her seventh entrepreneurial venture. She has held leadership roles across a broad array of functions, including marketing, partner/developer ecosystems, IP licensing, sales operations, HR and finance, product & project management, mergers and acquisitions and fundraising. Jones was most recently SVP marketing and business development at Socrata, where she reworked the go-to-market strategy, and left her tenure as the sales team increased qualified pipeline coverage by more than five fold. Jones founded and grew the OEM business unit at Esri to $2.9 million in revenue over two and a half years.
She joined Esri via the acquisition of Geoloqi, a mobile location services startup at which she served as chief operating officer. Jones also co-founded FonJax, where she was the vice president of business development, engineering the sale of the company to Keynote Systems. Jones has an MBA from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley and a B.S. from Stanford. She serves on the board of directors of TiE Oregon.
Sheila Murty, EVP People & Culture, Tillamook County Creamery Association
Sheila Murty ‘90 came to the United States as an international student from Malaysia to attend the University of Montana in Missoula. While enthralled with big sky country, Murty quickly realized in order to survive she had to get out of the brutal cold. She moved to Oregon and found home.
She obtained her BS from OHSU and her MBA from Portland State University. She started her career in healthcare as a clinical scientist, eventually finding her way to HR – leading to a senior HR leadership role at Legacy Health, providing operational leadership and strategic human resources support in various areas for one of Oregon’s largest private employers with multiple locations and with over 12,000 employees.
Murty was also Legacy’s first diversity officer and was instrumental in building their diversity strategy. In 2015, she became the Vice President of Operations, leading operations, people & culture, technology, diversity & inclusion for The Oregon Community Foundation, a $2B community foundation dedicated to improving lives in Oregon.
In 2018, she made a move to Tillamook Creamery (yes – cheese!) as their first EVP of People and Culture where she is leading the creation and adoption of a clear culture vision, strategies to achieve their vision for a values-based organization and all aspects of building a responsive and strategic HR function.
In her free time, she spends time with her three children and husband, watching a lot of sports, enjoying the local food scene, exploring farmers markets and neighborhoods and traveling whenever possible.
Tuesday, November 6 5 – 7 pm
OSU Portland Center
555 SW Morrison Street, 2nd Floor, Portland, OR 97204
Hors d’oeuvres and drinks will be served.
Every quarter OSU’s College of Business brings the Portland business community together for discussions and networking around ideas and strategies on how we can work together to advance women in business. Registration is $10 per person. All ticket proceeds will directly support activities and programs for the OSU Women in Leadership student club that serves students of all majors, men and women, across OSU.
AWL In – PDX
In 2018, we launched the AWL In–PDX Membership Program. Members receive a 20% discount on College of Business professional development courses, among other benefits. Interested in being a part of our AWL In–PDX community? Find out more here.
Golden opportunity for recent graduates to connect in Portland
Of the many exciting opportunities that arise from OSU’s Portland expansion comes the greater ability to connect with our Portland-based alumni. With that in mind, the College of Business is inspired to build the Business Graduate of the Last Decade network – Business GOLD – and take advantage of the great new location at Pioneer Square to get to the heart of Beaver Nation, PDX. So, register today: our first Business GOLD reception is Friday, October 26, 2018.
The event, timed to coincide with the fall opening of the OSU Portland hub at the Meier & Frank Building, will be the inaugural Business GOLD welcome reception. The upper floors of Meier & Frank house The Nines, a modern boutique hotel with stunning interiors and views of the city’s bustling business district. We can’t think of a better place to have our first Business GOLD celebration.
Portland is the destination of choice for a large percentage of our recent graduates where the hip, big-city lifestyle provides an exciting contrast to the idyllic, college-town atmosphere of Corvallis. Our event brings together these Portland newcomers and the more experienced early-career beavers in business.
Specifically, at this happy hour we hope to connect our new graduates with their early career, Business GOLD peer network.
Through Business GOLD we will host additional social events throughout the year; we’ll create access to educational workshops and other professional development opportunities. We’ll create mentoring relationships, including outreach to the undergrads with tips on breaking into that first job after graduation.
We hope to see you there. It’s a time for celebration and pride for Beaver Nation, and we hope to make an impact with Business GOLD.
College of Business Recognizes Contributions of Tom Dowling
“The year was 1982. Michael Jackson’s now iconic album, Thriller, had just been released. The average cost of a home was $82,000. Gasoline was a mere 91 cents per gallon. This also was the year Tom Dowling began a 36-year career educating students in the OSU College of Business…” begins Daniel Lykins, director of teaching and learning, in his roast to honor retiring instructor Tom Dowling’s three-plus decades of service to the college at the 2018 Celebration of Achievement.
Dowling, who began his career teaching undergraduate courses, has most notably contributed to the college’s MBA program with leadership of the students’ Integrated Business Projects.
Read more of Lykins remarks below:
“The most visible portion of Tom’s career is perhaps his work with our MBA program. In 1992 Tom started a new role in the graduate program as a thesis advisor, and in 2001, was a key contributor to the development and introduction of the Integrated Business Project or the IBP.
“Tom played a large role in our MBA IBP program. One of his peers noted that Tom has a knack for helping struggling teams do a more credible job by the end of the year. His role was more than a teacher – it required diplomacy, coaching, leading.
“The first IBP plan was written for Corvallis’ very own NuScale Power, a successful power technology company, which still maintains a close relationship with OSU.
“Many IBP projects led to successful businesses, including a new malaria medication, the first portable dialysis unit approved by FDA, a medical isotope approved by the NRC, and countless others.
“Since 2001, these partner companies have generated more than a billion dollars in revenue based on the projects completed by our MBA student teams.
“Tom was one of the first recipients of the Betty & Forrest Simmons Graduate Teaching Award. He also received the Byron L. Newton Undergraduate Teaching Award. Additionally, he was awarded not one, but two of those prestigious and highly coveted Bernie Newcomb Awards.
“In these last two decades, Tom has served as thesis advisor to more than 200 MBA student teams, and over the course of his career, taught more than 10,000 students.
“Tom’s colleagues fondly remember him as ‘just-in-time Tom’ — which might explain why he was the last one to arrive tonight.
“Nonetheless, there is no doubt that his efforts over his time at OSU will leave a lasting impact on the quality and reputation of our MBA program, and the future achievements of our graduate students.
“Tom, thank you for your three and half decades of service to this college. We wish you well in your retirement.”
——
Tom Dowling earned his bachelor’s degree in international studies from Ohio University, graduating summa cum laude, and in 1978, earned his master’s degree in management from the University of Pittsburgh.
Shortly after his graduation, Tom founded Dowling Consulting Services, Inc., a firm providing consulting services in strategic analysis, strategic planning, and business plan creation. The firm has served both domestic and international clients, from small organizations to Fortune 100 and 500 firms. Tom also later co-founded American Computer & Electronic Services, an IT services and computer engineering consulting firm in 1981, and founded ACES Medical in 2014.
Among the visits, the group toured Tillamook Creamery’s Portland location, the Tillamook Outpost, and sat for a workplace culture discussion with Sheila Murty, Tillamook’s executive vice president of people and culture, and Sibel Candemir, their vice president of categories.
An evening networking mixer construed into a “flash mentoring” session allowed trip attendees to circulate through various tables for prompted discussions. Each station would seat two Portland professionals, and about six students taking on the topics.
