LEARNING TO LEAD

Students advised by business founders, CEOs during conference

Duke Energy President and CEO Lynn Good, along with nearly 50 other business and industry leaders, many of them ECU alumni, shared their experience and advice with East Carolina University students during the second annual Business Leadership Conference on April 12-13.

“We have always taught every student the nuts and bolts of business – they’re great at accounting, finance, management and marketing – but in addition to those fundamentals, they’re also great at leadership,” said Stan Eakins, dean of the ECU College of Business. “We have been working for the better part of a decade to grow out our leadership program so that it is second to none.”

College of Business Dean Stan Eakins said leadership is what separates ECU’s graduates from their peers.

The leadership conference is part of that effort, and this year, 1,500 students registered to attend, he said. The conference included a keynote speech by Good and more than 30 breakout sessions.

“I think the opportunity that you have here at ECU to spend a day and a half thinking about leadership and thinking about how you can prepare yourself for the future is really a gift from this university,” Good told the students in a packed-out Hendrix Theater. “And if you take away even one or two nuggets that you can tuck away as you think about your transition to the workforce, it will be really powerful for you.”

Senior Victoria Centeno, a business marketing major, said she scored an internship as a direct result of last year’s conference. She has another internship lined up this summer. She said it’s great to see so many ECU graduates return to speak at the conference.

“It’s reassuring and encouraging for me, because I hope to be there one day, to be so successful that ECU will ask me to come back and speak to the students here,” she said.

Miranda Ross, a junior finance major, also said the conference was a great networking opportunity. Sound Partners, a finance firm where she is an intern, participated, and she hoped to speak with Kevin Monroe (’99, ’05) of CAPTRUST Financial Advisors.

“I want to go into financial advising, and I’m from Charlotte (where CAPTRUST is located),” she said. “He worked with the Panthers, so I thought that was kind of cool, and I’d love to talk with him if I get the chance.”

Good gave the students three things to keep in mind as they enter their careers: passion, possibility and perspective.

“You’re going to be your very best if you are passionate and curious about the assignment you’ve been given to do,” she said.

She pointed out that possibility often comes during times of trouble. “Some of you sitting in this room will lose a job,” she said. “You can choose what to do with that. … You’re going to worry about your family, your career, your future.

“But at the end of the day, it takes courage and optimism to say, ‘OK, what am I going to do? Let’s explore the possibilities of how I’m going to move myself forward, because I’m not going to be defined by this one event.’”

Before eventually becoming CEO of Duke Energy in 2013, Good was a partner with Arthur Anderson, an accounting firm that collapsed following the Enron scandal in 2003. She has also led Duke Energy through the Dan River coal ash spill and cleanup effort. Both were setbacks, she said, but she and many of her teammates learned from them and eventually landed on their feet.

Finally, she urged the students to keep a sense of perspective. “There is no end point to leadership, there’s no destination,” she said. “It’s a journey, and you keep growing and keep moving, and hopefully improving, because you’re going to be tested for years to come.”

Good also talked about the future and the impact that today’s students will have on the world of business as technology advances, the nation’s demographics shift and new business models appear that haven’t even been imagined today.

Following Good’s address, breakout sessions were held throughout Mendenhall Student Center for the rest of Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning. Topics of discussion included starting and funding business ventures, workplace diversity, failure, choosing and navigating a career, and volunteerism.

Today’s students will shape the business practices of tomorrow, Good said.

During a session titled From ECU Student to CEO and CFO Leadership, four College of Business alumni spoke about their experience in leadership and how ECU students can prepare themselves for successful careers.

“Show up, on time, and be ready to go,” said Thomas Arthur (’71), president and CEO of ASAP Capital. “Whoever you work for is going to notice it and appreciate it.”

The members of the panel encouraged the students to learn a broad set of skills, to listen to teammates, to seize opportunities and to learn from their mistakes.

Josh Jackson, sophomore finance and accounting major, said he’s aiming for a career in private equity or investment banking and appreciated the opportunity to hear from company leaders about how they’ve gotten where they are, and “getting their advice about how we can better ourselves as students and progress to get jobs when we get out of here.”

Other presenters at the conference included N.C. Representative Susan Martin, Greenville Mayor Allen Thomas and Leo John of the N.C. Department of the Secretary of State.

Eakins thanked the returning alumni and other presenters for taking the time to participate. “They are here, giving of their time, because they believe in you, because they believe in their alma mater, and in what we’re doing with helping to develop leadership among the next generation of students of this college,” he told the students.

The Leadership Conference gave students the opportunity to learn from business leaders and ECU alumni.