May « 2012 « College of Business

The Business Solutions Group — which provides hands-on opportunities for students in product testing and application development services — honored 13 student interns at its annual Student Awards Night May 24.

Here’s the summary from BSG Director Mark Van Patten:

Held in such unique places as Peavey Arboretum and the Corvallis Country Club in the past, this year’s event was hosted at the MU Bowling Alley where a good time was had by all, eating tacos and burritos from Qdoba while bowling, playing pool and throwing darts.

These awards are an important opportunity to recognize student achievements as they apply what they learn in the classroom to real client projects and recognize in real-time the importance of IT systems to organizational performance.

Congratulations to the 2011-12 BSG student award winners:

Outstanding Student Developers: Chris Kirkpatrick, Ryan Brim
Outstanding Student Analyst: Matt Janachek
Outstanding Student Tester: Sean Hewitt, Nathan Raymond
Uber Newbie Award: Robert Gibson – Developer; Garret Gentz – Analyst; Josh Willmarth – Tester
Outstanding Mentorship: Tyler McClung – Systems & Software Development; Ryan Raurk – Analysis; Matthew Baker – Testing

: Students bowl at the BSG Student Awards

: Students play pool at the BSG Student Awards

Dave Dahl of Dave's Killer Bread speaks to an OSU family business class.

Dave Dahl, the recognizable face of the Dave’s Killer Bread line of baked goods, made a surprise appearance at Oregon State Tuesday night as part of the College of Business Austin Family Business Program.

Sherri Noxel, AFBP director, had invited Eugene Wallace of Family Business Advisors to speak at her class that evening. Wallace, who has worked with the Dahls — Dave’s father started the company, brother Glenn and nephew Shobbi Dahl are part of the business with other family members — mentioned someone from the company might be able to attend, but wouldn’t know for sure becuase of busy schedules.

But Tuesday night there was Dahl, with bags of Dave’s Killer Bread flying around the classroom as students asked questions.

“Eugene was invited to class, and we had used Dave’s Killer Bread the first class as an example of how to construct a genogram,” Noxell said. “They’re a contemporary business [students] can relate to.”

Dahl, who also presents as a motivational speaker and has been open sharing his story of spending 15 years in prison before rejoining the family baking business, said the experience was an opportunity to share with the students get something back himself.

“Mainly we talked about the family business, and I have a lot of experience with that,” Dahl said. “They were asking a lot of stuff about the family dynamics.

“The personal really takes a back seat with us,” Dahl said of his own family. “If we can stay in the same room and talk, that’s all I want.”

Dahl explained to students how he, his brother and nephew worked through early differences to build the company into what it is today, while Wallace provided lessons from working with the Dahls on how students could strengthen their own family businesses.

OSU MBA students at the Widmer Brothers Brewery in Portland.

Oregon is known as a leader in craft brewing, and this month a group of Oregon State University MBA students got a chance to learn from some of the pioneers of the industry on a trip to Widmer Brothers Brewing in Portland.

A dozen students from the MBA Association — OSU’s MBA student club — travelled to the brewery May 11 for a tour and lunch with Rob Widmer, an Oregon State alumnus, who co-founded the company with brother Kurt.

The pair started the brewery in 1984, starting with 40-barrel capacity. A $3 million upgrade this month has now expanded that to 700,000 and 800,000 barrels annually.

Rod Widmer talks to Oregon State MBA students following a tour of the Widmer Brothers Brewery in Portland. — Rob Widmer talks to Oregon State MBA students following a tour of the Widmer Brothers Brewery in Portland.

OSU MBA students tour the Widmer Brothers Brewery in Portland. Here they inspect brewery tanks.

OSU faculty member Scott Spiegelberg takes in the Widmer Brothers Brewery Tour.

Monette LeMay, operations and admissions coordinator for the MBA program, organized the trip.

Doug Rehberg, senior manager of brewery operations, and Lorin Gelfand, a Widmer brand manager, gave the students a 90-minute tour and explained the manufacturing process for the brewery. After, the group had lunch at the Widmer Gasthaus, where Rob Widmer greeted the students and shared the history of the operation.

Scott Spiegelberg, OSU career services coordinator for graduate programs, took part in the trip and said the experience was a great motivator for students hoping to get their own businesses started after earning an MBA.

“To see a young man from Oregon State realize his dream with his brother and grow it into the ninth largest brewery in the U.S. is pretty remarkable,” Speigelberg said.

Junki Yoshida speaking at the LaSells Stewart Center at Oregon State.

UPDATE: KVAL was out at the event and put together a story and video which are now up at their website.

Junki Yoshida did not waste time explaining what his talk Thursday at Oregon State Universtiy’s LaSells Stewart Center would not cover.

“If you’re looking for the secret of succes, forget it,” said Yoshida, CEO of the Yoshida Group and face of the popular line of Mr. Yoshida’s sauces.

“You’re here to listen to a guy who almost bankrupted four times,” he said.

Yoshida, speaking as part of the College of Business Entrepreneur in Residence series, spelled out what being an entrepreneur has meant to him and the lessons he’s learned in a talk title “American Dream.”

“All entrepreneurs, they’re amateurs,” he said. “They don’t know zip. They have a dream.”

Despite his success, Yoshida said that if he knew what he was in store for at the beginning — when he started selling sauce out of the basement of his karate school after giving it away as gifts — he wouldn’t have continued.

Why did he do it in the first place?

“Because I was a stupid amatuer, that’s why,” Yoshida said to laughter.

Much of the afternoon was spent laughing, from Yoshida’s story of meeting his father in law (“Never call your girlfriend’s father ‘dad’ when you meet him”) to meeting his son in law (“I thought, I have 15 acres, no one will ever find him …”) and many other stories from the CEO’s life.

The energetic and irreverent talk did drive home some serious messages.

Yoshida said he wouldn’t have made it had the American system not allowed him to try and fail over and over again.

“In the US if you lose, you can come back and play again,” he said. “That’s a great country.”

Yoshida said the key is to “push your bus,” know your dream and keep after it no matter what.

“Once you’re moving you’re 60 percent to success, because most people are still standing in the same spot analyzing it,” Yoshida said. “When you believe in your dream, run.”

As part of the Alumni and Business Partner Awards, the College of Business produced a video highlighting the career of each honoree which ran right before he or she came up on stage to accept the award.

While each was a gerat introduction the night of the awards, we thought everyone might enjoy taking a look and learning a little more about the 2012 award winners so here they are!

This month we got some new sketches of the proposed look for Austin Hall, the future home of the Oregon State College of Business.

The building, made possible by a $10 million commitment from alumni Ken and Joan Austin, will be an expansive 100,000 square feet and include 10 classrooms, a 250-seat auditorium, a cafe and event space and other amenities.

These images come from THA Architecture, the design firm working on the building, planned to open in fall of 2014.

: Austin Hall Interior 2

: Interior Austin Hall design sketch 1

: Design sketch of Austin Hall at night

: Austin Hall Interior 3

This week it was announced Junki Yoshida — yes, that Mr. Yoshida — would be coming to Oregon State for a talk May 17 to discuss how built his mutli-million dollar conglomerate.

His story is really quite amazing, coming to the United States from Japan at 19 with $500 and eventually building the businesses he owns today.

If you’re not familiar with Yoshida’s story, take a look at this video produced for the 2011 Weatherford Awards, where the College of Business honored Yoshida for his innovation as a entrepreneur. It details how he came to be known for his sauce recipe and out-of-the-box marketing techniques.

Were you one of the lucky 120 people who got a ticket to the exclusive, first-ever TEDxOSU conference in April? If not, now you can hear exactly what the four speakers, all addressing topics of sustainability and energy resources, had to say to the Corvallis crowd on April 17 by going to TEDxOSU.com.

The event was organized by Oregon State College of Business MBA candidate Jennifer Villalobos and featured a wide-range of presenters, from CEOs to OSU professors and non-profit directors.

Check out the talk from Jim Walls, executive director for the Lane County Resource Initiative, below then and go to TEDxOSU to watch all the speakers. You can also check out photos from the event and our quick take following the event for more TEDxOSU goodness.

Marketing Student Awards 2012 — Oregon State College of Business Marketing Student Awards on May 1, 2012.

The College of Business recognized the top students in its Marketing Major today, awarding scholarships to four promising juniors and naming its top seniors of the year in a lunch at the OSU Memorial Union.

Associate Professor and Marketing Coordinator Hal Koenig handed out the awards, with Oregon State alumna Angelina Lusetti representing Target, which sponsored scholarships.

Juniors Alyssa Mari, Janel Coussens, and Milan Laurent were awarded Target Company scholarships. Mikaela Inman was chosen as the recipient of the Northwest Market Research Association scholarship, and will work with OSU’s Close to the Customer (C2C) as a student researcher.

Coussens, from Banks High School, is involved with the Austin Family Business program and has also served as a volunteer firefighter with Banks Fire District #13.

Inman, of Crater High School, helped raise $36,000 for the Center Against Rape and Domestic Violence as a member of the Kappa Delta sorority and volunteers with the Southern Oregon Humane Society.

Laurent, from Santiago High School, is vice president of the OSU Public Relations Society and has volunteered with organizations such as Community Outreach, Inc. and Relay for Life.

Marketing Junior scholarship winners — Junior scholarship awardees Mikaela Inman, Milan Laurent and Janel Coussens at the Oregon State College of Business Marketing Student Awards on May 1, 2012.

Also honored were the three Distinguished Marketing Senior award finalists, Katy Puckett, Brandy Cordeiro and Stevie Marcum, who was named the Marketing Senior of the Year.

Puckett holds a 3.93 GAP and will graduate in June with degrees in both Marketing and Business Management.

Cordeiro, who grew up in Maui, has a 3.79 GPA, is active in the Hui o Hawaii club on campus and has volunteered for the Linn Benton Food Share.

Marcum has been active in charities through her Kappa Alpha Theta sorority and will graduate with a 3.8 GPA.

College of Business

Monthly Archives: May 2012

Business Solutions Group hands out student awards

Dave Dahl speaks at Oregon State family business class

OSU MBA students tour Widmer Brothers Brewing

Junki Yoshida gives his take on what it means to be an entrepreneur

Honoree videos from 2012 Alumni and Business Partner Awards online

New photos of Austin Hall released

A closer look at how Junki Yoshida became “Mr. Yoshida”

Videos from TEDxOSU now available

Marketing presents 2012 student awards

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