Business Symposium

Annual JayTalks - Wednesday, October 22

Hear from some of our outstanding student leaders here at Creighton and their leadership strategies.

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Damon West

Sentenced to sixty-five years in a Texas prison, Damon West once had it all.

Damon West, M.S. Criminal Justice, is a college professor, nationally known keynote speaker and best-selling author (with best-selling author and motivational speaker Jon Gordon) of The Coffee Bean: A simple Lesson to Create Positive Change. His first book and autobiography, The Change Agent: How a Former College QB Sentenced to Life in Prison Transformed His World, was published just three years after his release from a Texas maximum-security prison.

At 20 years old, he was a Division 1 starting quarterback at the University of North Texas, when he suffered a career ending injury. He turned to hard core drugs to cope with the disappointments of life. After graduation, he worked in the United States Congress, was a national fundraiser on a U.S. Presidential campaign and eventually trained to be a stockbroker for United Bank of Switzerland (UBS). One day at UBS, he was introduced to methamphetamines; he became instantly hooked—and the lives of so many innocent people would forever be changed by the choices he made in order to feed his insatiable meth habit.

After a fateful discussion during his incarceration with a seasoned convict, Damon had a spiritual awakening. He learned that, like a coffee bean changing with the application of heat and pressure, he was capable of changing the environment around him. Armed with a program of recovery, a renewed faith, and a miraculous second chance at life, Damon emerged from over seven years of prison a changed man. His story of redemption, grit and determination continues to inspire audiences today.

Today, Damon lives a life of recovery and service, going to meetings and sharing his story all over the country with schools, churches, athletic teams, corporations, conferences and inside correctional facilities. Over the past few years, he has been sharing the Coffee Bean lesson with dozens of college football teams such as Clemson, Alabama, Georgia, and Texas, and countless schools and businesses. His #BeACoffeeBean message has inspired thousands from Walmart to the US Army to the NBA.

Damon’s story has been featured both nationally and globally. His second book, The Coffee Bean, co-authored with best-selling author Jon Gordon, became an instant best-seller and a part of Forbes’ “Top Twenty Books You Need to Read to Crush 2020.” Damon is passionate about the Coffee Bean message and loves sharing how it changed his life and how it can change yours, too.

Sessions Include

• Accounting vs. Finance
• Alumni/ Getting Career Started
• Business Pre-Law
• Business Psych & Leadership
• Entrepreneurship
• Financial Advising/Planning
• Insurance
• Investment Banking/High Finance
• Marketing
• Real Estate
• Sales
• Sports Management
• Women in Business

Student organizers oversee fundraising upwards of $50,000 a year, obtaining corporate sponsorships and choosing the theme of the symposium. Students also help recruit panel participants and keynote speakers.

The 2025 Business Symposium Student Organizers Team includes:

Co-coordinators

• Jeevita Ashokprabhu
• Colin Gates

Sponsorship Team

• Andrew Triplett
• Carson Holt
• Madeline Travis

Marketing Committee 

• Ainsley DeLockroy
• Hailie Shemek
• Mariana Flood

Operations Team

• Sophie Hustedde
• Logan Piper
• Victoria Xie

Creative Team

• Riley Weedman
• Reagan Murphy

Outreach Team

• Juan Pablo Garcia Flores
• Charlie Mottola

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Past Speakers have included: 

• William Fox, BA’84, JD’87, Managing Director and Global Head of Financial Crimes Compliance for Bank of America
• Debra Moritz, BSBA’84,  U.S. Head of Business Consulting for Cushman & Wakefield, Inc.
• Dr. Peter Leddy, BA’85, Senior Vice President of Global Human Resources at Life Technologies
• Sheila Nix, BSBA’83, Chief of Staff to Dr. Jill Biden

2019
Theme: Curiosity Inspires Confidence
Keynotes: Ron Carson, founder and CEO of Inc. 5000 firm Carson Group; Jane Miller, a thought leader in performance management, leadership and organizational identity; Judith Kohoskie Ricketts, Managing Director of Investor Services at TD Ameritrade.

2018
Theme: Collaboration: Risk: The Foundation of Growth
Keynotes: Emily Belden BA’08, Author, Harlequin and Mark Beam BSBA’80, MBA & JD’83, Director of Innovation/Design in Entrepreneurship, Kauffman Foundation

2017
Theme: Collaboration: The Fast Track to Innovation
Keynotes: Healey Cypher, Co-Founder and CEO, OAK Labs Inc. and Hans Hartman, Former COO of Fitbit & Oculus, a Facebook Company

2016
Theme: Matching Passion with Profit
Keynotes: Jayme Martin, VP and GM of Global Categories, Nike Inc. and Jeanne Sullivan, Founder and Chief Inspirational Officer of Sullivan Adventures

2015
Theme:  Bridging Business with the World Around Us
Keynotes: Tom Copeman, Vice President, Business Development, Air Weapons Systems, Raytheon Missile Systems, Tom Weir, Vice President & Treasurer American Airlines Group, Inc

2014
Theme: Inspiring Ethical Leadership for a Changing World
Keynotes: William Fox, ’84 and JD’87, Managing Director, Global Head of Financial Crimes Compliance, Bank of America
Debra Moritz, ’84, U.S. Head of Business Consulting, Cushman & Wakefield, Inc.

2013
Theme:  A Decade of Excellence
Keynotes: Nick Ghoussaini, Senior Operating Partner, Triton
Bruce Rasmussen, Director of Athletics, Creighton University

2012
Keynotes: Peter Leddy, Ph.D., Senior Vice President of Global Human Resources at Life Technologies,
Jenny Hansen, West Corp.

2011
Theme:  Emerging Leaders.  Educating Change.
Keynotes: Steve Luczo, CEO, Seagate Technology
Shelia Nix, United States Executive Director, ONE.org
Symposium hosts its first workshop, “Ready, Set, Pitch,” where students were able to market a product in front of a panel of judges.

2010
Theme:  Learning with Passion, Leading with Excellence
Keynotes: Tony Audino, CEO, Conenza, Inc.
Mr. Donald Bisenius, Executive Vice President of the Single-Family Credit Guarantee (Freddie Mac)
Conversations:
Ms. Abby Bruning, Footwear Merchandiser at Nike
Special Agent Bob Herndon, Federal Bureau of Investigation
Mr. Mike Rock, Vice President of External Relations at Union Pacific