UNI Entrepreneurship Symposium 2011

The University of Northern Iowa John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center is pleased to offer the Entrepreneurship Symposium & Financial Literacy Month Kick-off. Attendees can hear from a panel of experienced entrepreneurs -- three UNI graduates and one current UNI student. Additionally, attendees can find out about various aspects of financial literacy. The event is open to the public and is free. No reservations required. Come for one session or come for all. The schedule is below as are bios of the presenters.

Sponsors for the event are Wells Fargo Bank, UNI Entrepreneurs (student organization), UNI Office of Student Financial Aid, and the UNI John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center.

• 1 p.m. Entrepreneurs Panel -- Amy (Coombs) Kern, Ben Frein, Travis Steffen, Nick Cash
• 2:15 p.m. Banking, Credit & Loans -- J. Scott Johnson, Wells Fargo Bank
• 3:20 p.m. Insurance -- Kellie Clarke, PDCM Insurance
• 4 p.m. Investments -- Christian Brown and Jesse Meehan, Financial Decisions Group

	Entrepreneurship Symposium Panel & Financial Literacy Speakers
	Amy (Coombs) Kern is a 2008 UNI graduate. She earned a degree in marketing as well as an entrepreneurship certificate. As part of her Honors Thesis, Amy wrote a business plan for Top Hat Chimney Services. Amy and her husband bought Top Hat from his parents in February 2010. In addition to assisting Kyle in the marketing and operations of the business, Amy is employed in marketing at Dean Snyder Construction, a local family-owned business.
	While at UNI, Ben Frein, started an ecommerce company, best known its first website, BellyBling.net. The company later expanded to include four employees and the websites BodyBling.net and MyHairStylingTools.com. Currently, through these online stores, Ben attracts over 135,000 shoppers every month! In May of 2009, Ben graduated from UNI with a BA in both Finance and Computer Science. On June 1st 2010, Ben sold his ecommerce company to another Iowa ecommerce company, Clickstop Inc. Ben is currently an executive at Clickstop which employs more than 40 people. He has also founded a new real estate company which owns, manages, and (will soon) develop self storage complexes.
	Travis Steffen is a 23-year-old entrepreneur, published fitness author and graduate of UNI. While at UNI, Travis started Synn Clothing LLC, a mixed martial arts fight apparel brand. He also started AllMuscle.net, an online fitness and training website that was quickly acquired by WorkoutBOX.com - a site which he is now a partner in. While getting his MA in Exercise Science from UNI, Travis also started SupplementShelf.com, an online distributor of fitness supplements. He has since moved his companies out to Los Angeles, California where he currently resides. While living in Los Angeles, Travis has started a few other companies, including Blind Cactus Productions, an Indie Film studio which will film its first feature this coming winter.
	Nick Cash, a junior Computer Science and Economics double major at UNI, has always had a passion for reading, learning, and technology. He began building web sites in grade school, and he began teaching himself college level programming in middle school. Nick began his Computer Science studies as a junior at Cedar Falls High School, and it wasn't long before he ventured into the workforce. While working as software lead on a project for the College of Natural Sciences at UNI he was scouted by Lockheed Martin (Fortune #44), where he spent a summer writing flight control software for the Federal Aviation Administration. Upon his return he began work as an embedded systems programmer at DISTek Integration while he continued his studies. In the Fall of 2009, Nick began his entrepreneurial journey after discovering the exploding e-book market and the challenges of self-publishing. He launched Book Hatchery a few months later. Book Hatchery is a software service that helps authors and small publishers sell their books digitally. We do this by correctly formatting books for various e-reader and tablet devices (Amazon Kindle, Barnes and Noble Nook, Apple iPad, Android, etc), and then distributing the books to the biggest e-book retailers.
	J. Scott Johnson currently holds the title of Regional President for Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. in Iowa and Illinois. Scott Johnson began his career with Wells Fargo Bank Iowa in 1979 as a regional credit trainee. In 1986, he was promoted to vice president of Mid-Market Banking. Four years later, he became senior vice president and manager of the Commercial Banking Division and in 1993 he was named president of Wells Fargo Bank at 7th and Walnut in Des Moines, Iowa. He grew up in Morning Sun, Iowa. Johnson graduated from Iowa State University in 1979 with a degree in Industrial Administration - Accounting. He earned a master's of business administration degree in 1990 from Drake University. He is a graduate of Des Moines Leadership and a graduate of Iowa Leadership. Johnson serves on Drake University's Board of Trustees, Greater Des Moines Partnership's Executive Committee, Board of Principal Charity Classic, presented by Wells Fargo, and the Board of the Iowa Banker's Association.
	Kellie Clarke - Personal Lines Sales Manager, joined PDCM Insurance in 2000. Kellie has been in the insurance industry since 1996. Kellie currently holds her Personal Lines and Life/Health Licenses and has earned the Certified Insurance Counselor (CIC) and Certified Insurance Service Representative (CISR) designations. Kellie graduate from NICC with a degree in Business.
	Tammy Baish -- Personal Lines Sales Manager, began her insurance career with Vaughan, Pedersen & McCausland Insurance in 1989. Tammy currently holds Personal, Commercial and Life Insurance Licenses and has earned the Certified Insurance Counselor (CIC) and Certified Insurance Service Representative (CISR) designations. Tammy graduated from Upper Iowa University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Human Services.
	Christian Brown - Christian Brown has been with Financial Decisions Group since 2009.
	Jesse Meehan has been with Financial Decisions Group since 2004. Jesse graduated from the University of Northern Iowa with a degree in Business Management.