Entrepreneurship Speaker Series
The Speaker Series is scheduled to meet in BUS 126 on Tuesdays from 11:30 am-12:20 pm. Any changes will be posted on our website and the Entrepreneurship Calendar. Be sure to check back weekly.
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Entrepreneurship
Orientation
Kelly Heaton
Co-Owner, Bar 10 Ranch
Kelly is a graduate of SUU with a Bachelor’s Degree in business and marketing. He is the co-owner of Bar 10 Ranch Inc., Bar 10 Beef Inc., Heaton Cattle Company LLC, Grand Canyon Tours Inc., Bar 10 Transportation Services Inc., and Canyon Edge LLC. Kelly was a former board member of the Western AG Credit and currently serves as a board member of the West Panguitch Canal Company.
Dakota Denver
Co-Founder, ZenDev
Dakota Denver is the co-founder and partner at ZenDev which provides web application software and marketing solutions. He is a partner at Birdie’s Golf Lounge, an indoor golf simulator company. As well as the CTO of Referably, a dental referral software application. He graduated with his MAcc from SUU in 2020 and is currently living in St. George Utah. Recently his venture Birdie’s Golf Lounge has brought him back to Cedar City because of a new Birdie’s location opening mid-2023.
Derral Eves
YouTube Growth Strategist & Consultant
Derral Eves is the CEO of Creatus, a video company. Derral consults some of the biggest YouTubers in the world. He has helped 34 YouTube channels go from zero to more than a million subscribers, and he has generated nearly 80 billion views on YouTube.
He is the Wall Street Journal best-selling author of the YouTube Formula: How Anyone Can Unlock the Algorithm to Drive Views, Build an Audience, and Grow Revenue.
Derral is the founder and executive producer of The Chosen, the highest-grossing crowdfunded movie project of all time. He was featured on the Forbes List "20 Must Watch YouTube Channels That Will Change Your Business", alongside Tony Robbins, Marie Forleo, and Gary Vaynerchuk. Derral's career passion and personal mission are to help individuals, brands, and businesses make a positive impact in the world.
No Class
Stephen Engst
Dixie Leavitt School of Business, Lecturer, Finance
Stephen joined the School of Business faculty in the Fall of 2019 as a full-time Lecturer of Finance. Teaching at SUU has been one of the most rewarding experiences of his career. “How fortunate I am to work with intelligent, dedicated, and caring faculty and to teach bright, hardworking, and enthusiastic students.”
Stephen came to SUU after 34 years in the private sector in the NY/NJ area. He started as a Financial Analyst at the COMEX, became an MIS Analyst at Depository Trust and Clearing, went back to school full-time to study software engineering, worked for Commodities Corp as a programmer/analyst, and then joined Goldman Sachs Asset Management as a Portfolio Manager. GSAM encouraged traders to go out on their own, so he started a Commodity Trading Advisory called ClaraVista Capital Management. After 15 years of trading, he took a break from markets to consult with hedge funds for a few years and then returned to his software engineering roots at Trimble Maps. Stephen feels incredibly fortunate to have done what he loves for so many years.
Eric Leavitt
Eric Leavitt works as an Executive Chairman & Chief Executive Officer at Leavitt Group, which is an Insurance company with an estimated 791 employees; and was founded in 1952. They are part of the Executive team within the C-Suite Department and their management level is C-Level. Eric graduated from the University of Rochester's William E. Simon Graduate School of Business in 1988 and is currently based in Cedar City, United States.
Spring Break
Bryce Thatcher
President/ Director of Design, Elite Creators
"It was on the Idaho side of the Tetons that a young man found his love for the outdoors. Bryce Thatcher knew early on that he wanted to build a life immersed in the trails and mountains. Bryce would charge through the Tetons with his lifeline (his backpack) and would run with the straps in hand to keep it securely against his back and push as long and as hard as possible until he felt like he was going to collapse, at which point he would stop to drink. He would guzzle an entire bottle of water or apple juice which would slosh in his stomach and ultimately slow him down. For someone who deeply enjoyed moving quickly through the mountains, this was counterintuitive. From this, an idea was born, what if he could access his fluids without ever taking the backpack off? What if there was a way to comfortably carry equipment without chafing or having the backpack bounce all over? These would be the thoughts that revolutionized the efficiency and performance of endurance athletes to the present day. "
Mandi Gubler
Mandi Gubler is an entrepreneur and creative to her core. She is the owner and creative force behind the popular interior design and DIY blog Vintage Revivals. Her journey started in 2010 with a can of sun yellow spray paint and blind enthusiasm. Over the last decade she has transformed furniture, homes, and people project by project. She is one of the lucky few creatives to be on multiple shows on Joanna Gaines' Magnolia Network. In 2020 she and her husband Courtney pivoted and took her love of houseplants full time with the creation of Happy Happy Houseplant, a plant care product line and educational mecca for everyone who wants plants to make their homes more beautiful. She lives in a 100 yr old renovated Mercantile store in Santa Clara with her husband, 3 children, and hundreds of houseplants.
Patty Flock
Patty Flock is a Management & Leadership coach and mentor and the Founder of WIN Properties, TENx Leaders, and co-founder of Global Vision Consulting. She is a master relater and communicator and loves helping young entrepreneurs see the potential in themselves and get to the next level. She is no stranger to managing, motivating, and leading large teams. She has 35 years of combined executive-level management experience, with 15 of those at the largest transportation company in the world. She has trained some of the largest teams on how to collaborate and work together towards common goals. Learn how this relates to you and how you can use her strategies and training to get you to the next level of your business and career!
Festival of Excellence - No Class
Bryan Fisher
Bryan S. Fisher, Private Consultant
Mr. Fisher was born and raised on a dairy farm in southeastern Idaho. He served a 2-year mission in Bangkok Thailand. He graduated from BYU with a BA in Accounting. He is married with 3 children and five grandchildren. His hobbies and activities include mountain biking, hiking, triathlons, family, church and traveling.
Mr. Fisher has a blended background in finance, operations, executive and board management primarily with entrepreneurial private equity backed companies. His 35 years of financial and operational experience includes 30 years focused on ancillary site healthcare.
Throughout his career Mr. Fisher has been entrepreneurial focused. He co-founded 1 company and was an initial executive management team member for 3 equity-back companies. His small to mid-market private equity partners have included such firms as Welsh Carson Anderson and Stowe; Ferrer Freeman and Co; Charlesbank; JP Morgan Asset Management; Irving Place Capital and Waud Capital Partners.
During his first 25 years he was in finance and accounting. His first five years were in public accounting with KPMG (Peat Marwick). His emphasis was with growth-oriented companies and included such clients as Chili’s, Medical Care International and Scott Cable as well as educational clients that included Southern Methodist University and Dallas College (f/k/a Dallas County Community College). His next 20 years of financial executive level experience included
private equity backed and publicly traded companies. He was instrumental in National Surgery Centers initial and secondary public offerings. He was involved in numerous acquisition and merger transactions ranging up to $200+ million in deal size. He was a key management member involved in the sale or recapitalization negotiations for nearly $2 billion in transactions.
He transitioned from finance and spent 10 years as Chief Operating Officer and has operational experience with 3 different companies including 2 private-equity backed and one publicly traded company. He was a key executive in the negotiations and sale of National Surgical Healthcare for $780 million, the company he co-founded.
His executive experience was combined with nearly 20 years of board membership for private equity-backed and publicly traded healthcare growth companies. Mr. Fisher is currently semi-retired and working as a consultant.
Curtis Anderson
Curtis Anderson is a Professor of Law at the Brigham Young University Law School. He teaches
courses in the areas of corporate formation and governance, mergers and acquisitions,
securities and e-commerce, and supervises the BYU Law and Entrepreneurship Clinic. He is also a faculty member of the BYU Crocker Innovation Fellowship Program, which is an
interdisciplinary, one-year innovation experience for undergraduate students from any major
and where he teaches with faculty from the Colleges of Business, Engineering, Life Sciences,
and Physical & Mathematical Sciences.
Before moving to BYU Law, he was a Senior Vice President and the General Counsel of the
Match Group. He was responsible for all legal matters of Match’s operating companies, which
included Tinder, match.com, okcupid, meetic and other social media and online dating
businesses based in Dallas, New York City, Los Angeles, London, Paris, Vancouver, Tokyo, Ghent and Rio de Janeiro. Prior to joining the Match Group, Professor Anderson was a partner in a large international law firm where he represented clients in complex mergers and acquisitions,public offerings (debt and equity), VC financings and general corporate matters. Mr. Anderson has served on the board of directors of Encircle since 2018.
Mr. Anderson is a graduate of Cedar City High School, where his dad taught for over 40 years.
His mother worked at SUU for many years. His wife Margie also graduated from Cedar City High School and attended SUU.
Phil Crenshaw
Founders, Sound Solutions
Phil Crenshaw is the founder and owner of Sound Solutions Inc. with over 30 years of experience in the A/V industry. He started his company in Las Vegas, Nevada in 1993 and moved to St George, Utah in 2000. Phil and his company specialize in home automation, custom theaters, all things audio video, lighting control, motorized shades, and much more.
Phil has been able to take on projects such as the Mandalay Bay Hotel & Casino, Monte Carlo Hotel & Casino, and Pure Nightclub at Caesars Palace. He has also had the pleasure of working with clients such as Mike Tyson, Tiger Woods, The Imagine Dragons, and more.
When he's not working, Phil enjoys spending time with his kids and grandkids, playing the drums, riding ATV's and snowmobiles, and listening to music.