Alumni Entrepreneurs & Pioneers: The Olney Spirit at Work in the World
Saturday, October 30
3:00-4:15 p.m.
Moderator:
Judy Hale Reed (Olney ’91), advocate for human rights and gender equality
Panelists:
- Blythe Ardyson, high school teacher and tutor; former Olney science teacher
- Lin Dai (Olney ’08), business major, Drexel University
- Denise Museminali (Olney ’08), business administration student, Drexel University
- Cedrick Rugege (Olney ’08), international business major, D’Youville College
- Larry Sidwell (Olney ’71), senior vice president for credit and operations, John Deere.
Description: We have invited several Olneyites to speak who, in their professional, personal, or educational lives, are entrepreneurs, pioneers, businesspeople. These are individuals who have blended the Olney Spirit with the spirit of enterprise. What can they tell us about their journeys that will inform Olney’s next steps?
We ask each panelist to speak briefly (5-8 minutes) to one of the following questions:
- Does your Olney experience inform the work you do now? If so, how?
- How do you see yourself as (choose one) an entrepreneur, a pioneer, or a businessperson? What advice would you offer the Olney community as we contemplate a new (ad)venture?
- Some Quakers do not want to talk about money. What do you feel is an appropriate way to approach thinking about Olney “as a business” in addition to Olney “as a school”?