Berkeley Geddes, CEO of Grow America Ventures. (DSC photo)
The Business and Ethics Forum, presented every other Thursday throughout DSC’s spring semester, will be held in the Boeing Auditorium (Room 121) of the DSC Udvar-Hazy Business Building. DSC students, faculty and staff, the entire Washington County business community, and the general public are all invited to attend. Admission is free.
A self-described serial entrepreneur, Geddes has started over 24 for profit businesses, 17 of which have reached the proven point and achieved market success. He has aspired to be an entrepreneur champion and has sought to create an on-line environment of training, support and encouragement for all entrepreneurs.
Prior to becoming Grow America Ventures CEO, Geddes created “DooBizz.com” and co-founded Arizona’s largest Venus disease service organization-Vanishing Veins. He also created the Perinatal Women’s Center in Arizona, and before entering the medical market, Geddes founded “Gang of Four”, co-founded WhizBang Labs and launched FlipDog, an online recruiting website.
The series will continue February 9, with Susan Moore, Vice President of Wells Fargo Bank. In addition, St. George Area Chamber of Commerce President Gregg McArthur will address the forum February 23; Kevin Kuzia, compliance officer for Pratt and Whitney, will speak March 8; Kenny Miller, manager of The Village Bank, will present to the forum March 29; and DSC Vice President for Administrative Services Stan Plewe will wrap up the semester schedule with a presentation April 12.
The Business and Ethics Forum is every other Thursday throughout the fall and spring semesters, with each guest lecturer speaking on business matters in their respective professions and how to integrate ethics into the discussion. The Forums will return to its regular bi-monthly schedule for the 2012 spring semester beginning in January.
Each speaker throughout the semester will speak on business matters in their respective professions and have been asked to integrate ethics into the discussion.
The bi-monthly forum, along with campus’ Institute for Business Integrity, was created by former DSC president Dr. Robert Huddleston in 2006, as a way to integrate ethics into the curriculum, and have it serve as a blueprint to ensure that students graduate with a set of ethical tools to help them get along in the professional world.
In 2006-07, Dixie State’s business program sought initial accreditation with the high profile Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). In order to become accredited with the AACSB, ethics were required to be integrated into the college’s business curriculum. As a result, each business class on the DSC campus now includes an ethical component.
Dr. Huddleston noted that the business forums will give students – and current and prospective local business owners – an added dose of ethics training that is so sorely needed into today’s business world. His hope is that by the time students leave Dixie State, they have been exposed to enough ethical cases that, when they get out in the workforce, they will have the wherewithal and the intestinal fortitude to do the right thing, even when their job might be on the line.
“The Institute for Business Integrity has brought an important opportunity for the business community, as well as DSC faculty and students, to emphasize the significance of social responsibility for business and industry in Washington County,” said Huddleston. “As research indicates, ethics contribute to employee commitment, investor loyalty, customer satisfaction and to profits.”
The Dixie State College Institute for Business Integrity is a partnership between the Udvar-Hazy School of Business at Dixie State College, the Small Business Development Center, the Washington County Economic Development Council, and the St. George Area Chamber of Commerce.
For questions regarding the DSC Institute for Business Integrity forums, contact Dr. Huddleston at huddleston@dixie.edu or (435) 652-7740.
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