Lunch Bites Schedule
Every Thursday from 12:00-12:30 PM
June 18th
July 23rd
Yin-Ho Lai
Trove: Revolutionizing in a New Industry-Entrepreneur Spotlight
July 30th
Karen Stout
The Importance of Leadership Development, Especially in Times of Crisis
August 6th
AJ Barse
A Technologist Approach for Innovation and Content Creation (in COVID time)
August 13th
Musa Nxumalo
Five Questions Answered on How to Shift From Ego-ism to Eco-ism
August 20th
Karen Stout
Moving Beyond the Leader: Focusing on Leadership Systems
August 27th
Joel Swisher
Preparing Leaders for the Clean Energy TransitionÂ
September 3rd
Mark Staton
Marketing Strategy 101
September 10th
Mark Staton
Build Your Business Through Digital Marketing
Recent Lunch Bites
Build Your Build Through Digital Marketing
WWU Entrepreneurship and Innovation presents Lunch Bites Episode Thirteen (September 10, 2020). Digital Marketing is no longer optional. Dr. Mark Staton, Associate Professor of Marketing and Director of the WWU MBA program, will take you through a fast-paced overview of the tools needed to be a successful digital marketer.
Marketing Strategy 101
WWU Entrepreneurship and Innovation presents Lunch Bites Episode Twelve (September 3rd, 2020). The key to successful marketing is developing a good strategy. Dr. Mark Staton, Associate Professor of Marketing and Director of the WWU MBA program, will take you through the process of analyzing a market, creating a proactive market positioning, and implementing your marketing plan
Preparing Leaders for the Clean Energy Transition
WWU Entrepreneurship and Innovation presents Lunch Bites Episode Eleven (August 27, 2020). Join Dr. Joel Swisher as he speaks on how the WWU Institute for Energy Studies prepares leaders for the clean energy transition. The WWU Institute for Energy Studies offers interdisciplinary BS and BA degrees, as well as specialized minors and certificate options, to prepare graduates to advance the zero-carbon energy transition by mastering the science, technology, policy, business and economic aspects of current and emerging energy systems. The program emphasizes practical, experiential learning, and most courses are open to students working remotely, including practitioners seeking professional development.
Moving Beyond the Leader: Focusing on Leadership Systems
WWU Entrepreneurship and Innovation presents Lunch Bites Episode Ten (August 20, 2020). Join Dr. Karen Stout as she speaks on moving beyond the leader. According to Harvard Professor Dr. Barbara Kellerman, the way we often talk about leadership privileges the “leader” and obscures the importance of “followers” and “context.” In this session, we’ll talk about leadership processes and systems, which can help us to be more successful, inclusive, and just in our work.
Five Questions Answered on How to Shift from Ego-ism to Eco-ism
WWU Entrepreneurship and Innovation presents Lunch Bites Episode Nine (August 13, 2020). Join Musa Nxumalo as he talks about shifting from ego-ism to eco-ism. Musa is a South African Author, Coach & Facilitator. His work is about helping individuals and organizations transform, through deeply customized human centred design solutions. He has worked with organizations in mining; academia; finance; pharmaceuticals; logistics & entrepreneurship, in Africa and Asia. His latest literature offering is a book called “I am a Cross-Pollinator: Afrikologist thought experiments for leaders navigating from ego-ism to eco-ism”.
The book has a global trajectory. It traverses the political, professional and geographical terrain. All his corporate culture design & personal development work draws inspiration from the centre message in the book, which is the concept of cross-pollination, and all other analogies from nature.
Check out I am a Cross-Pollinator here: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/i-am…
A Technologist Approach to Innovation and Content Creation (in COVID time)
WWU Entrepreneurship and Innovation presents Lunch Bites Episode Eight (August 6, 2020). Join AJ Barse, photographer and AV educator, as he talks about being a content creator, and how to be more creative in your connectivity, especially during COVID.
Check out more about AJ here: https://wp.wwu.edu/ajbarse/
The Importance of Leadership Development, Especially in Crisis
WWU Entrepreneurship and Innovation presents Lunch Bites Episode Seven (July 30, 2020). Developing as a leader shouldn’t be relegated until there’s time. Even when a crisis hits, we can strengthen our leadership skills, values, and behaviors.
In this session, we’ll talk about strategies to analyze, practice, and reflect on our leadership at any time. Listen in for 30 minutes as Dr. Karen Stout goes over analyzing leadership, methods for reflection, and some great leadership resources!
Trove: Revolutionizing in a New Industry – Entrepreneur Spotlight
WWU Entrepreneurship and Innovation presents Lunch Bites Episode Six (July 23, 2020). In just about 30 minutes, listen to Schantell Hummel chat with Yin-Ho Lai, the owner of both Trove Coffee and Trove Cannabis. They talk about the journey that led him to own his businesses, building customer profiles, mapping out customer journeys, and more.
Check out Trove Coffee: https://trovecoffee.com/
And Trove Cannabis: https://trovecannabis.com/
Lean Revisions in Times of Crisis (Six Sigma)
WWU Entrepreneurship and Innovation presents Lunch Bites Episode Five (July 16, 2020). In just about 30 minutes, Mason Gray from Six Sigma TV will be covering all you need to know about six sigma and lean and how to utilize those tools and skills during COVID times.
Check out their website for more info: https://sixsigmatv.net/
Amazon Catalyst Challenge with NWIRC
WWU Entrepreneurship and Innovation presents Lunch Bites Episode Four (July 9, 2020). In just about 30 minutes, Lara Merriam-Smith from the NW Innovation Resource Center will be covering all you need to know about the Amazon Catalyst Challenge!
Creating and Leading Engaging Meetings Online
WWU Entrepreneurship and Innovation presents Lunch Bites Episode Three (July 2, 2020).Â
How can you encourage engagement and ignite discussion when your meetings go digital? Meg Weber covers a variety of topics from how to incorporate play and build connection on zoom, to designing your agendas and driving clarity, to igniting engagement and discussion.
Going digital can feel daunting, so enjoy this Lunch Bites and learn some quick tips on how you can make digital work exciting and engaging.
Nourishing Professional and Customer Networks to Flourish even in Crisis
In times of uncertainty, we need creativity and collaborative design thinking more than ever, yet the stressors of this very uncertainty undermine our ability to bring out our best.
Join Dr. Sherwood as he unpacks uncertainty, the stress it causes us, and our teams and shares key tips on how you might successfully get on track for creativity, collaboration, and action.
Implement Design Thinking and Creative Problem Solving in Times of Uncertainty
WWU Entrepreneurship and Innovation presents Lunch Bites Episode One (June 18, 2020).
In times of uncertainty, we need creativity and collaborative design thinking more than ever, yet the stressors of this very uncertainty undermine our ability to bring out our best.
Join Dr. Sherwood as he unpacks uncertainty, the stress it causes us, and our teams and shares key tips on how you might successfully get on track for creativity, collaboration, and action.
Presenters
Meet our presenters
Musa Nxumalo
Musa is a South African Author, Coach & Facilitator. His work is about helping individuals and organizations transform, through deeply customized human centred design solutions. He has worked with organizations in mining; academia; finance; pharmaceuticals; logistics & entrepreneurship, in Africa and Asia. His latest literature offering is a book called “I am a Cross-Pollinator: Afrikologist thought experiments for leaders navigating from ego-ism to eco-ism”. The book has a global trajectory. It traverses the political, professional and geographical terrain. All his corporate culture design & personal development work draws inspiration from the centre message in the book, which is the concept of cross-pollination, and all other analogies from nature.
It all started for me when cannabis became legal in Washington State and I was lucky enough to be awarded a marijuana retail license. With this, came an opportunity to learn about commercial real estate development as we had to construct our retail campus from the ground up. After a very labor-intensive year and a half of engineering, planning, and construction, we were finally able to open the doors to Trove Cannabis and a couple years later, Trove Coffee.
Mark Staton
Dr. Staton teaches digital marketing (undergraduate) and marketing strategy (MBA) at the College of Business and Economics at Western Washington University. He is the director of the MBA program which has daytime and evening programs in Bellingham and a weekend program in Everett. Dr. Staton’s research on ethical standards of judgment, marketing pedagogy, and diffusion modeling has been published in multiple journals. He has consulted with both large and small businesses on digital marketing in the US and internationally. He received the university’s Excellence in Teaching Award and in the spring of 2018 he was awarded tenure
It all started for me when cannabis became legal in Washington State and I was lucky enough to be awarded a marijuana retail license. With this, came an opportunity to learn about commercial real estate development as we had to construct our retail campus from the ground up. After a very labor-intensive year and a half of engineering, planning, and construction, we were finally able to open the doors to Trove Cannabis and a couple years later, Trove Coffee.
Yin-Ho Lai
My name is Yin, and I own several businesses in Bellingham, WA. I graduated from WWU in 2011 with a degree in accounting and also a MBA in 2012. I started my career at a public accounting firm in Redmond and earned a CPA license (which I still maintain to this day), but realized that I had to follow my dream and passion for starting my own business. I left my job and never looked back.
It all started for me when cannabis became legal in Washington State and I was lucky enough to be awarded a marijuana retail license. With this, came an opportunity to learn about commercial real estate development as we had to construct our retail campus from the ground up. After a very labor-intensive year and a half of engineering, planning, and construction, we were finally able to open the doors to Trove Cannabis and a couple years later, Trove Coffee.
Lara Merriam-Smith
Meg Weber
Meg Weber joined the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Team in 2016. She is passionate about economic development, students and entrepreneurship.
Meg’s career past is in running a telecommunications business, providing business coaching and serving as the Executive Director of the Technology Alliance Group. She serves our community on the Boards of the Pickford Film Center and the Technology Alliance Group.  She holds a BA in Political Science and German from University of Rochester, an MA in Cinema from University of Iowa, and an MBA from University of Rochester.
Joel Swisher
Joel N. Swisher, PhD, PE, is Director of the Institute for Energy Studies and Research Professor of Environmental Science at Western Washington University. The Institute offers interdisciplinary education and training related to the science, technology, policy and business aspects of the conversion and use of energy resources. Previously, Dr. Swisher was Consulting Associate Professor at Stanford University and an independent consultant in clean energy technology and business strategy. He was formerly CTO at Camco International, and Managing Director of Research and Consulting at Rocky Mountain Institute, where he led research and consulting work for numerous electric utilities and producers of goods ranging from semiconductor chips to potato chips. He earned BS, MS and PhD degrees in the School of Engineering at Stanford and is a registered Professional Engineer.
AJ Barse
AJ Barse is an award winning and world traveling photographer in the heart of the Pacific Northwest, Bellingham Washington. His style comes from the idea that every moment has a story, and in a single frame he tries to capture and retell that story. As a freelancer, he uses his media and photography skills throughout the Pacific Northwest, and enjoys adventuring across all time and relative dimensions in space.
Karen Stout
Dr. Karen Stout is the 2019 recipient of Western Washington University’s Outstanding Leadership Award, the recipient of many other leadership, service, and teaching awards from local, national, and international organizations.Â
Mason Gray
Meet Mason! Mason is an Operational Specialist at Six Sigma. Mason strives to uphold the mission of Six Sigma, “To make our contribution to a sustainable world by providing free training and guidance on how to apply the principles of Lean, Six Sigma and other quality methodologies.”Â
Dr. Art Sherwood
Dr. Sherwood is the director of Western’s Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program, an Affiliated Faculty of the Vincent and Elinor Ostrom Workshop on Political Theory and Political Theory and Policy Analysis, and co-founder of the Cooperative Business Research Institute.
Having completed his graduate work at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business with a research focus on cooperative alliances, he now seeks to better understand co-operative entrepreneurship, governance and leadership. His current research also focuses on entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystems and programs that increase access for non-traditional participants. In addition to his academic work, his is an experienced entrepreneur and a member-owner of CDS Consulting Co-op through which he advises and teaches co-operative leaders throughout the United States. Learn more about Dr. S’ Liberating Structures Bellingham.