Veterans returning from active duty and trying to decide what’s next – including the possibility of launching a startup – can connect with business experts and fellow veterans on Nov. 20 and 21 at Loyola Marymount University at the Emerald Veterans Business Summit.
Sponsored by LMU’s College of Business Administration and the nonprofit Global Business Incubation (GBI), the summit will bring together veterans who want to launch their own businesses after their military careers with other veterans and civilians who run successful enterprises.
“The idea is to help veterans of all ages, including those who recently finished deployment, to set up companies,” said George Hess, Ph.D., an LMU management professor and co-founder of GBI, which got its start at LMU in 1991 and today helps to develop new businesses in downtown Los Angeles. “That’s what Global Business Incubation has been about.”
The summit gives both aspiring and veteran business owners the chance to participate in breakout sessions with experts in investment finance, global marketing, business development and other specialties.
The keynote speaker is retired Brigadier General Arnold Gordon Bray, who served as deputy director of operations with the U.S. Africa Command in Stuttgart, Germany, and during his second tour of duty in Iraq was principal advisor to the Iraqi ground force commander. Bray, who now provides strategic and operational leadership to businesses through his consulting firm, ANGB Consulting, will moderate a panel discussion with fellow veterans in business.
Other speakers include Executive Chef Richard Petty, CEO of Okra Restaurant Group, and former Los Angeles City Councilwoman Jan Perry, now general manager of the Los Angeles Economic and Workforce Development Department.