BELIEF Week is a celebration of ethics education at the NIU College of Business. Its purpose is to illustrate the college’s on-going commitment to business ethics education, demonstrated through its BELIEF program, and to bring heightened attention to this important topic.
The NIU College of Business hosts BELIEF Week every semester, as it has since 2006. The event provides NIU students and community members an opportunity to learn from, and engage with, distinguished alumni with a wealth of business experience from a variety of industries. Presentations are scheduled in classrooms throughout the College of Business, in the Barsema Hall main auditorium, and in virtual panel discussions.
The event culminates in a keynote presentation in the college’s Barsema Hall auditorium where a C-suite executive shares real-world experiences and lessons learned in the realm of business ethics. This year’s keynote speaker is alumna and entrepreneur Claudia Bonilla-Carmichael, CEO of Organic Hair Care Inc. Bonilla-Carmicheal will describe her journey as an entrepreneur and the business challenges she’s faced as a woman and person of color. Her beauty products have been used on major awards shows.
In the classroom, management alumnus Dennis Barsema is scheduled to speak. Barsema held C-suite roles at various times over his professional career in several technology innovation companies. His leadership created significant impact in high-tech firms including AT&T, Paradyne, Softswitch and Centigram. Barsema was instrumental in transforming NIU’s campus, beginning in the early 2000s when Dennis and his wife Stacey invested substantially in the creation of Barsema Hall, the world-class home for the NIU College of Business. They were also the lead donors for the creation of the university’s state-of-the-art NIU Barsema Alumni Visitors Center. Barsema has received numerous awards in industry and academia.
Other award-winning distinguished alumni who are scheduled to serve as classroom speakers include Frank Scarpiniti, CFO of Hehmeyer Investments, and Joe and Jean Marella, real estate brokers/owners of Keller Williams Realty.
Additionally, the BELIEF Week Speaker Series, which runs Monday, October 4th through Wednesday, October 6th, features the following distinguished alumni:
Monday, October 4th, 5PM, Barsema Hall 300: Joe Vrankin, CEO of Puttshack, former CEO of TopGolf and former COO of Arena Football League.
Tuesday, October 5th, 5PM, Barsema Hall Auditorium, Keynote Speaker: Claudia Bonilla-Carmichael, CEO of Organic Hair Care Inc.
Wednesday, October 6th, 5PM, Virtual (Zoom) discussion on Ethics and Artificial Intelligence: Scott Rosenfelder, Managing Director of Deloitte; Eric Wasowicz, Board Member, Kenway Consulting, and most recently contributing donor of the recently launched De La Vega INNOVATION Lab in the NIU College of Business. Publicly recognized for his many contributions in business and technology, Wasowicz’s professional achievements include leadership roles in strategic management consulting, founding startups, and investing in and advising enterprises in the high-tech sector.
by N. Doughty, Director of BELIEF Ethics Program, and M. De Jean, Director of Marketing, NIU College of Business
