BYU-Idaho Business Summit Speakers

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Nolan D. Archibald - Keynote Speaker

Nolan D. Archibald is Chairman of the Board, President, and Chief Executive Officer of The Black & Decker Corporation. When appointed President and Chief Executive Officer at age 42, he was the youngest CEO of a Fortune 500 Company. Brother Archibald graduated from Dixie State College where he was an honor student and an All-American basketball player. He then graduated from Weber State University cum laude where he was Scholar Athlete of the Year and earned a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from the Harvard Business School. He is a recipient of the American Marketing Association’s Edison Achievement Award for significant and lasting contributions to marketing excellence and product innovation and has been cited by Business Week as one of the top six managers in the United States and by Fortune as one of the country’s “ten most wanted” executives.

Ryan A. Anderson - Panelist

Ryan Andrew Anderson has been working for PricewaterhouseCoopers in the Dallas assurance practice since July 2006. After graduating from BYU-Idaho with a Bachelor's in Accounting and clusters in Business Management and Information Technology, he earned a Master's degree in Accounting from Ohio State University. He worked for Melaleuca primarily as a team supervisor and in the BYU-Idaho Accounting Office. Brother Anderson was named BYU-Idaho Accounting Man of the Year and was an Ohio State Fellowship Award and University Pace Setter Award recipient.

Daniel R. O'Bryant - Panelist

Daniel R. O' Bryant is Executive Vice President, Finance, and Chief Financial Officer of Avery Dennison Corporation. He graduated from California State Polytechnic University with a degree in Management Science and received his Master’s Degree in Business Administration from University of Southern California. Before joining Avery Dennison, Brother O’Bryant served in several financial, manufacturing, and marketing management positions at Baker Hughes in Los Angeles and Houston. He served as director of capital planning at the Company's corporate headquarters in Pasadena and has since held several positions in the company in various locations including Belgium, Netherlands, and Ohio.

Mark L. Peterson - Panelist

Mark L. Petersen is the President and CEO of Enterprise Mentors-International, a nonprofit company with microenterprise operations in the Philippines, Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Peru. He is a graduate of Weber State University and worked in higher education administration at Weber State University and Dixie State College. He served as the Executive Director of Public Relations and Marketing for 17 years at Dixie and then opened the new Dolores Dore Eccles Fine Arts Center at the college as Executive Director of Cultural Arts. Brother Petersen won numerous awards from the National Council for Marketing and Public Relations, has served as their president, and was honored by that council as National Communicator of the Year.

W. Paul Simmons

W. Paul Simmons joined Apollo Real Estate Advisors as a partner and is responsible for acquisitions and business development. He is leading Apollo’s efforts to explore new business opportunities in Mexico and Latin America and graduated with a BS from Brigham Young University and an MBA from Simon School at University of Rochester. Prior to joining Apollo, Brother Simmons was a Managing Director of GE Commercial Finance Real Estate and head of its retail equity group for North America. He also served as Risk Manager for GE’s Capital Markets business in New York City as well as Risk Manager for Mexico and Latin America. Before GE Mr. Simmons was with Citibank where he founded and managed Citibank’s commercial real estate finance business in Brazil.

Nicole Forsgren Velasquez

Nicole Forsgren Velasquez is a Doctoral Candidate and Research Associate in Management Information Systems at the University of Arizona minoring in Cognitive Science. She has prior industry experience in database, data modeling, system analysis/design, and programming including work with a Fortune 500 company. She has also owned her own software consulting company. Originally from Rexburg, Idaho, Sister Velasquez considers Idaho and Utah home. Outside of the lab and classroom, she love sports and played collegiate volleyball at BYU-Idaho, was a ski instructor at Grand Targhee in Wyoming, and completed the 2002 Honolulu Marathon.