(Ann Arbor, MI) As the winterim semester comes to an end and the spring semester begins on Monday, winter and spring sport athletes took advantage of learning from area professionals at the 2020 Leadership Summit. The second annual leadership summit was hosted by the CUAA athletic department and the Career Engagement and Industry Relations team. Industry professionals from a wide variety of backgrounds including education, business, and health care connected with student-athletes through panels, discussions, and individual presentations.
"The main goal we had for the summit was to provide an opportunity for our student-athletes to develop as leaders and also gain valuable information about potential future careers" Athletic Director Lonnie Pries explained as he and Joey-Lynn Bialkowski, who serves as the Executive Director of Career Engagement & Industry Relations as well as the Faculty Athletics Representative, collaborated in 2018 to develop the Leadership Summit.
The event was kicked off with a keynote from Rob Miller who discussed "Life Lessons - Competitive Character Traits". Miller is the commissioner of the Wolverine Hoosier Athletic Conference which Concordia is a member of. MIller is also a speaker for Proactive Coaching which is a professional organization that provides tools and resources on coaching, team building, athletics and leadership. Miller also led a session with the Cardinal coaches and athletic department staff on building trust within their programs.
"Moving forward, we hope students can benefit from future leadership summits by expanding their knowledge of various careers and vocations they may want to pursue as well as grow their professional network by engaging with vital industry leaders" said Bialkowski.
A complete list of the guest speakers can be found below along with their profession:
Emily Collins - Admissions Counselor at CUAA and CUAA Alumna
Austin Cook - Controller at Otava and CUAA alumnus
Jaclyn Crummey - Assistant Director of Game Presentation & Fan Experience at University of Michigan
Mario Hinojosa - Detroit Police Officer and CUAA alumnus
Meaghan Hughes - Associate Director of Ann Arbor Sports Commission
Darricle Jones - Financial Professional at Thrivent Financial and CUAA alumnus
Laura Kordick - Physical Therapist at Probility Physical Therapy and CUAA alumna
Jay Koski - Accountant and CUAA alumnus
AnnHerst Kreitz - Executive Director for the Foundation for Saline Area Schools & Adjunct at CUAA
Taylor Lemanski - Police Officer and CUAA alumnus
Andrew Loewen - Regional Sales Coordinator at Aflac
Mike Malach - Executive Director of Ann Arbor Sports Commission
Samantha Michalak - Membership Manager at Birmingham Bloomfield Chamber and CUAA alumna
Rob Miller - Commissioner of Wolverine Hoosier Athletic Conference
Caleb O'Hara - Assistant Principal & A.D. at St. Paul's Lutheran School & Football Coach at CUAA
Kathy Pereira - Skills lab Coordinator and Clinical Liaison at CUAA and CUAA alumna
Ty Peterson - Police Officer and CUAA alumnus
James Piazza - Vice President at James & Company, Inc.
Justin Roh - Manager of Campus Recruitment and Engagement at fieldXperience and CUAA alumnus
Hannah Sabol - School Counselor at Belleville HS & Basketball Coach and CUAA alumna
Bilal Saeed - Founder/Managing Owner of Pakmode Media and Marketing and Chairman of AFC Ann Arbor
Wes Shaver - Owner of Restaurant Revolution & Revolve Experience Management
Trevor Travis - Multimedia Coordinator at Michigan International Speedway
Ron Zernicke - Professor in Orthopaedic Surgery at University of Michigan
