Travelocity, TOMS founders to headline Sebo Series

BOWLING GREEN, O.—Internationally recognized entrepreneurs Terry Jones, founder and former CEO of Travelocity.com, and Blake Mycoskie, founder of TOMS: Shoes for a Better Tomorrow, will be the featured speakers at the sixth annual Sebo Series in Entrepreneurship, April 24 at Bowling Green State University.

Mycoskie will speak at 9:30 a.m. and Jones during a noon luncheon, both in the Lenhart Grand Ballroom of the Bowen-Thompson Student Union.

At 10:45 a.m. and again at 2 p.m., conference participants may attend any of three concurrent sessions. Under the umbrella of this year’s theme, “Creating Your Market in a Changing World,” speakers and their topics are: William Luse of IBM, “The World Is About to Get a Whole Lot Smarter”; Michael Hoskins of Pervasive Data Management and Integration Products, “Cloud Computing and the Digital Data Revolution,” and Greg Knudson of Rocket Ventures, “Financing Your Start-Up Company.”

Jones, the keynote speaker, expanded Travelocity, his dot.com business, from a department of 10 to the world’s most successful travel site, with over 40 million members and $5 billion in bookings. He is a go-to expert for e-commerce strategies, brand creation, and building and growing a digital customer base.

Mycoskie is a young entrepreneur who had created five successful businesses before he was 30. TOMS resulted from a 2006 vacation in Argentina, where he saw young children who had no shoes. His dream became to create a socially responsible footwear company that combines philanthropy and business. For every pair of shoes TOMS sells, Mycoskie donates a pair to a child in need. TOMS has now given away more than 115,000 pairs of shoes worldwide.

J. Robert Sebo, a BGSU trustee, is principal sponsor of the conference, which is hosted by the College of Business Administration and the Dallas-Hamilton Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership. The center was established in 2004 with seed money from Bill Dallas, a businessman and BGSU graduate, and his former neighbor, Olympic gold-medal figure skater and Bowling Green native Scott Hamilton.

The event will open with an 8:30 a.m. reception. Cost to attend is $200 per person, or $1,300 for a table of eight. To register or for more information, call 419-372-8181 or 1-877-650-8165 toll free, or go online to http://sebo.bgsu.edu. Reservations are recommended by April 15.

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(Posted April 03, 2009 )