Director of WMU Business Connection office gives breakfast talk

KALAMAZOO—The woman in charge of ensuring that Western Michigan University's resources dovetail with local business will share her insights later this month when she speaks as part of the Keystone Community Bank Breakfast Speaker Series.

Lisa Garcia, director of the WMU Business Connection office, will discuss “Connecting Industry and Academia” at 8 a.m. Friday, March 22, in 2150 Schneider Hall, home of the Haworth College of Business. The event, which is free and open to the public, begins with breakfast at 7:30 a.m. Reservations are required and can be made by contacting Kayla Hunt at (269) 387-6059 or @email. Free parking is available in the Fetzer Center parking lot.

Garcia will share information about WMU's Business Connection office, which is dedicated to strategically matching Western's resources with the needs of the local business community. The office serves as a one-stop shop for companies that want to engage with the University to help grow their business. The office connects community members with faculty and student consultants for helping develop business and research plans and more.

A Kalamazoo native, Garcia has been the director of the Business Connection since its inception in early 2012 and has more than 10 years of advertising and marketing experience at agencies throughout the United States. Before joining WMU she worked at Schawk and Anthem, providing strategic design solutions for Kellogg Co. Garcia has a bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Michigan and a master’s degree in advertising from the University of Texas-Austin.

In addition to the March 22 event, the 2012-13 Keystone Community Bank Breakfast Speaker Series schedule includes:

• April 26: Dan Gaydou, president, MLive Media Group
• May 31: Bill Rose, president and chief executive officer, Kalamazoo Nature Center
• June 28: Sharon Carlson, WMU director of University Archives and Regional History Collections

The Keystone Community Bank Breakfast Speaker Series provides an opportunity for the local community to hear top business leaders, WMU faculty, alumni and friends of the Haworth College of Business discuss current topics of interest to the community.