Bartholomew helps organize entrepreneurship conference

12/03/2014 12:01 PM

By Danielle Fitch ‘15

Hospitality leadership major Katherine Bartholomew ’15 of Rockford, Illinois, played an active role in organizing the annual Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization conference in Orlando, Florida. The late-October conference brought together students, faculty and business professionals for three days of networking and learning entrepreneurship skills.

As an event assistant intern, Bartholomew worked with Bradley entrepreneurship professor and CEO Executive Director Dr. Gerald Hills to organize the event. Her efforts ensured smooth operation of conference’s busy schedule of lectures, small group discussions, networking time and competitions.

Bartholomew said the conference was a valuable learning experience to prepare her for the professional world.

 “Working with CEO is one of the greatest opportunities I have ever been given,” she said. “I got to learn so much about planning a national conference. Best of all, I was inspired to chase my dreams of owning my own business.”

Hills praised Bartholomew’s adept handling of her role.

“Katherine demonstrated initiative and excellent entrepreneurial spirit to create responses as needed in a fast changing setting,” he said.

The entrepreneurial and hospitality fields overlap in a variety of ways. Many hospitality majors have plans of owning and operating their own hotels or restaurants which require entrepreneurial skills for handling everyday business activities. Conversely, entrepreneurial pursuits often benefit from hospitality skills for organizing major publicity events and taking leading roles in providing comfort to guests in a variety of venues.

“Hotels and restaurants are constantly developing new products and services to meet consumer demands,” said hospitality leadership program director Dr. Kara Wolfe. “The Turner School of Entrepreneurship and Innovation helps promote the creativity and risk-taking needed for those ventures.”