Skandalaris Center

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Innovation Conversations: Deborah Barta and Val Toothman

Presented by the Skandalaris Center and the MBA Entrepreneurship Platform (Olin Business School)

 

Is starting a company not for you? Do you have a passion for innovation but an aspiration for the corporate world? Alums Deborah Barta, Senior Vice President of Innovation & Startup Engagement for Mastercard Labs, and Val Toothman, Executive Vice President of Brand & Beverage Marketing at Drinkworks, will be discussing corporate innovations. Learn how to be entrepreneurial within a large organization and the different paths that are available.

More about the presenters:

Deborah Barta is the Senior Vice President of Innovation & Startup Engagement at Mastercard. Ms. Barta leads Mastercard’s engagement with the global startup community through Start Path, the company’s award-winning program that sources that world’s leading startups as collaborators to build the future of commerce together. She also drives global innovation initiatives to experiment with new technologies, accelerate new concepts to market, and deliver transformative solutions to fuel material growth. Ms. Barta holds an MBA from Webster University, a BSBA in Finance and Music from WashU, and a Professional Certificate in Entrepreneurship and Innovation from Stanford University.

 

 

After 11 years at AB InBev, Val recently made a transition from her latest role as Vice President of Innovation to join Drinkworks as the Executive Vice President of Brand & Beverage Marketing. Drinkworks is a joint venture between Anheuser-Busch and Keurig focused on bringing an at-home cocktail appliance and alcohol beverage portfolio to market. In her current position, Val supervises national brand strategy, design, marketing, and innovation to support the company’s growth and mission to change the way consumers enjoy alcohol. Over the course of her career she has played an integral role in launching more than 60 products that have delivered over five billion dollars of revenue. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Engineering and MBA from WashU.

 

 

More about the moderator:

Doug Villhard, Olin’s new Professor and Academic Director of Entrepreneurship, started his career at Disney before leaving the corporate world 20 years ago to start companies (and side hustles). Despite now teaching at Washington University, he is still today the CEO and Co-Founder of Second Street, a software as a service tech company in the audience engagement space working with over 4,000 newspaper, radio, and TV stations across the country. As well as Managing Director and Co-Founder of Villhard Growth Partners and Chairman and Co-Founder of a non-profit high school that he and his wife started in their hometown (currently in it’s 8th year and proudly has a waiting list to attend).

 

 

Thursday, September 19, 2019
4:00-5:30pm
Bauer Hall, Room 230

Open to: WashU undergraduate and graduate students

RSVP by September 16 using the form below:

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