The business fundamentals speaker series
Guiding Outdoor Rec Success with Business Knowledge
Why Participate?
- Create immediate applications for your company
- Develop meaningful relationships across the industry
- Build business foundations based on expert knowledge
Program Overview
The Business Fundamentals Speaker Series is a series of speaker sessions and a panelist event that provide outdoor recreation industry curious the opportunity to connect and learn about the opportunities the Sam M. Walton School of Business provides in supporting the Outdoor Rec industry.
Course Instructors
Alison Nail-Malone
Alison Nail-Malone, SHRM-CP, MA is a professional coach who engages executive leaders in companies and in communities who are committed to creating an employee and constituent experience that produces a healthy workplace that is purpose-driven, generative and fulfilling. Alison began her career in executive recruiting busting all the sales goals while developing deep partnerships with candidates and companies alike. She gained unparalleled experience in the corporate space establishing herself as a respected human resources expert and employee relations advisor.
Kris Allee
Kristian (Kris) Allee is the Doyle Z. Williams Chair in Professional Accounting and an Associate Professor at the University of Arkansas. He graduated from Indiana University with a PhD in Accounting and earned his BS and MAcc degrees at Brigham Young University. Kris worked at Michigan State University and the University of Wisconsin—Madison as an assistant professor of accounting before joining the faculty at the University of Arkansas and was an associate economist for the Federal Reserve Banks in St. Louis, MO and Charlotte, NC. Kris’ research examines firms’ disclosure policies, textual analysis and computational linguistics on firm disclosures, the production and use of financial statements by small businesses, cost of equity capital estimates, and corporate tax policies and behavior.
Angela Grayson
Angela J. Grayson, CIPP/US, CLP is an accomplished nationally recognized lawyer, speaker, and author. She is Principal Member and Founder of Precipice IP PLLC. PRECIPICE is an award-winning consultancy and technology law boutique specializing in patent, trademark, copyright, and data law. PRECIPICE helps entrepreneurs and technology-focused businesses protect their products, brands, designs and data.
Lindsay Ramsey
After working in marketing for a Northwest Arkansas bank for over 12 years, Lindsay stumbled into the small business ownership life and started Kindness & Joy Toys in 2016 from the back of her minivan. Over the next 5 years, she grew the business to a full brick and mortar location. She sold the business in 2021. Lindsay has also worked as a consultant with the ASBTDC, Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center, where she was able to combine her marketing knowledge with her day to day small business operations experience to help clients start, grow, or re-energize their business operations, social media, and marketing efforts. In the fall of 2022, she launched Ramsey Creative Co. A consulting agency focused on supporting small business owners wherever they are. She works daily with businesses who are starting, buying, and growing and coaches them in business operations, sales, and marketing. Lindsay grew up in Northwest Arkansas and attended Arkansas Tech University.
Walton College Executive Education and the Greenhouse Outdoor Recreation Program (GORP) is offering The Business Fundamentals Speaker Series to support small businesses in the outdoor industry! Arkansas has seen an increase in outdoor recreation over the past few years, and Walton College Executive Education is supporting that growth. The Speaker Series is for new, established or aspiring businesses offering products and services related to spending time outside.
This is a series of speaker sessions that provides the outdoor recreation industry curious the opportunity to connect and learn about the opportunities the Sam M. Walton School of Business offers to the outdoor rec industry.
The series consists of five courses that focus on specific areas critical to success in the outdoor space: Entrepreneurial Accounting, Human Centered Design, Legal Matters, Leadership and Management and Building Your Brand. The courses are being taught throughout the 2023 spring semester and will conclude at the end of May.
Our first Bentonville course featured Kris Allee, professor and the Doyle Z. Williams Chair in Professional Accounting, who led Entrepreneurial Accounting. Throughout the last few months, the Bentonville outdoor recreation community members have also enjoyed Human Centered Design with Rachel Sullivant and Leadership & Management with Alison Nail-Malone. The final courses are Legal Matters with Angela Grayson on April 4th, and Building your Brand with Lindsay Ramsey on May 2nd. Both sessions will occur at The Collaborative. Registration for the speaker series is free, so sign up for any or all courses. We hope to see you there!