Name: Renee Lawlor
Graduation Year: 2015
Major/Minor: International Business Finance and Spanish, Minor in Entrepreneurship
Hometown: Rocky Hill, CT
Bryant Involvement: President of the Bryant CEO, President of Omicron Delta Kappa, Student Ambassador, IDEA Facilitation Team, Student Office Assistant in the President’s Office, Student Project Manager of the Women’s Summit, Bryant Senior Advisory Council
Favorite thing about Bryant: The friendships and the relationships I have with people in our campus community
CEO stands for Collegiate Entrepreneurs’ Organization, meet their fabulous leader, Renee!
HC: Tell us a little bit about the CEO organization?
RL: CEO is a national organization with over 400 university chapters. The organization is focused on spreading entrepreneurship across campus and within the community. We host speakers & networking dinners, teach tangible skills, and run several special events on campus including: the E-Pitch, the App-A-Thon, our regional conference BUNEEC, and next week our first ever event with the Office of Admission!
HC: Congratulations on your recent awards! What is the National Best Chapter award based on?
RL: The National Best Chapter award recognizes the tools, workshops, guest speakers, and hands-on learning activities our chapter has sponsored and organized during the past year. We had to submit a preliminary application and from there we made it to the Top 3. At the National CEO Conference in Orlando we had to give a presentation to win the title. We were judged on criteria such as presentation quality and delivery, chapter leadership and our accomplishments.
HC: What inspired you to get involved with CEO?
RL: I first fell in love with CEO because it’s all centered around passion. Entrepreneurship to me means that you’re following a passion of yours to make a living. The organization on campus consists of extremely driven and dedicated people who have great ideas to make the things they’re involved with the best they can be. We are all different majors, but that’s what entrepreneurship is about – creating partnerships with people who are experts in different areas.
HC: What has your favorite part of leading the Bryant CEO chapter so far?
RL: My favorite part of leading the Bryant CEO chapter has definitely been the incredible results and accomplishments we’ve been able to achieve that have made a difference on campus. One cool thing we’ve been able to do was get the donation which funded is the new high tech classroom in the library after we had dinner with an alumni last year. I joined the CEO e-board my sophomore year so I’ve loved seeing the progress we’ve made and the way we’ve been able to bring so many ideas to fruition. It’s been so fun along the way because the e-board has become such a close group of friends.
HC: Why should students become involved with CEO?
RL: Students should become involved with CEO to gain inspiration and hear other people’s stories and advice. I’ve been able to personally network and speak with the founder of Keurig, the founder of Redbox and so many other incredible business people since I joined CEO. I think it’s really helped me figure out what I do and don’t want for my future by listening to other people’s journeys.
HC: The Bryant community will definitely miss you after your graduation this spring…any plans for the future yet?
RL: I don’t want to leave! It’s going to be hard, but I’m excited for what’s next! I’ll be working in Corporate Strategy.