The Leadership Playbook Albers School of Business and Economics

It was a packed Pigott Auditorium when Taco Bell CEO and MBA alum Sean Tresvant spoke at the Albers Executive Speaker Series. Tresvant, the first Black CEO of the $16 billion QSR brand, talked about his journey from university to the top position at Taco Bell, lessons he learned along the way, and how he saw marketing for the future: "It's both math and magic."
 
Hosted by Joseph M. Phillips, dean of Seattle University’s Albers School of Business and Economics, The Leadership Playbook asks top executives from the business world's most recognizable brands and companies about the stories behind their success, their leadership secrets, and the biggest obstacles they've faced and overcome. 
Follow us on leadershipplaybook.org to find out more about the show. Subscribe to listen to succeeding episodes. 
The Leadership Playbook is brought to you by RSM US, the nation's leading provider of assurance, tax, and consulting services focused on the middle market. Podcast production and music by Alvarez Audio.

"You want to be a leader? Then you must be a sponge." Virginia Mason Franciscan Health CEO Ketul Patel told the audience at the Albers Executive Speaker Series that learning is core to leadership success, along with building relationships and leaning into change. Healthcare continues to face challenges, among them workforce shortages and the entry of Wall Street, but he is optimistic about growing and scaling the only health system covering the entire Puget Sound. He is committed to rebuilding the workforce and culture, exploring partnerships, and continuing to learn from everyone. A wise mentor once told him that to be successful, "you have to live on an elevator. What he meant was you must connect with people at all levels of the organization, not just make it to the boardroom.
 
Hosted by Joseph M. Phillips, dean of Seattle University’s Albers School of Business and Economics, The Leadership Playbook asks top executives from the business world's most recognizable brands and companies about the stories behind their success, their leadership secrets, and the biggest obstacles they've faced and overcome. 
Follow us on leadershipplaybook.org to find out more about the show. Subscribe to listen to succeeding episodes. 
The Leadership Playbook is brought to you by RSM US, the nation's leading provider of assurance, tax, and consulting services focused on the middle market. Podcast production and music by Alvarez Audio.

Most recessions are not all hands-on-deck, everything-stops-at-once collapses." RSM US Deputy Chief Economist and Industry Analyst Program Leader Kevin Depew talks to Albers Dean Joe Phillips about the economy, domestic and global, and prospects for inflation. Recorded in August 2023, Depew elaborates on why he doesn't think a recession is guaranteed and how the regime change the world is experiencing is underpinned by three key factors: Globalization, growth, and liquidity.
Hosted by Joseph M. Phillips, dean of Seattle University’s Albers School of Business and Economics, The Leadership Playbook asks top executives from the business world's most recognizable brands and companies about the stories behind their success, their leadership secrets, and the biggest obstacles they've faced and overcome. 
Follow us on leadershipplaybook.org to find out more about the show. Subscribe to listen to succeeding episodes. 
The Leadership Playbook is brought to you by RSM US, the nation's leading provider of assurance, tax, and consulting services focused on the middle market. Podcast production and music by Alvarez Audio.

In April of this year, Albers' MBA in Sport and Entertainment Management hosted the Pacific Northwest Academy of Legal Studies in Business' regional conference here in Seattle. Among the sessions was a highly anticipated panel discussion on NIL.
NIL (name, image, likeness) refers to the rights of college athletes to profit from their personal brands as mandated by an NCAA policy that went into effect on July 1st, 2021. The evolving legal landscape for NIL makes it a closely watched topic by athletes, brands, universities, and other stakeholders.
This is a recording of the panel discussion with NIL subject matter experts who are deeply immersed in the area: James Buder, Assistant Attorney General of the University of Washington; Hector Rivas, co-founder of Disruptive Sports; Debbie Spander, founder and CEO of Insight Sports Advisers; and Natalie M. Welch, assistant professor at the MBA in Sport and Entertainment Management.
Hosted by Joseph M. Phillips, dean of Seattle University’s Albers School of Business and Economics, The Leadership Playbook asks top executives from the business world's most recognizable brands and companies about the stories behind their success, their leadership secrets, and the biggest obstacles they've faced and overcome. 
Follow us on leadershipplaybook.org to find out more about the show. Subscribe to listen to succeeding episodes. 
The Leadership Playbook is brought to you by RSM US, the nation's leading provider of assurance, tax, and consulting services focused on the middle market. Podcast production and music by Alvarez Audio.

Management professor Bill Weis sat down with Albers dean Joe Phillips to talk about how he became the school's longest serving faculty member with 50 years of teaching under his belt. In this half-century, Weis became the standard bearer of banning smoking in the workplace; brought worldwide attention to an obscure 15th century Italian friar; and started an adventure-based leadership course that built strong bonds among generations of MBA students. The freedom to pursue his varied interests was one reason he has stayed at Albers: "This is a place that honors who you are."
Hosted by Joseph M. Phillips, dean of Seattle University’s Albers School of Business and Economics, The Leadership Playbook asks top executives from the business world's most recognizable brands and companies about the stories behind their success, their leadership secrets, and the biggest obstacles they've faced and overcome. 
Follow us on leadershipplaybook.org to find out more about the show. Subscribe to listen to succeeding episodes. 
The Leadership Playbook is brought to you by RSM US, the nation's leading provider of assurance, tax, and consulting services focused on the middle market. Podcast production and music by Alvarez Audio.

The FIFA World Cup is the world's largest sporting event, 14% bigger than the Olympics in audience size and six times the size of the Super Bowl's 175 million viewers. And it's coming to Seattle in 2026 as the city becomes one of 16 North American locations chosen to host several games. How do cities pitch for sporting events of this size? What is the economic impact of occasions like this?
Peter Tomozawa, CEO of SEAFWC26, the organization tasked with preparing Seattle for the 2026 World Cup, talks about this and more at a recent Albers Executive Speaker Series. More important than putting on a good show is the legacy left behind, he says. "We're not going to build another Space Needle," he says, referring to the iconic construction from 1962 World's Fair. "The plan is to focus on a people-based legacy, on community, culture, and children."
Hosted by Joseph M. Phillips, dean of Seattle University’s Albers School of Business and Economics, The Leadership Playbook asks top executives from the business world's most recognizable brands and companies about the stories behind their success, their leadership secrets, and the biggest obstacles they've faced and overcome. 
Follow us on leadershipplaybook.org to find out more about the show. Subscribe to listen to succeeding episodes. 
The Leadership Playbook is brought to you by RSM US, the nation's leading provider of assurance, tax, and consulting services focused on the middle market. Podcast production and music by Alvarez Audio.