December 4th | 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM
A formidable speaker, Manjit Minhas is an entrepreneur and judge on CBC’s Dragons’ Den who shares business lessons with equal parts force and finesse. Minhas runs a $187 million brewery—the 10th largest worldwide—that she and her brother built from scratch. Her unprecedented success demolished stereotypes, surprised her competitors, and cleared a path for entrepreneurs of every age and gender. Manjit brings her incredible entrepreneurial savvy to every stage.
Dragon’s Den celebrity judge Manjit Minhas has been able to do what few ever thought possible—break into the notoriously competitive and notoriously male-dominated beer and spirits industry and grow her company to the 10th largest brewery in the world. She’s been profiled in Maclean’s, The Globe and Mail and on The National and was recently named one of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40, a distinction honoring outstanding Canadian leaders. She is a highly sought-after speaker and has given talks at the Rotman School of Management, the Haskayne School of Business, TD Bank, Accenture, United Way, and more.
Minhas started Mountain Crest Liquors Inc. at the age of 19 in Alberta. In late 2002 she entered the beer market with Mountain Crest Classic Lager. It quickly became the first successful beer company to enter Canada in decades. Minhas Breweries, Distilleries and Winery is now making waves internationally: producing, developing, and marketing over 90 brands, and having served over 7 billion pints of beer. She is also the creator of Uptown Girl, a beer that is marketed and made exclusively for women. In 2006, Minhas and Ravinder purchased the second oldest brewery in the United States and renamed it The Minhas Craft Brewery, officially marking them as the Youngest Brewery Owners in The World. Their quality beers are shipped across the USA, Canada and overseas to 16 countries. The siblings opened The Minhas Micro Brewery in Calgary in June 2012, from which they make world-class craft beers and specialty beers such as a gluten free beer.
Dragon’s Den celebrity judge Manjit Minhas has been able to do what few ever thought possible—break into the notoriously competitive and notoriously male-dominated beer and spirits industry and grow her company to the 10th largest brewery in the world. She’s been profiled in Maclean’s, The Globe and Mail and on The National and was recently named one of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40, a distinction honoring outstanding Canadian leaders. She is a highly sought-after speaker and has given talks at the Rotman School of Management, the Haskayne School of Business, TD Bank, Accenture, United Way, and more.
Minhas started Mountain Crest Liquors Inc. at the age of 19 in Alberta. In late 2002 she entered the beer market with Mountain Crest Classic Lager. It quickly became the first successful beer company to enter Canada in decades. Minhas Breweries, Distilleries and Winery is now making waves internationally: producing, developing, and marketing over 90 brands, and having served over 7 billion pints of beer. She is also the creator of Uptown Girl, a beer that is marketed and made exclusively for women. In 2006, Minhas and Ravinder purchased the second oldest brewery in the United States and renamed it The Minhas Craft Brewery, officially marking them as the Youngest Brewery Owners in The World. Their quality beers are shipped across the USA, Canada and overseas to 16 countries. The siblings opened The Minhas Micro Brewery in Calgary in June 2012, from which they make world-class craft beers and specialty beers such as a gluten free beer.
Minhas is the first brewer in Canada to voluntarily put a Management Warning on all her beer cans. The Management Warnings include such direct statements as: “Please do not drink and drive—ever,” “Expectant mothers should avoid drinking alcoholic products,” and “Enjoy this product responsibly—Respect yourself and others." Her commitment to ethical business is one of the many reasons why her ventures have been so widely successful.
Minhas is the author of the book Brewing Up a Damn Good Story and has received many awards, including Canada’s Women Executive Network’s Top 100 Women Entrepreneurs, Profit’s Top Growth Entrepreneur, and Chatelaine’s Top Entrepreneur Woman of The Year. She’s been honoured with The Calgary Herald’s "Compelling Calgarian" Award, been named to Calgary’s Top 40 Under 40 list, and her business was ranked number six in Alberta Venture Magazine’s “Top 50 Fastest Growing Companies.” Minhas and Ravinder also own Spotlight Film and TV Productions, which produces TV commercials, documentaries, corporate videos, and half-hour television series. They also own a home building company, Shergill Homes Ltd., that builds single family and custom homes in Fort McMurray and Calgary. Minhas was born and raised in Calgary and still calls it home with her husband and two young daughters.
December 5th | 3:30 PM - 4:45 PM
Eric StollerEric Stoller is a higher education speaker, consultant and writer. He frequently gives keynotes and workshops on how digital technologies can be used for strategic communications, learning, and engagement and uses his own social media presence to share resources and curate content. He is a keen proponent for teaching students, staff, and faculty about digital identity development and is especially interested in the interplay between organizational culture and the adoption of new technologies for enhancing the student experience. For the past 9 years he has been the Student Affairs and Technology blogger for Inside Higher Ed, and this fall begins a new chapter in his career with GeckoEngage. Having lived in England since 2014, Eric moved back to the U.S. in April to continue his digital engagement consultancy.
Eric has worked with the University of Miami, NODA, CUNY, Meltwater, Adobe, University of Glasgow, Sodexo, ACPA, University of Manchester, Blackboard, AACRAO, University of Minnesota, CASE, King's College London, Loyola Marymount University, NACADA, Salesforce, LinkedIn, Chapman University, Capita, SAP, Princeton University, NAFSA, Duke University, Pearson, Boston University, NASPA, and the University of Texas (Austin and San Antonio) as well as additional institutions/organizations from the UK, USA, Canada, Mexico, Ireland, Italy, and New Zealand.
December 6th | 11:15 AM - 12:15 PM
A new economy is quietly rising around us. It will be led by Millennials and implemented by Z’ers. As more communications satellites are being launched and the planned roll-out of 5G this year, more technology and automation will sneak into our society and ultimately form the smart city. With disruption comes opportunity or obsolescence. The UPCEA Center for Research and Strategy will share its compilation of secondary research, job analytics and labor forecasts from EMSI, and interviews with leaders and futurists about how it could impact the future of professional, continuing and online education and marketing to the new adult learner.
Jim Fong, Chief Research OfficerJim Fong is the founding director of UPCEA’s Center for Research and Strategy. In his role, Jim has analyzed demographic, occupational, technological and societal trends and data to help the higher education community better serve the adult and corporate learner. As the Center’s director, he works closely with dozens of colleges and universities annually in new program development initiatives, enrollment management and marketing process analyses and the review of online and continuing education portfolios.
Prior to joining UPCEA, Jim worked as a higher education strategic marketing and CRM consultant and researcher for two firms and prior to that was the Director of Marketing, Research and Planning for Penn State Outreach. At Penn State Outreach, he was responsible for strategic marketing, marketing management, research, creative and database teams. Jim played a major role in the early launch of Penn State’s World Campus by assessing new program needs and the development of marketing strategies and systems.
Jim holds an M.B.A., an M.S. in Applied Statistics and a B.S. in Mathematics, all from The University of Vermont. In 2004, UPCEA awarded him the Adelle Robertson Award as its Continuing Professional Educator for the year. That year, he also received the Mid-Atlantic Region’s Distinguished Service Award.