Creighton University's student-run Business Symposium returned to the Mike and Josie Harper Center on Friday, drawing the NFL's top revenue executive to Omaha for a keynote built around self-awareness, setbacks and growing into leadership. Renie Anderson, the league's chief revenue officer and executive vice president of partnerships, headlined the annual event.
The symposium has brought together the Creighton community and global business executives every year since 2004, according to Creighton University. This year's gathering featured keynote addresses, panel discussions and breakout sessions with business leaders, the university says, part of a format that has become a hallmark of the event over two decades. Students also had chances to meet professionals and discuss future internships and careers through the Anna Tyler Waite Leadership Program, per the university.
Behind the scenes, the symposium is entirely student-run.
A Career Built on Hearing 'Not Yet'
Anderson's keynote touched on a range of topics, including partnership deals she worked through over her career, her own growth trajectory, and skills and lessons she picked up along the way, the World-Herald reported. Murphy said Anderson's keynote was valuable for students and highlighted Anderson's growth, the World-Herald reported.
Anderson joined the NFL in 2006 after nine seasons with the Arena Football League, according to the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference. She now oversees the league's partnership divisions, including sponsorship, new business, consumer products and media sales.
Panels Covered Sales, Law and Financial Planning
Beyond the keynote, this year's symposium included panel sessions on topics such as life inside sales and business law, along with career advice touching on financial planning, according to the World-Herald's account. The programming was tailored to business students, with local high school students invited to attend, the paper reported.
Two Decades of Growth and Change
The symposium's scale has shifted considerably since its founding. In 2015, 16 junior and senior Creighton students spent ten months preparing the 12th annual event, which raised more than $50,000 in corporate sponsorship and hosted more than 40 executive panelists, according to The Creightonian. The symposium remains student-run, according to Creighton University.
By 2019, the event had grown into what the Omaha Daily Record described as the largest student-run business conference in the nation, drawing more than 1,000 registered attendees and a record 29 sponsors at the downtown CHI Health Center under the theme “Curiosity Inspires Confidence.” The event marked its 20th anniversary in 2023, according to The Creightonian, which also reported that students that year could choose from three to five different 45-minute panels across three breakout sessions. The symposium has since returned to Creighton's own Harper Center, where Friday's gathering continued a run that student organizers say still centers on connecting students directly with executives to talk through real business challenges.
