August 20, 2018 – College Entrepreneur Ryan Laverty, Family Business Dominic Meattey and Gender Diversity Douglas Branson

August 20, 2018 – College Entrepreneur Ryan Laverty, Family Business Dominic Meattey and Gender Diversity Douglas Branson

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Ryan Laverty – Founder at SpeakOut and President at eTower 

Ryan Laverty is the Founder of SpeakOut and President at eTower. Ryan’s experience with public speaking began when he joined his high school debate team at the age of 14. He eventually went on to instruct fellow students in the art of communication and aid in teaching a “Speech and Debate” class. Ryan has won awards and recognition for his public speaking abilities and considers the valuable skill to be his passion. He is currently a student at Babson College majoring in Entrepreneurship. When his classmates began coming to him asking for public speaking help, Learn to SpeakOut was born. Ryan is a communicative and motivated individual with a passion for public speaking and leadership roles in a team or group, and is well versed in the use of technology and relations with others.
Ryan LavertyRyan Laverty

Dominic Meattey – Co-owner of ShopSurell.com

Dominic Meattey is the co-owner of the fashion accessory company ShopSurellcom. Surell’s fur fashions are found at Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, Lord and Taylor, Bloomingdales, Brooks Brothers, Nordstrom, Macy’s, and other major retailers across North America and throughout the world. Since 1979, discriminating shoppers at America’s leading retailers have come to recognize Surell as one of the most desirable names in fur fashion and accessories. Founded by Darryl Meattey and Sue Adams, “Surell” Accessories is a combination of their first names. Adams and Dominic met while working for a manufacturer of children’s/bridal fur accessories. Dominic began his career by unloading trucks and setting up product displays. Despite not having any formal business education, within five years Dominic was president of the 45-person company. After the dissolution of the children’s/bridal fur company, Surell was born—focused on creating high-quality designer fashion accessories, primarily for women. Upon Adams’ retirement in 2002, Surell became a family affair for Dominic—with his wife, Lois, and his two sons, Daniel and Dominic, all partners in the company. Working with fur is truly an art form. The Meattey family employs their decades of experience and craftsmanship as they guide their in-house product design and development department. Darryl takes a hands-on leadership approach. Each member of the company’s sales team participates in new product development, ensuring that their customers’ desires are translated into each new product.
Dominic MeatteyDominic Meattey

Professor Douglas Branson – W. Edward Sell Chair in Law at University of Pittsburgh and Author of The Future of Tech Is Female: How to Achieve Gender Diversity

Professor Branson received his B.A. from the University of Notre Dame and his J.D. from Northwestern University. He has also earned an LL.M. from the University of Virginia, specializing in corporate law and securities regulation. Before joining the faculty at Pittsburgh, Professor Branson taught for more than 20 years at Seattle University. He has also been a visiting professor at a number of schools, including the University of Washington as Condon Falknor Distinguished Visiting Professor, University of Alabama as Charles Tweedy Distinguished Visiting Professor, the University of Hong Kong as Paul Hastings Distinguished Visiting Professor, Cornell University, Arizona State University, Washington University (St. Louis), and universities in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Belgium, Ireland, France, Germany, Spain, South Africa, and England. He holds a permanent faculty appointment at the University of Melbourne, Australia, in its Masters of Law Program. As an elected member since 1981, he had an influential role in framing the American Law Institute’s recommendations for corporate governance and is a leading expert on the corporate law aspects of Alaska native corporations. Most recently, he has been a USAID consultant to the Ministries of Justice in Indonesia, Ukraine, and Slovakia advising on corporate law, capital markets law, corporate governance, and securitization issues.
Professor Douglas BransonProfessor Douglas Branson