11 Jun June 11, 2021 – You Are Not Them Sid Mohasseb, Storyteller Kimjera Whittington and Principle’s Kara Hoogensen
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Sid Mohasseb – Strategic Innovation Leader, Venture Investor, Speaker and Author of You Are Not Them: The Authentic Entrepreneur’s Way
Right now, there is lots of money and plenty of opportunities. I believe
the next decade will be amazing times for entrepreneurs. The world is moving at the speed of light, there is so much opportunity!
At 21, Sid Mohasseb started and later sold his first company. At 25, he taught comparative Eastern and Western philosophy. At 27, he became the youngest partner in the history of The SGS Consulting Group. Since then, Sid has founded and led several early-stage and hyper-growth companies from inception to acquisition. He has also led company turnarounds — from near bankruptcy to profitability and has faced, accepted, and overcome his share of failures in ideas and ventures. Sid has served on the boards of over a dozen profit and non-profit companies — as observer, as director, and as chairman. He has mentored dozens of entrepreneurs, met with hundreds of start-up companies, and reviewed countless business plans and taught Strategy Management, Corporate Finance, Venture Capital, negotiation and Data Analytics to MBAs at University of Southern California (USC), Chapman University, and University of California in Irvine (UCI).
Kimjera Whittington – CEO & Founder of Evolve Global Marketing
You can still show authority without saying, “I do this, or I do that,
we do this,” by saying, “You can take advantage of my 25 years of experience.” That is my authority and you get to take advantage of it!
After spending 20+ years navigating corporate politics while leading $50M sales and marketing teams, Kimjera Whittington decided to start my own digital marketing agency. Kimjera spent years building my business — learning, testing, failing, winning, and mastering the strategies needed to grow 4x year-over-year. Unfortunately, so many business leaders struggle because they don’t have a proven framework to help them create messaging & marketing that brings in sales, rally their teams to believe in their mission, or develop an effective communication campaign that gets people to take action. She believes life is too short to be stressed out and exhausted working 7 days a week trying to run a business on your own. She has a degree in education in Executive Leadership from UC Berkely and combined it with Certifications as a Business Made Simple Coach and StoryBrand Guide to build two amazing companies, Evolve Global Marketing, a marketing agency that uses story-based marketing to create brand identities, websites, courses, and automated sales funnels, and Evolve Global University to provide expert business coaching that will help you master the skills, stragies, and tech to build and scale a profitable business.
Kara Hoogensen – Senior Vice President of Principal Financial Group
The Principle Financial Group conducted a national survey
of small businesses and we saw highest level of optimism
since August of 2019!
Kara Hoogensen is a senior vice president with Principal Financial Group®, in charge of Specialty Benefits for U.S. Insurance Solutions (USIS). Hoogensen joined Principal in 1996 and held roles in pension underwriting and consulting until 2000. After a year with Merck & Co., Inc. as a professional representative, she re-joined Principal in 2001 as a business development consultant and then held multiple strategy positions before being named director and then managing director for Defined Contribution Investment Only (DCIO). Kara was promoted to chairman, president, and CEO of Principal Bank and Principal Trust Company in 2014 and became president and CEO of Principal Securities, Inc. in 2015. Kara assumed her role of vice president of Group Benefits in USIS in August 2017. She received her bachelor’s degree from Central College. She earned her Certified Employee Benefits Specialist (CEBS) designation from the International Foundation of Employee Benefits and Certified Investment Management Analyst (CIMA®) designation.