IUP's Supplier Diversity Council will present the Business Opportunities Fair: “Expanding the Mainstream” at the Kovalchick Convention and Athletic Complex on April 28, 2011, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
The event will be the first of its kind in the Kovalchick Complex, which is set to open in March along Wayne Avenue adjacent to the campus.
Financial sponsors for the fair are Environmental Land Surveying & Solutions, Inc.; Environmental Service Laboratories, Inc.; Fairfield Electric; Mascaro Construction Company; and S.P. McCarl & Company.
The fair is intended to provide business-to-business and business-to-government matching and networking opportunities. It is open to the community as well as businesses.
Pre-registration is required by March 17, and more information about registration and fees is available by calling the Office of Procurement Services at 724-357-3077 or by e-mailing ad-buyer@iup.edu. Participants can also register online on the Procurement Services website.
Presenters
Rhys Reese, Superior Well Services
In addition to the traditional business displays, this year's fair will offer a keynote luncheon presentation by Rhys R. Reese, cofounder of Superior Well Services. Reese will discuss his company's fifteen-year journey from a “what if” among three coworkers to its $900-million cash buyout in 2010.
The various steps, milestones, entities, acquisitions, partners, and relationships required to reach Superior's current status will be discussed. The company grew from five employees in spring 1997 to a one-thousand-employee NASDAQ-listed company in the summer of 2004. The company grew through acquisitions to 3,800 employees in 2009, ending with a merger-buyout with the world's largest land-based driller, Nabors Industries, Ltd., in 2010.
The discussion will provide insight into what strategies and relationships proved successful.
Superior is an oil- and gas-well service company operating in the continental United States, providing oil and gas companies with technical pumping and downhole surveying services. The company places special emphasis on protecting the environment and equipping and training employees to perform their functions without undue risk. Clientele include large independent oil and natural gas companies operating in key markets of international and domestic oil- and natural gas-producing regions.
Krish Krishnan, IUP Marketing Department
Also speaking at the Business Opportunities Fair will be Dr. Krish Krishnan, a faculty member in the Marketing Department and director of the MBA program. He will present “New Trends in B2B and B2G Marketing.”
Krishnan joined the Marketing faculty in IUP's Eberly College of Business and Information Technology in 1986 and served as the Marketing Department chair from 1991-2002.
Before his current position, he was in the marketing department of Pennsylvania State University (Smeal College of Business), the University of Louisville, and the University of Pittsburgh (Katz Graduate School of Business). He has taught a broad range of undergraduate, MBA, and Executive MBA marketing-related courses at these universities. Classes he has taught include marketing management, marketing research, Internet marketing, e-commerce strategies, global marketing strategies, and ERP software applications in marketing. He has received several outstanding teacher awards over the years.
Krishnan's research in the areas of buyer behavior, Internet marketing, and marketing strategy has been published in major marketing and strategy journals over the last twenty years.
In addition to his academic activities, Krishnan also serves as a marketing consultant to both large and startup companies in the areas of marketing planning and Internet marketing. He also acts as the coordinator of Eberly's international exchange program operations with business schools in twenty different countries.
Krishnan earned his doctoral degree from the Katz Graduate School of Business, University of Pittsburgh; his MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, India; and his bachelor's degree in chemical engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, India.
Other Presenters
Additional presentations during the event are as follows:
- Kim Auchenbach, director of Strategic Planning, Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, “Doing Business with PASSHE—The Qualified Contractor Certification Process”
- David Ehrenwerth, region administrator, General Services Administration, “GSA: Intro to GSA Schedules”
- Marisa Fentzel, business specialist, U.S. Small Business Administration, a presentation on the new federal set-aside for women-owned businesses that took effect February 4
This year's event also offers business matchmaking. This provides the opportunity for participants to pre-register for one-on-one, private meeting opportunities with businesses and agencies. A limited number of matchmaking sessions will be available throughout the day in breakout rooms at the Kovalchick Complex. All matchmaking arrangements must be made in advance.
Participating Companies
Public Sector
Registered participants in the public sector category are as follows:
- ALCOSAN
- California University of Pennsylvania
- City of Pittsburgh/EORC
- Clarion University of Pennsylvania
- Edinboro University of Pennsylvania
- Government Contracting Assistance Program
- Indiana County Revolving Loan Fund
- Indiana University of Pennsylvania
- Pennsylvania Department of General Services
- Pennsylvania Department of Transportation
- Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education
- Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania
- State Correctional Institution—Pine Grove
- U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
- U.S. General Services Administration
- U.S. Small Business Administration
Nonprofit Sector
Participants from the nonprofit sector:
- Diversity Business Resource Center
- Catalyst Connection
- Indiana County Development Corporation
Private Sector
Registrants in the private sector category:
- ACSS
- AZCAR
- Advantus Engineers
- Bergad, Inc.
- Burnett Process, Inc.
- Enterprise Rent-A-Car
- Environmental Land Surveying & Solutions, Inc.
- Environmental Service Laboratories, Inc.
- Fairfield Electric
- FCG Solutions
- First Commonwealth Bank
- First National Bank
- Global Spectrum
- Mascaro Construction Company
- Mid-Atlantic Investigations
- Northwind Engineering, LLC
- Peoples Natural Gas
- Pittsburgh Business Times
- Randall Industries
- S.P. McCarl & Company
- Semaphore Hill Associates
- Shaka, Inc.
- SimplexGrinnell, Inc.
- The Allegheny Group
- The Hite Company
- Total Asphalt Management Systems
- Total Service
- Wood Technologies, Inc.