Management Society Hosts Dynamic Leadership Conference

Chris Feinauer (second from right) accepts the
Lowell C. Benson Award from Troy Romero,
Marriott School Dean Gary Cornia, and Rixa Oman.PROVO, Utah – Oct 8, 2010 – One hundred and twenty Brigham Young University Management Society leaders from seven countries and three continents gathered in Provo for the 2010 Management Society Annual Leadership Conference. Held Oct. 1–2, members were given tools and shared innovative ideas of how to add benefit to their chapters.

"It wasn't a passive, sit-and-watch conference — it was a get-involved-and-be-a-part-of-it conference," says Rixa Oman, executive director of the Management Society. "The members' engagement made it more dynamic than ever."

New this year, the members attended entrepreneurial workshops given by Marriott School faculty, who discussed strategies and techniques used in starting new businesses and how they can be applied to growing their chapters.

"The range of information presented was valuable both for my role as a Management Society leader as well as for my own business," says Kenneth Gibson, president of the Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif., Chapter. "It gave me practical information for planning a startup venture and insight into the cutting edge opportunities BYU is offering its students."

The two keynote speakers at the event were former Utah Jazz player Mark Eaton and successful author Chester Elton. Eaton spoke about the four commitments of a winning team, and Elton spoke about how recognition accelerates employee engagement, retention and performance.

Also focusing on performance, the International Steering Committee unveiled a new set of goals for the society to achieve throughout the next year to fulfill its mission of growing moral and ethical leadership around the world. The committee hopes that through refocusing its efforts the society will be able to achieve its membership and retention goals.

Troy Romero, Management Society Steering Committee Chair, quotes President Thomas S. Monson saying, "‘When performance is measured, performance improves. When performance is measured and reported, the rate of improvement accelerates.'" Romero adds, "We have taken this advice and developed a new inventory check system to track our progress and accelerate our improvement within the Management Society."

Several awards were also presented at the conference recognizing chapters that have exemplified the highest qualities of performance in leadership, activities, service and reporting. Chris Feinauer also accepted the Lowell C. Benson Award, recognizing him for his lifetime of service to BYU and the Management Society.

The Marriott School is located at Brigham Young University, the largest privately owned, church-sponsored university in the United States. The school has nationally recognized programs in accounting, business management, public management, information systems and entrepreneurship. The school's mission is to prepare men and women of faith, character and professional ability for positions of leadership throughout the world. Approximately 3,000 students are enrolled in the Marriott School's graduate and undergraduate programs.