Students attended the CareerConnect Business Panel at the Nichols Innovation Center to speak with a panel of four experienced entrepreneurs during Wednesday long lunch.

The featured panel comprised four business leaders including Cammie Dunaway, the U.S. president for KidZania, Inc., Gary Gauba, the president of Cognilytics-Century, Gigi Kelly, an adjunct professor for the McIntire School of Commerce at University of Virginia and Jag Kapoor, the president of Golden State Restaurants, Inc.

This panel, which was the final CareerConnect panel of the school year, began at 12 p.m. and ran for 45 minutes. During this time, the panelists answered students’ queries regarding the fields of business and economics. In addition, they provided anecdotes about operating businesses and advising other entrepreneurs.

Topics of discussion varied immensely, and the panelists spoke about the evolution of technology, building business relationships, and the new fields of business and commerce that are arising today. Much of the panel discussion focused on the expanding business of wearable technology and the extraction of big data for advertising and statistics purposes.

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Aditya Varshney

Gigi Kelly, an adjunct professor at the McIntire School of Commerce in the University of Virginia, describes her teaching career. The McIntire School of Commerce is currently second in the nation with regards to the field of commerce.

Kelly felt that new entrepreneurs will have to juggle between the privacy issues of mining big data and conducting responsible business.

“How do we mine the big data [from wearable technology]?” Kelly said during the panel meeting. “It really comes down to the fact of how we are socially responsible with the amount of data that we are generating. Those are really difficult challenges when everything is being digitized. I think we have to push the boundaries. I know there are risks. But without taking those risks, we won’t make those leaps into the future.”

Dunaway, who had worked at Yahoo Inc. and PepsiCo Inc. prior to her career at KidZania Inc., believed that informing the consumer about big data decisions and increasing transparency will be paramount to the future of wearable technology.

“We have to responsible about data, about privacy and about transparency of what we are doing,” Dunaway said. “We have to make sure that the data that we are collecting, whether it’s some sort of health data from a diabetes device, for example, is known by consumers so they can make an informed choice about whether the value of the technology they are using outweighs some of the risks associated with it. So there are going to be some really interesting policy and ethical questions for us to face, and I hope folks like you will spend time in college and ethics classes thinking about these ethics issues.”

Jonathan Hochberg (11) found the panel highly informative.

“The panel was a thorough guide to success in business and entrepreneurship because the panelists gave good general advice from a place of knowledge,” Jonathan said. “The experience was certainly worth attending.”

When asked for the best advice that he could give to a rising entrepreneur, Gauba pointed to keeping a positive attitude, explaining that believing in one’s abilities can combine with a solid business idea and capable team to propel the business.

Kapoor believed that an entrepreneur must also have unremitting energy and willpower in order to be successful.

“You can never be tired,” Kapoor said. “Don’t be shy. And, just as Gary said, you must believe in yourself.”

All of the panelists agreed that, given the recent advances in business through big data technology, young and rising entrepreneurs will propel business to new heights. Nevertheless, according to Gauba, Darwin’s theory of evolution will continue drive the future of business.

“Adapt, evolve, and thrive,” Gauba said. “That’s the fundamental rule that [young entrepreneurs] have to remember.”