 Aloha, and welcome to Business in Hawaii with Reg Baker. We broadcast live every Thursday at two o'clock here in the downtown studios of Think Tech Hawaii and Pioneer Plaza, where I show the talks about positive stories of business and their owners in Hawaii. And occasionally we'll bring on people as guests to talk a little bit about organizations that help support business in Hawaii to increase the chances and probability of success. And today we have one of those guests, Renee Green, who is with the University of Phoenix and heads up their business programs for the University of Phoenix here in Hawaii. Renee, thank you for being on the show today. Oh, thank you, Reg, for inviting me. Now you've been with the University of Phoenix for a while, but you had an interesting beginning to your career. Can you share with us a little bit about your background and how you got to Hawaii? Sure. Well, you know, I grew up in a low socioeconomic background in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and I always knew I wanted to do something different. You know, I've seen that people, sometimes they go straight to college. Some people go in the military, and some people go to work. So for me, it was the military, so I kind of started my career path there. Well, you know, and that's a great way to get a start because I did the same thing. I grew up in an area that wasn't the wealthiest. Yes. And a way to get out of the neighborhood was to go into the Navy, in my case, and the Navy really provided some good structure and discipline that I needed, and it just kind of took off from there. And I think you went into the Army? Yes, I did. Yeah. But you were there for a while. I was in the Navy only four years. You were in the Army for a little longer. Yes, I was in the Army for 20 years. There were so many great things that I was exposed to that I decided to make it a career. Very good. And you got to do some traveling? Yes. I spent most of my time when I was in the military in Germany, and that was a great experience for me because it gave me the opportunity to be able to experience different cultures, to be able to get exposed to different environments and do different things. Right. And the Army was a great place to get some education, some training, too, right? Yes. Yes. You know, that was probably the thing that I liked most about the military is that training, because each level of leadership you transition into, there was always formal schooling that you would go to, and it was a lot of training that took place within the organization. Right. And so you got the training, you got the travel, and you made a decent living, too. Yes. I mean, it's a good combination. Yes. And then when you got done, there was this thing called the G.I. Bill? Yes. So, you know, I did some of my schooling in the military, so I was able to transition up to my master's degree. Wow. And then, you know, I transitioned out of the military to corporate America and worked for some companies there, and just, you know, decided one year that, you know, there's still more to learn, and I went back to school to get my doctorate. Very good. Yes. And that was all on the mainland? Yes. That all took place. Well, now, my degrees, I did those in the military, so a lot of it was done in Germany, but then my doctorate degree was at the University of Phoenix online. Aha. Yes. So there's a connection there. Yes. You know, and what's interesting, I think, about some of the courses that you are able to take in the Army or any military branch can be done remotely. I mean, you can attend an American university, even though you are in Germany or Japan or wherever. You can be on a aircraft carrier and be attending college courses, right? Right. I've also told them, they understand the needs of their military soldiers, and they try to, you know, cater education so that we all can participate, no matter where we are at that particular point in time. It's a great benefit. Yes. So it did well for you. So you were able to go through that, get all that experience and background, and then transition to corporate America, get your doctorate degree. And then what motivated you to get into academia? Well, you know, I've always had people within my life to mentor me or inspire me. And I felt it was time in my life to give back to others after I received my doctorate degree. I wanted to be able to, you know, transition into academia life, where I could share my experience with others and inspire them. Because I believe that everybody has that flame within sight of them, that they can do whatever they want. They just can't give up. And they've got to keep fighting for it. You know, and that's a message that needs to be sent out over and over and over again. Because you're a great inspiration because you've come from a challenging environment and you've made it work. And you've done very, very well for yourself. Well, thank you. And now you're here in Hololulu. So did you join University of Phoenix directly here? Did you work with them on Amainland first? Okay, so I had a little different path. So I started teaching in the University of Phoenix in Minnesota and Wisconsin. And then I had an opportunity, I'm a very family oriented person, so I had an opportunity to come over and help my oldest son who was in the Navy at the time and his wife with my four grandchildren. So I kind of, you know, put my career on the side to help out. But once I got over here, I realized I was still young and I wanted to get back into, you know, to my career. So then I applied to be an instructor at the University of Phoenix and later was hired on. Wow. So you actually have almost like a second career going now that you've started here and now you've worked your way up to what I seem to think is a pretty senior role at the University of Phoenix and the business school environment. Can you describe, what do you do now with the University of Phoenix? Yes, I'm a campus college chair for the School of Business and what that is is an academic representative slash leader that oversees the School of Business and I oversee the College of Information Systems and Technology. Wow. That's a lot. Yes. Now what kind of programs do they have at the University of Phoenix in the College of Business? Okay, so we do offer undergraduate and graduate degree in business management and also we offer undergraduate and graduate degree in IT. Wow, okay. And you've got, I guess, instructors and who are these classes designed for? Well, these classes are, we have a unique target market for working adults because we understand that going to school is not all they do. They have other responsibilities in life and one of them is working in their careers and also taking care of their family. So we, you know, tailor our platform to be able to meet their needs. Right, and can these classes be taken remotely? Yes, yes, students can either come to the local campus or they can go online. Right, so you've got, do you have a military component to these classes? Do you have a lot of military attending? Yes, we do. You know, certain campuses, depending on where they're located, do have a military population that come out there and, you know, get their education. And if they wanted to, they could come into the campus environment. You've got one downtown and you've got another one, don't you? Yes, it's in Kapolei, our learning centers, yes. And so can you go to either one or the interchangeable or do you have to sign up for one and just stay to that campus? Well, I'm really not the right person to answer that because that's more of our academic and enrollment department. They are the ones who determine, you know, where those particular cohorts start. There's a lot of, there's flexibility in how that can be all structured. And I guess the bottom line is that for the older student that's got some other obligations, this provides a, you know, a platform for them to be able to continue their education almost on their own timetable, you know, and be at attended classes when they have the time to do it. Right, because, you know, classes are one day a week for four hours. So that frees up a little time to, you know, engage into other activities and also be able to study so that they can complete their degree. Right. Now, the University of Phoenix has been in Hawaii for quite a while, hasn't it? Yes. Yes. And they've kind of integrated into the community and they do a lot of different community activities. And I know you've got something that's in the works that you've been working on. You want to share that with us a little bit? Yes, so we have our second annual Technology and Business Conference that's coming up really quick. It's next Saturday, October the 15th. And I'm really excited we had our first one last year around the same time. And it was a huge success in the community. You know, people were really excited about a place to come and just share knowledge. Right, yeah. And, you know, there's a I guess it's important. This is being held out on the west side of the island, isn't it? No, it's right here downtown. Oh, is it downtown? Yes, downtown in our Honolulu campus. And it's going to be segment minute this year because we wanted to be able to accommodate more people. So they're going to come to our campus and register. And then we're going to escort them across the street to HPU. And we'll have our morning session there. That way people have the opportunity to see the whole morning session, not select which area. And then around 1130, we'll transport them back over to our campus. And we'll have lunch and breakout sessions. Now we've got a part of the flyer is showing on screen right now. And at the bottom right hand section is the website that people can go to sign up. Right. Right. And so if they went to that website, they would find out more about the conference. Right. It will talk about the different sections that they will be able to experience on that day. It also shares about who our keynote speakers are and some of the other speakers that we have for the day. And I guess there's a general session or are there breakout sessions? Are there different tracks or is it all pretty much kind of in sequence? Well, we have a general session in which we'll have a keynote speaker and then we'll have a panel. So we're trying to break it up a little bit. You know, people speaking, panels, time for the attendees to ask questions. And then in the afternoon, it's going to be a little bit more concentrated. So you get to select which breakout session you want to go based on your needs. Right. And this is focused, and I noticed some of the topics in there are pretty focused in the IT area and the cybersecurity and that sort of thing, which is on top of everybody's mind these days. I mean, there's a lot of issues in that area. But you've got some other good topics in there too. Can you just touch base on what some of the different topics are that's going to be? Sure. So one of the things that we're going to talk about is supply chain management. Because all businesses, no matter what their end results are, they want to provide that great customer service experience to their client. And it doesn't matter if the product has to come from 3,000 miles away, it should be timely, effective and efficient. And some insight will be shared around what that looks like and how can we get to that point. Another topic is going to be big data. So, you know, a lot of people may not know what that is. And the speaker is going to share some information around system analysts and business analysts, how they can collect the data and what happens with it after they collect it. And I think the interesting part of that discussion is how can we use that, utilize that data for smart cities. See, and that's, you know, and the utilization of big data. Yes. And maybe we can touch base a little bit on that when we come back from break. But right now we need to take a 60-minute break. This is Business in Hawaii with Reg Baker. We're talking with the University of Phoenix right now and what they're doing for the business community in Hawaii, including a business conference that they've got coming up in about 10 days. So, stay tuned. We'll be right back. Hi, I'm Chris Letham with Think Tech Hawaii. And I'd like to ask you to come watch my show, The Economy in You, each Wednesday at 3 p.m. Looking to energize your Friday afternoon? Tune in to Stand the Energy Man at 12 noon. Aloha Friday, here on Think Tech Hawaii. Aloha, I'm Carl Campania. I hope you please visit us this summer. It's a wonderful summer. It's actually a cooler summer than we're used to. But I hope that you come back and visit us and watch our show, Education Movers, Shakers and Reformers here on Think Tech Hawaii. It's at noon every Wednesday. See you then. Aloha and welcome to The Savvy Chick Show on Think Tech Hawaii. I'm the weekly host at 11 a.m. Honolulu time. I'm very excited for the next six weeks. We have the Aspire series, which is all about the coolest careers I could find and interviewing and getting insights from these amazing people who want to share it with you and help you live your dreams. Look forward to seeing you on the show. Aloha. Welcome back. This is Reg Baker, business in Hawaii. We're here with the University of Phoenix. And I may have misspoke earlier. I said we'd be back in 60 minutes. And of course, we went right through the 60 minutes and we cut 59 minutes of it off. So we're doing good right now. But we've got Renee Green here. She's with the University of Phoenix. She's got a very interesting background, very successful. She's a good example of the non-traditional way of becoming successful. And that's great motivation. People got to understand that there is a lot of ways to be successful, both personally and in business. And there's no standard or cookie cutter way to do it. And Renee has shown that. But this business conference that we're going to be having a week from Saturday. Yes. You know, one of the topics in there, which is a favorite of mine, which may not be a favorite of viewers, but big data, you know. And coming from the background that I come from in the CPA industry and particularly in the banking industry, very automated, very computerized, has been for many, many years, high volume of transactions that are occurring, all the checks clearing and etc., etc. So I've been working in the big data arena for a while. And it's amazing to me how much information can really be obtained there. It's all there. It's all available. The question is, how do you access it and how do you use it? And that's what, you know, the speakers that's going to talk in that area is want to be able to, you know, frame that and break it down to be able to share that. Because I think, you know, when we think about big data, a lot of times, you know, it's especially that if you own a business and you have so many different components that you're trying to manage to make your business successful and figure out what is it you need to do and how do you need to use this information? They want to try to give a frame of reference for that. And, you know, what's so good about our audience is that we have people that are probably no exposure to big data, some that's kind of in the middle and some like you, Reg, that know a lot about big data. So how do we give everybody a nugget to walk away with? Right. And I think part of it is just making them aware of what's out there. And once they start thinking about it, they can probably come up with some ideas on how to tap into it and what would be useful and what wouldn't. I mean, one part of the big data or a component of big data that I never really thought much about was, for example, what's in our email systems, you know, the contacts that we have in there and some of the notes that may be there that we have for our contacts. I mean, I've got several thousand contacts, different addresses, different locations, different notes. I've got my calendar. I've got all of this information that's in my personal computer. And if you multiply that by the number of employees that are in a company, there's a whole bunch of little data components that when you start bringing it all together and combining it with what's in the accounting system or what's in the sales force or sales system, there's a tremendous amount of information that can be tapped into and utilized. And that's the goal for this conference, is to show our attendees how to use that. Maybe, Reg, next year, you can join us. Yeah, that'd be a lot of fun. I always enjoy that, you know, and I notice supply chain management is going to be on there. I notice blockchain technologies. Now, that's a term that I'm not familiar with. Right. Can you elaborate on that a little bit? Yeah, so, you know, not to steal any thunder away from any of our speakers, but I think, you know, it's something that when you think about blockchain technologies, you think about Bitcoin and financial analysis. And there, the person that we have speaking in this, they want to kind of take it in a different direction, so to unleash some disruptive innovation. So disruptive innovation. So groundbreaking, yes, groundbreaking innovation, so that it moves it beyond the financial analysis. And it offers, you know, ways that it can be used. There may be real estate, health care, utilities, and even in the government sector. So I'm excited to learn more about that, too. Yeah, that sounds like an interesting topic. Yes. And this is going to be on next Saturday. Yes. Maybe I'll make a trip out and just hear that. You know, but it sounds like you've got some, you've got cloud data security now. You know, and you also have cyber crimes and cyber security and then cloud data security. I mean, security in the internet is a big topic these days. It is. And it's, you know, the thing about it is it's a benefit to know about it, but then there's some risk involved. And I think, you know, the benefit is, you know, that you know that you can secure data in those places that you have it's a convenience for the user. But I think the risk involved more so is that, you know, how do you avoid scams, you know, how do you protect your data and when is enough information enough, you know, because we're always getting access to supply things. So, you know, how do you know your data is secure? And one of the things we try to do is just not bring one person. We try to bring people from the local, the state, and the federal level so they can share a comprehensive perspective of, you know, that particular topic and what people can expect. And they all come with their own individual experience. Right. You know, that they can share so people can get these different perspectives that you mentioned. Right. And, you know, it's important to remember, I believe, that, you know, what's in the cloud is one thing and they can have that encrypted and it could be rock solid secure. But if the access point to tap into that information is weak, then the whole thing is weak. It's the old proverb, you know, it's only as strong as its weakest link. And so, if you've got weak controls at the user end with passwords or access to the terminal to tap into the information, then all of this control over here, all this strength and protection is wasted. Right. And, you know, it's funny you mentioned that because last year, one of our speakers demonstrated how it was so easy just to hack into your data and just to be able to get whatever they needed. Right. You know, and that's scary because I've seen examples of just having these smartphones. Right. And being able to, once the smartphone and a lot of us, I think, automatically have the smartphones log in to a network that it's familiar with. Right. And there's not a lot of controls in the smartphone itself to protect access to that network. And that can be a big weak link. Yes. And we always think sometimes that these things happen outside of the organization but they can happen in the organization too. So it's just one of those awareness clause that, you know, we want to just share information with others. Right. So now this is the second or third year you've done this? This is the second year. We're really excited, yes. All right. And so obviously the first year must have been a success. And then this year you're going to do it again. How many people are you expecting to come? Well, this year we're expecting 300 attendees to come to this event. So this would be an opportunity not only to learn something and get exposed to some of these technology and controls and classes, but also maybe even an opportunity to network a little bit and meet other people. Oh, definitely. Anytime you go to a conference, you sit down beside somebody and, you know, it's just human nature, especially in Hawaii, the Ohana spirit. You know, hi, how are you? And the question comes, what do you do? And that's how people can network also, you know, as they're walking back and forth during the conference or even in sessions during, you know, the time from one session to another. Great opportunity just to network, you know, perhaps get a business card from somebody to follow up later. Or you just never know who can help you with what? Well, you know, and having 300 people in Hawaii altogether at one place with a common interest, there's going to be a lot of opportunity there to meet and get to know others. And, you know, it's nice to have a little support group around you. As a matter of fact, I've always found that to be one of the game changers when you've got a business and you're trying to grow it, you know, having people that you can go to almost like an advisor type of capacity, people who've got experience in certain areas that maybe you don't have. You know, and it can be an unofficial advisory group, if you will. But developing a network in an environment like this is definitely one of the values. Right. And, you know, we all are probably after the same goal. We're just probably going around it differently. And this is a great opportunity to bring all the knowledge that we all have together and to be able to share it. Because technology is rising on the Hawaiian Islands. And why not share it from an academic, from information systems and technology from a business and even our local entrepreneur perspective? Well, and it changed you so fast. Right. I mean, what you taught last year and what you're teaching this year, it's going to have changed a little bit over that 12-month period. So things, it happens. And it moves quick. It does. So it takes a little bit of effort to keep up to date with all of this. Now, what do you think would be the stereotype of company or person that would come to this conference? What is that perfect fit? Well, that might be a different question than who do I think and who we're looking for. It just seems like business owners would need it. People in the information systems and technology field would need it. Students in college, that's learning not just in the University of Phoenix, but in surrounding colleges. People in the military could use this information. So it's something for everybody who has an interest in business technology. And people in the military, and it just triggered something. I mean, with this networking capability and with people coming into the conference, if they've got some skills that might be useful, there might even be a possibility that they can find a company that might be looking for good people. Right. So there could be, don't want to make any promises, but there could be employment opportunities that they might be able to find if they were coming in and networking through the 300 people that would be there. Well, I met it. I can't make that decision, but, you know, anything is possible. You know, absolutely. Anything is possible. You know, so anybody who does show up, they bring a resume. Maybe they can pass it out and find something. That'd be great. Now, how do you find the instructors and the lecturers to be presenting? How does that work? Well, the people, so what we do, the people that's going to be presenting at the conference, we talk to our faculty practitioners. We talk to our students, and we have connections in the community that we talk to, organizations that, you know, suggest speakers for us. Good. And then our experts in those things. And I would imagine if they did well last year, you'll invite them to come back this year. Yes. You know, we have invited some people back, not to say that others, maybe next year they'll come back. It just depends on the topic and what we're trying to do. OK. And if somebody did want to speak at your conference, how would they reach out and show their interest in doing that? Well, this year is full, but in the future conferences, they can always email me at rene.green at phoenix.edu. OK. So why don't you say that one more time? Sure. It's rene.green and it's green without the E at phoenix.edu. Very good. And you'll be at the conference, right? Yes. And I look forward to meeting all of you. So if anybody was having any interest in getting more involved with it, they could always find you at the conference. Oh, sure. Of course. Very good. Well, you know, rene, we really enjoyed having you on the show today. We're about ready to wrap up. And I've enjoyed being here. Did you have any last words of thoughts or anything for the people out there that you can give them some valuable tip to take with them? Yes, you know, one of the things I know that people might think, well, you know, I don't work in business or technology. So I probably, you know, maybe this is not for me. But maybe it is because we all use some type of device at home, and we always want to ensure that we know the risk involved and the benefits involved. So there's a nugget for everybody, whether you're in business, technology, whether you're in the health care department, whether you're a student, whether you're an engineer, a postal worker, or whatever. There's always a nugget that you can take away with, you know, from this conference. And we hope to see you. Well, and that's true for anything that you go to. You need to, you get out of it what you put into it. So go out looking for some value and you'll find it. Right. Very good. Well, Renee, it was great to have you here. Thank you. Thank you so much. This is Business in Hawaii with Reg Baker. We broadcast live every Thursday from 2 to 3, 2 to 2.30. I hope to see you next time. Until then, aloha.