 This is Think Tech Hawaii, Community Matters here. Welcome to this week's edition of Business in Hawaii. I'm Deila Nyonegita, sitting in for Reg Baker today. Reg is on the board for the National Small Business Association and is in DC, and we'll be back next week. We are broadcasting live from the Think Tech studios in the Pioneer Plaza in downtown Honolulu. And if you want to tune in live, we are on www.thinktechhawaii.com. If you would like to subscribe to our programs or get on our mailing list, please go to thinktechhawaii.com and sign up. The theme of business in Hawaii is to bring you stories of businesses and people in Hawaii. Our guests share with us how they were able to build successes in our challenging business environment. Today it is my honor to have Dr. Renee Green and Dr. Rad Brio in the Think Tech studios today. Renee is the program chair for the School of Business, University of Hawaii Phoenix. I'm sorry, University of Phoenix Hawaii campus. Apologize. I just gave you a new job. And Dr. Brio is the chief technology officer of choice technologies and faculty at the University of Phoenix and the Hawaii Pacific University. So welcome, Dr. Green and Dr. Brio. Thank you for being with us today. Thank you. Why don't you start off by sharing with us what you do? Sure. Thank you so much. Well, I'm the program chair for the School of Business, the University of Phoenix Hawaii campus. And in that capacity, I'm responsible for leadership development, coaching, and mentoring of faculty and students in the program. In addition, I'm very active in the community, both locally and internationally, as being part of various organizations to be able to gain and share knowledge. And I am Dr. Brio, the chief technology officer of choice technologies and also faculty at the University of Phoenix and Hawaii Pacific University. Our company is a Hawaii-based company that focuses on technology and innovation. If I have to summarize what we do is probably curiosity and creativity, because we try to find things that are not done in an efficient way and use technology and innovation to make it more efficient and a better way of doing things, basically. Well, it sounds like you wear multiple hats. Sometimes. So tell me how you get to where you are now. Well, for me, my career started in the military. I spent 20 years serving our country. And then I evolved to corporate America. So what was so unique about that? I had an opportunity to see the results of people that have completed their academic journey. And I thought it would be great to go on the front end, to be able to influence those individuals. We cater directly to working adults, to be able to help those who are looking at transitioning to other careers or who may be looking for that right career to be able to give them the skills and tools that they need. So it has been an honor to have really experienced all of these different levels from a systematic approach to give me a broader insight of where some of the gaps exist and how can we provide education and development to be able to fill those. For me, it started just with education. And I wanted just to get a job and get paid more than because when you're in college, you don't have money. But once you get to that point, then you start looking for new things and to advance your career. And then you look at education. And then it's not enough until you get your bachelor. You get your master's degree. And then you said, oh, I'm going to shoot for my doctorate. But at the heart of my career, again, it's just curiosity and creativity. Because I always felt that it's not enough what my knowledge. And the more I learned, the more I found out that I don't know much. And I have a lot more to learn. And that brings me to meet people such as yourself, such as Dr. Green. And that has been my journey so far. Nice. The both of you are in higher education. So do you find that there's an interest with our young people today wanting to get into information technologies? Yes. At the University of Phoenix, we do offer undergraduate and graduate program in technology and also business. And we have a lot of students, I mean, a lot of members in the community that come to our school. But there's others that are interested. And the hope is by hosting these conferences to let them see where the gaps in their learning experiences are and what they can do to get more connected. I'll share an experience that I usually see in my classrooms. And the first activity that I do in every class that I teach is to go around the class for students and ask them to give me at least three things that they use or they see around them, whether it's at work, whether it's in entertainment or at school or at home that is connected and has a computer system. And we usually run out of room and the board the boards are big in the classroom. So looking at it from that perspective we're surrounded by technology. So they don't have a choice. They have to be interested. The other detail is that this new generation, it's referred to it by the term of digital learning, digital generation, sometimes digital resident. So it depends on who you talk to. They have been growing up with technology around them. So they have no choice but to be interested. And speaking of higher education, it's our job to make sure that they use it to advance their career, to make things more efficient, to make businesses and their personal lives much better. What is your opinion on career opportunities for our graduates in technology fields in Hawaii? In Hawaii we have a lot of opportunities for growth. If you look at the industries that are leading our economy in Hawaii, whether it's financial, education, health care, hospitality, we still have a lot of development ahead of us. So whether you're talking about making things more efficient, cutting costs, making infrastructure more secure, all of those areas are areas of interest for our upcoming workforce. So everything that, whether it's technology-focused or it's a discipline that is not known to be technology-focused, such as accounting or health care, they rely heavily on technology. So I believe there are a lot of opportunities for the upcoming workforce. And one of the things that we do just to add on to that is that we have several events through the year where we invite a lot of our C-suite leaders to come in, either in the classroom to talk to our students. And they gain so much knowledge from that. They learn so many things that they may not have been aware of in various fields. Recently, we've had health care in IT, and that was a huge win. And we also had a business analyst event. So we're also, in that business analyst event, kind of transferred over to the technology field, too. So there's always something going on where we're not only teaching our students, but we're exposing them to opportunities, to career information that maybe they wouldn't have had before just coming to school. So there's a lot of connection with the communities there. Fantastic. Speaking of those opportunities to gain and share knowledge, do you have a conference coming up? Can you tell us about that? Yes. So if I could get everybody at home to say free, the conference is free, parking is free, and coming and getting knowledge is free. We will have light poo-poos for everybody to enjoy. And I think the biggest thing about this conference this year, it offers a different perspective. It's going to be held over two days, Friday, October the 6th and Saturday, October the 7th at the University of Phoenix, Hawaii, downtown campus, and the Topa Financial Building. It's different from last year, because you have the opportunity to come and get just the information you need. We understand that people are at the novice level in between, and some of those individuals are advanced in their careers, and we want to be able to give everybody something. But if you have time, please come and join us for both days. Dr. Green, could you remind us of the date of that event? Yes. The dates are Friday, October the 6th, and Saturday, October the 7th. And I know you have a very long title for your third annual conference. What is it titled this year? Yeah. So our theme for this conference is technology across business, health care, and education. And we wanted to do that so that we can include more disciplines. People can come out in more careers to be able to learn more about what's going on and how the different careers connect with one another. So it's going to be an exciting event. I can't wait. And I know you can't either. Fantastic. So the event is in its third year, is that right? Yes, it is. And so how did it come about? Well, two years ago, we wanted to be able to host an event where we could connect with the community, to be able to share knowledge, share what the university is doing, and to be able to connect people, to be able to connect them in a way in which they know that this is what education is doing. Because if you think about business in corporate America, a lot of business are doing open innovation. And from that perspective, they're reaching out to universities. They're reaching out to other companies to find out, OK, this is what I'm doing. What are you doing? So this was our opportunity to take that initial step, to be able to share what we're doing with inside our walls and how does that connect to what's going out in the community. And we also try to look at those things that may be happening in the mainland that may not be here yet, or maybe just had a brief introduction and how we can expand on those things. And your turnout in years one and two? Oh, we had 200-plus participation for the event. We're looking for more this year. So tell me a little bit quickly. We're going to go to a break soon. But tell me a little bit about what you want to accomplish in this year's, this third annual event. Well, our goal is to really become a community partner. And we want to be able to share some of the things that, how do we get the people in health care to come in and see, OK, how can the arts help? What is education doing differently? Technology, how can we utilize that maybe in a different way? Maybe take advantage of some of the things that we didn't consider before. See what other organizations are doing and how can we improve? Because we're all on the island together. We all have our goals. But if we learn from each other, then it's going to make what we're trying to do even much better. Because as Red mentioned earlier, that creativity and innovation is what help businesses remain at a competitive advantage. So we want to be able to open that door so that people can come in and learn, share, and network. Let's talk more about that when we get back. We're going to take a short break. This is Business in Hawaii. I'm Daylan Yanagida sitting in for Reg Baker. We'll see you back here shortly. I just walked by and I said, what's happening, guys? And they told me they were making music. For Reg Baker, today we're talking with Dr. Green and Dr. Brio, who are coordinating the third annual technology and business conference. So when we left to break, we were talking a little bit about what the conference hopes to accomplish. Dr. Brio, what are your thoughts about accomplishments for this year's event? Three things for me. It's education, business leadership, and talent, development, and retention. From if we can just think of the conference as a place where students, organizations, and companies, both from Hawaii and from the mainland, and also IT professionals or business professionals, if we can create a venue where they all meet, share ideas, share needs, share requirement, sometimes it's difficult to know what certain industry needs from a student's perspective, if they don't have the opportunity to talk to one another, to the other. So at least if the students know what they can focus on to get that next job after graduation, because they hear it exactly from the source. If an area in health care, they say, though we need this area, but we have a lot of openings in this area, then the students will start thinking, well, maybe I should focus on this field and this topic. And at the same time, for organizations and companies that are local in Hawaii, they open the doors for the upcoming workforce. So they meet that milestone as well. The last thing is just to promote and create communities of practice. If one organization does certain things, certain ways, and it's been working for them, maybe by networking with other organizations, with other IT and business professionals, we will achieve the goal of bringing them together. And that will contribute in advancing the economy of Hawaii, advancing the talent in Hawaii, and the state of business and IT in Hawaii. And just to add on to what Dr. Brillo said, there also may be opportunities that if organizations are looking for our students to work on low-scale projects that maybe they don't have the funding for or the people power, our students can do that in the classrooms and be able to provide some recommendations for them. So we're excited. So we're speaking a lot about student attendance at the conference. Is the conference geared towards student attendance? So who should go to your conference? Well, we normally invite everyone. So everyone consists of the military, population, our community partners, students, not only at our university, but around the island of Oahu, also faculty members, and just people who are curious and learning. We understand that in order to fill those open positions, in order to meet the need for talent, it has to come from the next generation or the next workforce. And by including the students, we will be able to not only give the opportunity and hope for students before they graduate to think, hey, I can stay in Hawaii. I can find a job in Hawaii. And I can still contribute to the economy and Hawaii instead of leaving the state of Hawaii to go to another state and taking their talent with them. So it's not just students. It's students, IT and business professionals, and also organizations and companies. We create the meeting place for them to network and share their need, their requirement, their future goals. So everybody is pretty much served. The first two conferences, what was your attendance number like? So we had 200 plus at both conferences. Wow, fantastic. Well, it's free. There's free parking. There's light refreshments. And from what I understand, you have quite a lineup of speakers. We do. Our speakers come from different areas and different positions, too. Some of them are executives. Some of them are individual contributors at companies. And some of them are business owners. And we cover topics from cybersecurity to STEM and STEAM in education, to IT in health care, to IT in hospitality, to the benefit of pursuing certifications, whether it's in business or IT. So we cover a whole list of topics so we can address a lot of different needs here. Yes, and I think just to add on to that, again, I think we have mentioned it before, but it's just a great opportunity for us to show the community how we collaborate, how we build partnerships, and how we're sharing all the knowledge that we have within the university with others. So it's just a great opportunity, a great gathering. Unbelievable, especially since it's free. Not often that you go to a two-day conference and there's no fee involved. So I think it's a great learning opportunity, great networking. I'm sure some of the students also find mentors that they want to pair up with. We, that's one of the, I serve on the board of the IT Council for the hospitality, for the Hotel, Lodging, and Tourism Association. And one of the challenges in the hospitality talent retention and creating that mentorship opportunity for students. And students are not just the students that are right out of high school. The student population range from 18 years old all the way to 60, 70 years old. So these are students looking for either to pursue higher education or higher degree and to create opportunities for them both economically, socially, and just knowledge-wise as well. So you spoke about meeting a mentor. Many of the managers, directors, executives are willing to be mentors. But the students don't know that those individuals are willing to provide that mentorship opportunity. Conference, like the third annual Business MIT at the University of Phoenix, provide that opportunity both for the student and for executives and management to link up and develop the next workforce. I'm sure a lot of our leadership in Hawaii want to have an opportunity to give back and to think about the future of IT and business in Hawaii and taking care of growing our young people into that. Yes, they're always so excited. Every time we ask, are you available, can you come, it's like most of the times they're always willing to come and share. And I think what's really unique is that our faculty members, our faculty practitioners, so we involve them in a lot of our activities along with our students who are working adults, both in the military and civilian communities. It's amazing how willing and how much a lot of the executives and a lot of professionals, whether it's an IT or just business, how much they're willing to share their knowledge, to speak for free, to provide an opportunity for others to advance their careers, to advance their knowledge, to open the door for jobs, just to make sure that the state of IT and business in Hawaii is continuing to advance and develop. Well, you're a prime example of that, as CTO principal of your own company and then faculty, you're sharing your knowledge and wanting to give back. And that's spectacular. Well, we all have to continue doing that. I think it's beneficial for us as professionals, but it's also beneficial for the state of Hawaii and our next workforce. We have about two minutes left. Why don't you tell me how the University of Phoenix is involved in this third annual technology conference? Yes. So the University of Phoenix has hosted this event for the past two years. And what's so unique about it is that the event really connects to our vision statement to become the most trusted provider of career relevant, higher education for working adults. And that's huge for us to be able to provide work in the delts with the tools that they need, not something that's too trivial or something too advanced, but just hone in on the skills they need. And we do that by understanding the needs of our students, our business owners, and how can we kind of bring that together to achieve operational excellence. So it's been a great opportunity. And I think another thing, it also enables students and community leaders to be able to enhance their professional development skills, to learn new skills, and to be able to store skills for later. Because sometimes we have things that we're doing that may not be in that particular discipline, but it's always good to have those advanced skills that when you need them, you're able to share them. Can you share with our listeners how they can get more information? Yes. So right now, they can contact me at rene.green at phoenix.edu. Our flyers and Eventbrite will be up by mid-September. Any closing remarks about your event coming up? Please come and join us. It's free again. The parking is free. And it's going to be a great learning experience and a great networking event. Fantastic. Thanks. Unfortunately, we are out of time, but thank you so much for joining us today. And thank you to Dr. Green and Dr. Brio for sharing this information. And also, thank you to the great production staff here in the studio. Business in Hawaii airs every Thursday at 2 o'clock, and we look forward to seeing you next week.