Distinguished Speaker Series

Fall 2023 Distinguished Speaker Event Featuring Brett Taber

As part of its Distinguished Speaker series, LSBE will host Brett Taber, vice president of social impact for the Minnesota Vikings, on Monday, October 9, 2023.

The title of Taber's presentation is More Than a Game: Inspiration and Impact Created Through the Power of Sport.

The event will take place at 4:00 p.m. in UMD's Weber Music Hall with a reception and refreshments immediately following.

The event is free and open to the public.

RSVP here

Brett Taber is vice president of social impact for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League (NFL) and has been with the organization since 2007. He oversees all community engagement and philanthropic efforts for the Vikings and also serves as the executive director of the Minnesota Vikings Foundation.

Taber graduated from the University of Iowa with degrees in Anthropology and Ancient Civilizations. He received his master's in Sports Administration from the University of St. Thomas and was a graduate from the inaugural cohort of the George Washington Sports Philanthropy Certificate program. Additionally, Taber attended Oxford University, where he received a certificate in Leading Sustainable Corporations.

The series brings to campus business professionals who have insightful stories to share. These distinguished professionals present not only to LSBE students, staff, and faculty but also to the wider UMD and Duluth communities as well.

Some of the notable business people that we have hosted as a distinguished speaker include President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis Dr. Narayana Kocherlakota, Humorous Motivational Speaker Roger Revak, President and CEO of ascena retail group, Inc. David Jaffe, and many, many others.

For more information or if you would like to present as a distinguished speaker, contact Monica Haynes, Outreach Committee chair, at (218) 726-7895 or at [email protected].

Past Speaker Sessions

View the fall 2022 session Reimagining DEI with Charlene Thomas, a member of the ALLETE Inc. Board of Directors, and former chief diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) officer for UPS, here.

View the fall 2021 session Tribal Communities: A Nexus of Social, Economic and Racial Justice with Karen Diver, senior advisor to the president for Native American affairs at the University of Minnesota, here.

View the spring 2021 session Sustainability in Action with Bethany Owen, president and chief executive officer of ALLETE, Inc., here.