The Global Management Center, or GMC, and the Center for Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation, or CEBI, will each hold a speaker series one on April 8 and on April 9.

Mike Mayo, associate professor and director of the GMC in the College of Business Administration, or COBA, planned the event for the GMC and said this is the first of the Global Management Speaker Series.

“What we are hoping to do is to bring in business professionals and people that have information about the latest developments in international business,” Mayo said. “Students can come and learn about the economy.”

Sergey Anokhin, interim director of the CEBI said the CEBI have a tendency to bring in prominent speakers.

“We tend to bring in experienced entrepreneurs or sometimes educators who know a lot about entrepreneurship,” Anokhin said. “[Those] who can then share their wisdom with students and the general public.”

On April 8, Ron Menning, senior vice president of planning and development for The Timken Co. will be speaking at the GMC Speaker Series.

“He’s going to talk about his experiences as an international business person in Asia,” said Don Williams, interim associate dean of COBA. “[Students will] learn a little bit about how to do business in Asia, how business in Asia is different from the United States and different kinds of challenges you may face there. Or different kinds of opportunities that might be available there.”

Mayo said sometimes stories about international development are overlooked and these stories need to be told.

“We created this event, and now people will come and learn about them this way,” Mayo said.

James Besselman, vice president of sales for Enterprise Solutions Group will be the speaker at the Michael S. Solomon Speaker Series on April 9.

“He’ll be talking about his reflections as a serial entrepreneur and life lessons that he drew from those experiences,” Anokhin said. “Whatever lessons he can share will definitely help our students, but ultimately it’s a life story of a successful serial entrepreneur. His life lessons would mean a lot for anyone who is willing to learn.”

Anokhin said he believes those attending will gain knowledge on how to go from one venture to another and how to scale their success.

“[It is] actually possible,” Anokhin said. “It’s doable to be successful.”

Both Speaker Series will be held in the Kent State Hotel in the Conference Center at 7 p.m. The events are free and open to the public. Flashperks will also be given.

Contact Alexis Cummins at [email protected].