GCU Today Magazine - November 2017

1 6 • GCU MAGAZ I NE s Levi Conlow sat in Tim Kelley’s office, the “biz-synergy” of the Colangelo College of Business played out in one highly educational scene. Conlow was at a key point with Lectric Longboards, the motorized skateboard business he and another Grand Canyon University student, Nathan Cooper, had created with considerable help from Kelley, Assistant Professor for Entrepreneurship and Economics. They were discussing distribution methods. They soon were joined by the CCOB dean, Dr. Randy Gibb. Then Paul Waterman, another business instructor with a brilliant entrepreneurial mind, poked his head in. He was followed by Jon Ruybalid – yep, another mentor for the students’ venture. “This was so cool,” Gibb said. “We’re right here talking about real business, making strategic decisions, not just doing an academic exercise.” This decisionmight have been the students’ most strategic of all: Kelley suggested that they move production and distribution from offshore to campus, where teams of students (yet more biz-synergy) would be hired and a workspace would be created (typical of the support from the University) to assist in fulfilling the rapidly growing list of orders. But Cooper andConlowknowthatwhat’s typical inCCOB is indeedunique. “They’ve done a ton for us, especially in the move to manufacturing and assembling in the U.S.,” Cooper said. “Tim, Paul and all those guys in the entrepreneurship program have always had an open door, and Lectric Longboards thrives thanks to collaboration with CCOB faculty B Y R I C K V A C E K Rollin’, rollin’, rollin’