This past Monday, SigEp kicked off a new series of events called the Arete Speaker Series. Arete is an ancient greek thought and term meaning excellence and quality in actions and experience, principles upon which Sigma Phi Epsilon models itself.

To start off the series we had the pleasure of SigEp alumnus Mike Powers, who visited our chapter earlier this term to speak to the current members of SigEp Oregon Alpha. Powers is a sales executive at Gartner, a technological research and consulting firm, which is a Fortune 500 advisory company. Powers used this opportunity to talk about his time as a member of the house, and how it formed him into the successful person he is to this day.

The main topic of his talk was the ability to network, and how to use these connections to your full advantage, whether in the workplace or just life in general. The members in attendance received advice on how to start getting ahead of their lives, and were given a sheet Powers wrote explaining how to get started building connections, as well as important skills on how to open yourself up to a bigger network. At the end of the talk, the floor was open for discussion, and members got specific information that will help them in the time after college. Concluding his talk, the biggest takeaway Powers wanted us to remember is to “Invest in your brand”.

Thank you to Mike Powers for his time and wisdom. We greatly appreciate him for coming to speak with us.