AKPsi Expedition to Chicago

By Katie Dusza, News Editor 

Members of the Alpha Kappa Psi chapter here at Canisius traveled to Chicago last weekend for AKPsi’s Elevate conference, where they participated in workshops, seminars and peer networking. Elevate is one of a few premier national events hosted by AKPsi in order to expose members to professional excellence, which is a virtue of AKPsi, a professional business fraternity. 

One of the most notable speakers according to AKPsi’s Vice President of Finance-elect, Bella Peters was Mike Shannon. Shannon is a brother – which is what the members of AKPsi call each other – who graduated from Illinois State in 2014. Mike Shannon appeared on Shark Tank and worked with Mark Cuban. He is the CEO and co-founder of Impruve, which is an AI-native operating system built for financial advisors. Before launching Impruve, he co-founded Packback, an AI-powered education platform used by millions of students and recognized by TIME as a Top EdTech Company and by Fast Company as one of the 10 Most Innovative Companies. Over 12 years, he scaled the business from a scrappy startup to $20 million Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) and a $50M+ acquisition, according to the Money Tales podcast. 

According to Bella Peters, one of the biggest takeaways from Shannon’s presentation was to stress the importance of maintaining business relationships over time. Shannon reflected on the time his relationship with Mark Cuban faltered due to a lack of communication between the two. 

The other keynote speaker was Calista Phair. She is member of Alpha Kappa Psi Professional Business Fraternity Kappa Upsilon Chapter has completed a certificate in Women’s Entrepreneurship through Cornell University and a certificate in Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in the Workplace through the University of South Florida. 

AKPsi’s conference allows students to build connections with professionals in the business field and meet other AKPsi members and alumni.