Loyola to host inaugural Busch Lecture to highlight professionals in innovation and entrepreneurship

Robin Thurston, CEO of Helix, will deliver the inaugural Busch Lecture, Innovation and Entrepreneurship and Lessons Learned Along the Way, on Thursday, April 11, at 6 p.m. in the 4th Floor Program Room.

Helix is a consumer genomics company located in San Carlos, Calif. Prior to Helix, Thurston was the co-founder and CEO of MapMyFitness, a workout-training app that was acquired by Under Armour in 2013. Thurston earned his master’s degree in finance from the University of Colorado at Denver. During the first 10 years of his career, Thurston built a mutual fund classification and ratings platform at Lipper, a financial services firm, as well as a risk and compensation platform at American Century Investments and Wellington Management.

The Busch Lecture, which is supported by the Anheuser-Busch Foundation, aims to feature leaders in business who have led innovative and entrepreneurial initiatives and are of interest to the academic, business, and civic communities.

The Anheuser-Busch Foundation also designates a Busch Scholar, a faculty member who conducts and publishes high-quality research in a business discipline. Gerard Athaide, Ph.D., professor of marketing, was named the first Busch Scholar in fall 2017.

“The main idea of the Busch Lecture is to have students experience the speakers’ first-hand involvement with launching new businesses and achieving success in the field, thus fostering an innovation emphasis,” said Athaide, who has taught at Loyola for 28 years. “My passion is to guide students toward being innovative. I hope this presentation gets students even more excited about innovation and entrepreneurship.”

The lecture is free and open to the public; however, registration is required. For more information and to register, visit www.loyola.edu/sellinger-business/busch-lecture.