IRVING, Texas (Aug. 28, 2018) – The Second Annual William V. Campbell Trophy® Summit, sponsored by Intuit, took place Aug. 22-25 at Stanford University, expanding the event's impact as a force for connecting former nominees for the trophy with some of the nation's top CEOs and Silicon Valley entrepreneurs as mentors.
 
"It's a real honor to be here, and to pay tribute to the man that this trophy is named after," said Intuit Chairman and CEO Brad Smith in addressing the attendees. "It's a great honor to speak to you because you have been recognized as someone who carries his name with distinction. That individual is Bill Campbell…. This is the must-attend event in Silicon Valley, and I can attest to that because I have had multiple people ask me how they can buy a ticket, but that is what makes this event so special you can't buy your way here. You have to earn your way here, and everyone in this room has done just that."
 
Each college in the country is allowed one nomination per year for the Campbell Trophy®, and the requirements include a 3.2 GPA or better and for the student-athlete to be a significant contributor on the team in their final year of eligibility. Covering every college and university from all divisions of play, the nomination process effectively creates a pool of the best student-athletes from each school in the nation who are then invited to attend the Summit.
 
"We are so proud of the NFF National Scholar-Athlete program and the Campbell Trophy, which is the crown jewel of our scholarship program," said NFF President & CEO Steve Hatchell. "The Summit has become a powerful platform for us to showcase all the great nominees for the trophy while providing us a vehicle for mentoring them and subsequently sending them out into the workforce with many of the tools and concepts that Bill Campbell used to influence so many people in the business world. This is a great way for those who loved Bill and the great game of football to pay it forward."
 
The event, which aims to help attendees with their personal and career growth, pays tribute to Bill Campbell, the award's namesake who passed away in 2016. Campbell, who played and coached at Columbia before a switch to the business world, became one of the most influential individuals in Silicon Valley, using the lessons of the gridiron to mentor Steve Jobs of Apple, Larry Page, Sergey Brin and Eric Schmidt of Google, Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Scott Cook and Brad Smith of Intuit and countless others. The event, which attracted 106 former nominees and featured 44 speakers, served as the perfect vehicle to carry on Bill's legacy of mentoring. (See below for a full list of participants.)
 
"My goal this year was to find out what made Bill Campbell so special," said Yaser Elqutub, a 2011 finalist from Northwestern State. "The irony was that you kind of imagine it as something top secret that we don't know about, but when you listen to the speakers, they say 'I wasn't a scholar, and I wasn't an athlete. I was just an average guy, and somehow Bill was able to bring it out of me.' The irony is that we're in a room full of accomplished student-athletes, so we're kind of looking to these guys for answers but the answer is already within us... We have what it takes, and we just need a push to go for it."
 
"One thing that really resonates with me about the way people spoke about Bill was that loving and caring about people first, and that's the way Bill mentored people," said Daniel Giovacchini, an attendee and a 2014 semifinalist from Brown. "If you bring that to all your interactions that will open the doors to have the hard conversations about the important initiatives and enable you to do huge things."
 
"When I was listening to all the speakers, it wasn't that they were smarter, better or naturally had these capabilities, but all of them talked about changing their mindset to accomplish things," said Ryan Janvion, an attendee and a 2016 finalist from Wake Forest. "So, many times people want to feel comfortable, and it's natural for us to feel comfortable, but just like on the football field and the weight room, we need to challenge ourselves in the same way in the business world where we have to put ourselves out there to be uncomfortable."
 
MWF Advisors CEO Mark Flynn, a former linebacker at Saint John's (Minn.) who coached eighth-grade boys-and-girls' flag-football team with Campbell for thirteen years, played the lead role in organizing the event.  
 
"The storyline of how we were able to put this together involved multiple people, saying how can we pull together something in the legacy of Bill Campbell and share some of his values, and make a difference because that was what Bill was about," said Flynn. "We took the concept to Brad Smith who said 'We are all in whatever it takes and whatever resources you need, Intuit is behind this'... All of you made it a priority to get out here, so our job is to make sure that it's worth your while that we help you advance your life, your career, and we help you with your goals and ambitions."
 
Expanding from three to four days, the 2018 event added a career expo with a dozen companies on site to recruit, several team building activities, a physical competition dubbed the "Summit Triathlon," and a dinner cruise of San Francisco Bay. The panels covered a wide range of topics designed to foster leadership, personal growth and the career development. The speakers this year included a Hall of Fame panel with Ronnie Lott (USC) and Steve Young (BYU); a workshop with Liz Wiseman, the author of the New York Times bestseller "Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter;"  and a discussion with Astro Teller, an entrepreneur, scientist, author and the Captain of Moonshots & CEO of Google X.
 
Companies participating in the career expo included Altamont Capital, Bank of America, Chegg, Enjoy, EY, Google, Intuit, the Knight-Hennessey Scholars at Stanford, McDermott Will & Emery, Snap! Raise, SoFi, SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, WeDriveU and the XFL as well as professionals from the medical and real state fields and several entrepreneurs from a diverse range of emerging companies.  
 
This year's attendees traveled from more than 34 states, Japan, Canada, and the District of Columbia, representing 81 colleges and universities from all divisions, and the event kicked off with a reception at Stanford Stadium, including welcome remarks from Smith, Hatchell and Flynn.
 
"We at the National Football Foundation try to do the right thing to protect the game, and Mark Flynn came to us, saying we can make a difference. We can add a new chapter, putting together the summit and putting the wind in its sails," said Hatchell. "And Brad Smith said I'll go shoulder-to-shoulder with you, and I'll walk every step with you, and I'll make it work. So for two years, this wonderful, spectacular event, which defines college football in the very best way is because of these two people, so thank you."
 

Campbell Trophy® Nominee Attendees

School	First Name	Last Name
Alabama A&M	Kristian	Smith*
Augustana (SD)	Sam	Lee
Ball State	Vinnie	Palazeti
Baylor	Troy	Baker
Bentley (MA)	Rogers	Boylan
Bethel (MN)	Josh	Dalki
Bethel (MN)	Drew	Neuville
Black Hills State (SD)	Phydell	Paris
Brown	Daniel	Giovacchini
Brown	Brian	Strachan
Buffalo	Tyler	Grassman
Buffalo	Tim	Roberts
BYU	Steve	Young ǂ
California	Matt	Anderson
Carnegie Mellon (PA)	Sam	Benger*
Central College (IA)	Sam	Markham
Cheyney (PA)	Samuel	Anojulu
Colorado	Jim	Hansen**
Columbia	Anders	Hill
Columbia	Alex	Gross*
Dayton	Christopher	Beaschler*
Dayton	Jack	Crain
Delaware	Jalen	Kindle
Delaware	Jalen	Randolph
Delaware	Laith	Wallschleger
DePauw (IN)	William	Longthorne
Duke	David	Helton**
Florida A&M	Vincent	Jefferies
Fresno State	Moses	Harris*
Fresno State	Jacob	Vazquez
Frostburg State (MD)	Raheem	Ramsey
Georgia	Drew	Butler*
Georgia State	Bobby	Baker
Grinnell (IA)	Ibuki	Ogasawara
Hardin-Simmons (TX)	Matthew	Hawkins
Hardin-Simmons (TX)	ZaVious	Robbins*
Harvard	Tanner	Lee
Illinois College	Jacob	Homann
Indiana	Mark	Murphy*
Iowa State	Craig	Mahoney*
Johns Hopkins (MD)	John	Arena*
Kentucky	Landon	Foster
Kentucky	Austin	MacGinnis
Lake Forest (IL)	Thomas	Steen
Lake Forest (IL)	George	Vidas
Malone (OH)	Jon	Zimmerly
Manchester (IN)	Eric	Beard
Marist	John	Brennan
Marist	Marcellus	Calhoun
Middle Tennessee	Jordan	Parker
Minnesota Duluth	Isaac	Odim*
Mississippi	Gary	Wunderlich
Mississippi	Deterrian	Shackelford
Monmouth (IL)	Kyle	Schultz
Mount Union (OH)	Eric	Safran*
Mount Union (OH)	Hank	Spencer*
New Hampshire	Nick	Marino
New Mexico State	Dalton	Herrington
Newberry (SC)	Dakota	Mozingo
North Dakota State	Grant	Morgan
Northern Illinois	Nabal	Jefferson*
Northern Iowa	Jared	Farley
Northern State (SD)	Brian	Sumption
Northwestern	Brandon	Vitabile*
Northwestern State	Yaser	Elqutub*
Notre Dame	Joe	Schmidt
Notre Dame	Chris	Stewart*
Ohio State	Joseph	Burger
Old Dominion	Rob	Thompson
Oregon State	Nick	Porebski
Rhodes (TN)	Blake	Jacobs
Saint John's (MN)	Blake	Elliott
Saint John's (MN)	David	Franta
Saint John's (MN)	Carter	Hanson*
Saint John's (MN)	Steve	Johnson
Saint Mary (KS)	Kyle	Dougherty
South Alabama	Harrison	Louden
South Dakota	Christopher	Ganious*
South Dakota School of Mines	Blake	Stone
Southwestern Assemblies of God (TX)	Matt	Lighter
St. Thomas (MN)	Isaac	Seering
Stanford	Damon	Dunn*
Stanford	Dallas	Lloyd
Stanford	Owen	Marecic*
Stanford	David	Bright
Stetson	Austin	Tyrrell
Stonehill (MA)	Anthony	Siciliano
UCF	Justin	Holman
UNLV	Kurt	Palandech
UTSA	Brady	Jones
Vanderbilt	Tommy	Openshaw
Virginia	Tom	Burns**
Wake Forest	Ryan	Janvion*
Wake Forest	Hunter	Williams
Wingate (NC)	Zack	Singleton
Wisconsin	Joe	Ferguson
Wisconsin-Oshkosh	Brett	Kasper
Wisconsin-Stout	Jared	Allen
Wisconsin-Stout	Logan	Stoa
Wisconsin-Whitewater	Tony	Gumina
Wooster (OH)	Patrick	Mohorcic
Yale	Sebastian	Little
Yale	Karl	Marback
Yale	Tyler	Varga*
Youngstown State	Hunter	Wells

*Campbell Trophy^® finalist and NFF National Scholar-Athlete
**Campbell Trophy^® winner
ǂ NFF National Scholar-Athlete prior to 1990 and the bestowing of the Campbell Trophy^®
 
 

Speakers