Northwest to host FBLA district conference, Brown to present keynote address

High school students from throughout the region will converge Wednesday, Feb. 8, at Northwest Missouri State University as it hosts the District I Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) Conference.

FBLA members will participate in performance events related to job interviewing, social media, entrepreneurship, business ethics and impromptu speaking, among others. Students also attend leadership workshops.

The conference begins with an opening session at 8:15 a.m. at the Ron Houston Center for the Performing Arts, where Jill Brown, who has served since 2021 as director of corporate relations and a major gifts officer at Northwest, will give the keynote address. Her presentation, titled “86,400 Chances,” will discuss how people have a choice to maximize the day, grow their network and be grateful.

Brown joined Northwest in 2017 as the director of partnerships and placement in Career Services. During her time at the University, she has created engagement opportunities such as Speed Networking, which allows employers to meet students in a fast-paced event; the Career Closet, which provides free professional clothing to students; and PBL Palooza, where students showcase their profession-based learning projects.

Brown previously worked in external relations at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She also manages her own business, Collisions of Awesomeness, through which she presents throughout the country and conducts workshops about gratitude, networking and other personal development topics.

Heidi Daniels, the District I lead chapter advisor from Maysville High School, is organizing the conference. Northwest campus liaisons are Cari Cline and Crystal Combs, instructors in the School of Computer Science and Information Systems; and Nathan Schoonover, a business education major at Northwest.

For more information about the conference, contact Cline at 660.562.1103 or ccline@nwmissouri.edu.