Campus Connection

Over ten years CBA alumni return to share career journeys, challenges and lessons as part of lecture series

Jeff Taxdahl remembers dreaming big with his UW-La Crosse roommate, Harry Blount, in their Laux Hall dorm room in the 1980s. 

After graduation, Taxdahl planned to launch his own small business, make it successful and then get married — in that order. 

In his mind, his future followed a straight, upward trajectory. 

Decades later, Taxdahl knows the path to success is rarely a straight line.

His path instead became a series of peaks and valleys as he encountered obstacles, adjusted his plans and found new opportunities. One of the biggest turns came in his mid-30s, when he was hired as a corporate communications manager. His first companywide communication was announcing that the CEO had been fired.

Four months later, as the company reorganized, Taxdahl was laid off. He was 35, had a 2-year-old child and a pregnant wife at home. 

The setback ultimately pushed him to take the leap he had envisioned years earlier and launch his own business, Thread Logic. The company grew into a successful and growing Minneapolis-area business that Taxdahl still co-owns today with his wife, Wenda. 

That was the message Taxdahl brought to UWL students during a Benson Management First Friday Lecture Series talk in April 2022. 

“My primary goal was to help them understand that you may have a plan for after graduation, but it doesn't always happen that way. Life gets in the way ... your career will take a lot of twists and turns,” he says. “But just because you’re not following the path you wanted to follow doesn’t mean you won’t end up where you wanted to end up.” 

For a decade, the Benson Management First Friday Lecture Series has given UWL College of Business Administration students the opportunity to hear directly from business leaders about the decisions, challenges and lessons that shaped their careers. 

The speakers are CBA alumni who once sat in the same classrooms as the students in the audience. They have gone on to become leaders in a wide range of industries, from hospitality and insurance to entrepreneurship and wine production, giving students the opportunity to hear different perspectives on careers, leadership and success.

Bringing alumni back to campus

UWL alumnus Jeff Kessler, ’81, adviser and former chair for the CBA Board of Advisors, was instrumental in launching the series with former CBA Dean Laura Milner. 

Kessler got the idea from a similar program he attended as an MBA student at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota in the late 1980s. The program brought business leaders from Minnesota Fortune 100 companies to campus to discuss real-world topics. 

At UWL, the CBA Board of Advisors saw an opportunity to create a similar experience for business students. The university had previously hosted a successful distinguished lecture series featuring prominent speakers, including Nobel laureates, business leaders and entrepreneurs from a variety of disciplines. As that series was concluding, the board decided to create a new series focused specifically on CBA alumni and offered more frequently — two or three times a semester. 

“Any time we can expose students to graduates from their institution that share real life experiences, it adds to the value of the CBA program,” says Kessler. 

The model has endured for 10 years in large part because alumni are eager to return to campus and share what they have learned.

“The UWL CBA is one of the strongest business schools in the upper Midwest, and there's an immense feeling of pride that past graduates have for being CBA graduates,” says Kessler. “To be intimately involved through the Board of Advisors over the past 22 years, I have seen firsthand where the CBA started and where we are today. We have so much to be proud of as alumni, and that is the greatest influence on our willingness to return.” 

For speakers, the experience also offers an opportunity to reflect on their own career journeys. 

Angela Sikowski, ’02, chief financial officer for Ansay & Associates LLC and president of Anneren Family Holding Co., spoke to students in 2017. She shared her unconventional path in accounting to help students understand that careers don't always follow the traditional routes they might initially envision. 

She also discussed navigating her career as a working mother — something she says no one can really teach you. 

“Having a strong education, a good support system and confidence in yourself gives you a foundation to figure it out as you go and believe that many different paths are possible,” she says.

Learning from the unexpected

Taxdahl wanted students to understand that what feels like a setback can sometimes prepare you for the next step. 

Had he started his company in his early 20s, as he had planned after college, he says it likely would not have succeeded. He needed the knowledge and experiences he gained between ages 25 and 35 to guide him. 

Careers, he says, inevitably include both successes and failures. 

“Your success might be determined by how you handled the failure or setback,” he says. 

He hopes students remember that lesson if they eventually face a setback of their own. 

“A lot of these students are going to find themselves at a similar point in their career where they are laid off or replaced, and I hope they can remember back to my presentation,” says Taxdahl. “That happened to this guy, but it all turned out OK for him. How can I make it turn out for me?” 

Taxdahl’s company has sponsored the reception following each lecture since 2024. When he attends these events, he sees it as an opportunity to connect with current students. 

“I try to be at each event and connect with students,” he says. “My approach is not to change anyone’s life, but if I can give them one nugget they walk away with that may cause them to think differently or consider another idea, that is the success.” 

Students say those connections are one of the most valuable parts of the series. 

“As a student, my favorite part of the First Friday Lecture Series has been the opportunity to build meaningful connections with our speakers and sponsors through small-group meetings and open networking time in Hetzel Commons following each lecture,” says UWL student Ella Johnson, a finance and marketing double major. “Every First Friday I have attended has left a lasting impact on me, and I look forward to learning from and connecting with this year's speakers!” 

For Taxdahl, supporting the series is a way to pay forward the support he received during his own career. 

“I had people helping me, so I try to help others in the same way.” 

Sikowski also says returning to UWL gave her a chance to reflect on the experiences that shaped her. From accounting classes, to late night study sessions at Perkins to celebrating with friends at Oktoberfest and taking in the fall colors from Grandad Bluff. 

“It made me realize how incredibly fortunate I was to have the opportunity to attend college and how well the university, my family and my professors prepared me for the working world,” she says. “It also reminded me of the importance of continuing to challenge yourself, grow and contribute to the community around you.” 

Kessler says it is gratifying to have played a part in a program that has endured and is thriving.  

“Most importantly, having attended many of these events, I can say without reservation that I have benefited from each of them, hearing and understanding our guest speakers' journeys in their careers, what they've learned and applied to their challenges, failures and successes,” he says. 

And there are more stories to come. 

The Benson Management First Friday Lecture Series continues this year with Robert C. Lyons, president and chief executive officer for GATX Corporation, scheduled to speak Friday, Nov. 6. 

Learn more about the First Friday Lecture Series at UWL's College of Business Administration.