Sterling Chosen to Direct Lamberti Center for Rural Entrepreneurship at BVU
Gary Sterling, a BVU instructor of management, and an entrepreneur, will direct The Donald F. and Charlene K. Lamberti Center for Rural Entrepreneurship, a program launched with a multi-million gift from the Lambertis earlier this month.
Gary Sterling, a Buena Vista University instructor of management, and an entrepreneur, will direct The Donald F. and Charlene K. Lamberti Center for Rural Entrepreneurship, a program launched with a multi-million gift from the Lambertis earlier this month.
The new Lamberti Center for Rural Entrepreneurship will facilitate the creation and growth of new businesses, partner with Storm Lake and regional companies, and establish strategic business relationships with national scope. Programming and real-world business applications within The Lamberti Center’s curriculum will provide students and professionals opportunities to sharpen skills while connecting generations, providing a path upon which rural America may move ahead.
Sterling, an executive with more than 30 years of business leadership in the medical-device industry, is seen as a natural choice to direct BVU’s start-up.
“Working with BVU students and faculty is especially energizing and I’m looking forward to creating new relationships with business leaders across the region.”
Gary Sterling
“Gary Sterling’s incredibly unique skill set, that matches real-world corporate and entrepreneurial success with outstanding work serving students in the Harold Walter Siebens School of Business, makes him an ideal fit to lead our efforts in fostering growth across the region through The Lamberti Center for Rural Entrepreneurship,” says BVU President Joshua Merchant. “We’re delighted to have a seasoned leader who not only knows first-hand the risks and rewards that often come with business start-ups, but one who can also bring out the best in others as they shape, share, and collaborate while working to bring their visions to reality.”
Sterling, who is in his second year as an instructor at BVU, is a founding member of two companies in the medical-device genre. Sterling continues as an advisory board member of two medical device start-ups and serves on the Board of Directors of GI Logic, a gastro-intestinal monitoring company.
“I have enjoyed a long career in the medical device field and like the challenges of integrating my business experience with academic teaching goals,” says Sterling, who also worked for Medtronic for 24 years, working his way up from a position as sales representative to vice president.
The Point Loma College graduate who earned a master’s in business administration from Pepperdine University also worked as a technology strategist at the Institute of Technology Advancement at UCLA’s Samueli School of Engineering.
“Being involved in business incubators for many years and seeing the value added to new companies enhances my enthusiasm to work with the Lamberti Center for Rural Entrepreneurship,” says Sterling, who teaches social responsibility in business as well as management and more at BVU.
The California native seeks to lend his expertise in launching new business opportunities while directing The Lamberti Center for Rural Entrepreneurship. Sterling was one of the principal BVU figures who worked with leaders at the Iowa Lakes Corridor Development Corporation in applying for a $175,000 Google.org grant that the two entities won on Sept. 3. The plan to create a succession program that matched aging business owners with up-and-coming entrepreneurs was one of five selected from among 160 applicants across Iowa.
“Working with BVU students and faculty is especially energizing and I’m looking forward to creating new relationships with business leaders across the region,” Sterling says. “Growing businesses in a rural setting provides many economic benefits, and at BVU we have a very supportive environment to launch our plans.
“It is fascinating and humbling to learn of the lifelong work Don Lamberti did in building Casey’s,” Sterling adds. “I’m inspired by Don’s desire to continue to see firms and ideas flourishing across rural Iowa and the Midwest. It is certainly something I want to help accomplish.”
The Lamberti Center for Rural Entrepreneurship is a key component of BVU’s strategic plan, which seeks to transform communities by encouraging entrepreneurship, collaboration, creativity, and innovation.