Thursday, November 20, 2014
Photo
Youngstown State University President Jim Tressel was the featured guest speaker at the Better Business Bureau’s 2014 Annual Meeting of Accredited Businesses on Wednesday at the Covelli Centre in Youngstown.
By Kalea Hall
YOUNGSTOWN
Youngstown State University has a motto of increasing its excellence and its merit.
YSU President Jim Tressel shared that motto Wednesday as the featured speaker at the first gathering of more than 100 business representatives for the Better Business Bureau’s 2014 Annual Meeting of Accredited Businesses at the Covelli Centre.
“That is what we will have to do to be able to compete,” Tressel said.
Several staple Mahoning Valley businesses were represented at the meeting, which typically included only BBB board members.
The theme of the meeting surrounded five characteristics that the BBB values: teamwork, respect, excellence, trust and integrity.
Tressel told the crowd the young business starters need to be reminded that trust and ethics and being a leader of proper business practices is important.
“I know it is not easy because it is highly competitive,” Tressel said. “Really, we have to make sure we embody what trust and ethics is all about.”
In the Valley, the BBB has a network of more than 1,200 accredited businesses that embody those values. That numbers represents 10 percent of the BBB’s footprint, Carol Potter, president and CEO of the BBB, said.
“We are recognized at the national level as being in the top tier,” she said.
Tressel also told the crowd one of the best parts about being back at YSU is reconnecting with people. Many of those people, he said, were in the room Wednesday. They were the business owners, operators and representatives who give YSU students outlets to go to for internships and other opportunities. Though the university has done a good job of marketing to the local area, it is time to expand that reach and continue to improve, Tressel said, adding it is happening now.
“We have been out beating the pavement,” he said.
Five high school-seniors who are the children or grandchildren of owners or employees of accredited businesses in the Valley have a shot at receiving a $1,000 scholarship from the BBB’s new Ethics and Integrity Scholarship Program.
The program was announced at the meeting.
Potential applicants can see the qualifications of the scholarship and can apply by going to bbb.org or calling the BBB at 330-744-3111.