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Eccles Business Buzz

Eccles Business Buzz

By: David Eccles School of Business
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Welcome to the Eccles Business Buzz Podcast. My name is Frances Johnson, and your host for our podcast show. We know the Eccles community is only as strong as its alumni network and as I have built relationships with alumni across the nation, I’ve learned how truly remarkable our network is. Our goal is to share alumni stories, perspectives, and voices on topics that are driving conversations around the globe and within our school today. The core values of the Eccles community will underlie everything we discuss here: Entrepreneurial Grit, Continuous Curiosity, Empathetic Global Citizenship, and Impacting Your World.

Eccles Business Buzz is a production of David Eccles School of Business and is produced by University FM.

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Episodes
  • S10E10: Big Dreams, Small Steps, and Life Beyond the Olympics with Winter Vinecki

    S10E10: Big Dreams, Small Steps, and Life Beyond the Olympics with Winter Vinecki
    30 Jul 2026
    The tenth season of the Eccles Business Buzz podcast concludes today with a conversation between host Frances Johnson and Winter Vinecki, 2x Olympian for the US Freestyle Ski Team, author, David Eccles School of Business graduate and current law student.Winter and Frances go over Winter’s many impressive achievements, including being the youngest person to run a marathon on all seven continents, founding the nonprofit Team Winter for prostate cancer awareness in honor of her late father, and balancing elite training with school throughout her career. Winter discusses motivation, trying new things, and reaching long-term goals through incremental steps, as well as managing Olympic pressure through preparation, sports psychology, breathing, visualization, and staying present. She reflects on coping with disappointment, recurring injuries, valuing the process, and prioritizing education for mental health and post-sport identity. The conversation also explores how sports build community and create global connections, and Winter explains why focusing on your own unique journey rather than comparisons is so important for your mindset.Eccles Business Buzz is a production of the David Eccles School of Business and is produced by University.fm.Eccles Business Buzz is proud to be selected by FeedSpot as one of the Top 70 Business School podcasts on the web. Learn more at https://podcast.feedspot.com/us_business_school_podcasts. Episode Quotes:How small goals built an Olympic dream [06:17] You make the baby steps and the incremental plans along the way and the goals, and before you know it, you're one step closer and one step closer and one step closer. So when I first moved out to Park City to try aerial skiing, my goal was to get that summer scholarship to be able to train in Park City for the summer, because I knew if I did that, then I could train and do my first back flips on snow. If I did that, I could have a good year on snow for the first time, then maybe the next year do doubles, and then doubles meant I could make the ski team. Ski team meant World Cup. World Cup meant Olympics. So it's like all these steps, but you have to start by looking at that first step in the ladder, because you can't get to the top unless you put that hand on that first step first. It's about all those short-term goals that really allow you to get those long-term goals, but it is important to have those dream goals, even if you don't get there, because it's all a part of the process of how you can accomplish all those other steps on the way up.The real reason why Winter kept studying while chasing Olympic glory[22:57] I've always really enjoyed learning, so that's been part of the reason why it's been easy in a sense for me to want to continue to do these things. But in another sense, I think it's good for my entire mental health as a professional athlete because if your only focus is on your sport and that gets taken away, that is extremely difficult. So with injuries, if you have a bad year and you don't get sponsorships, you don't have prize money that year; that can put so much pressure on a sport you love, and it can make it not fun anymore. And so I think it's important to have these other things to be able to look forward to in your life, and if I have a bad day of training, then that doesn't go well, but I can do something good in school and get a good grade in that or work on that to be able to have those other things to feel like I'm moving forward in other areas of my life, too. Because we can't all do sports, unfortunately, for the rest of our lives. An Olympian's hard-won lesson on letting go of everyone else's expectations[44:19] I would tell my younger self that it's your journey. It's not anybody else's. There's no use in comparing yourselves or trying to do things just to please other people, whether that be your parents or other friends or, like, coaches. This is about you. Like, what do you want, and how do you want to get there? And so, I think some of the time throughout my career, I've been so stressed about, like, "Oh, what do other people want or what's expected of me, or everyone thinks I should do this." And at the end of the day, realizing sooner that [I] believe in myself and believe that what I want is worthy and how I want to get there.Show Links:WinterVinecki.comTeam Winter | Charity OrganizationWinter Vinecki | LinkedInWinter Vinecki | Team USA ProfileWinter Vinecki | InstagramWinter’s RiseDavid Eccles School of Business (@ubusiness) | InstagramUndergraduate Scholars ProgramsRising Business LeadersEccles Alumni Network (@ecclesalumni) | Instagram Eccles Experience Magazine
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    41 min
  • S10E09: Technology, Fan Experience, and the Future of Sports in Utah with Utah Jazz President Jim Olson

    S10E09: Technology, Fan Experience, and the Future of Sports in Utah with Utah Jazz President Jim Olson
    16 Jul 2026
    The tenth season of the Eccles Business Buzz podcast continues with a conversation between host Frances Johnson and Jim Olson, President of the Utah Jazz, and key leader for the Utah Mammoth NHL Franchise, the Delta Center Arena, and more.Jim and Frances talk about Jim’s 30+ years in the sports business, emphasizing how technology and Ryan Smith’s tech background have expanded the Utah Jazz’s parent entity, The Smith Entertainment Group’s global reach, deepened fan connection, and enabled data-driven customization of tickets, sponsorships, and in-arena experiences. He explains how sales are the revenue engine that funds reinvestment in teams, facilities, community programs, and the current Delta Center renovation for hockey, including a new 450-stall parking garage. The conversation covers sports’ unifying and economic impact, lasting memories, career skills and education, the upcoming Business of Sports minor at the Eccles School, and excitement about future championships, upcoming Olympic Games, and district-style real estate developments in Utah.Eccles Business Buzz is a production of the David Eccles School of Business and is produced by University.fm.Eccles Business Buzz is proud to be selected by FeedSpot as one of the Top 70 Business School podcasts on the web. Learn more at https://podcast.feedspot.com/us_business_school_podcasts. Episode Quotes:Why fans are the lifeblood of every sports business [08:46] Frances Johnson: What is the role of sales specifically in today's sports industry?[08:52] Jim Olson: Well, I'm definitely biased when I get asked that because I spent so much of my career focused on the revenue-generating aspects of our business. And I just believe you have to generate revenue. It's revenue-generating; that revenue just opens up the doors to so many different things. You know, it opens up the doors to improving our arena experience. It opens up the doors to improving our broadcast experience. It opens up the doors to improving our retail experience. And obviously, it's cyclical. As you open up those doors and improve all those experiences, the goal is to generate more revenue with it. But, look, we say that our fans are the lifeblood of the organization. We really mean that because they're making a large commitment, be it through buying tickets, watching games, streaming games, their businesses being partners in through sponsorship programs, and so forth. And our fans are the lifeblood because it drives the revenue, which allows us to do so many things.Turning revenue into a better fan experience [10:56] When we make money, we reinvest it back into the company. We're not publicly traded where we got to worry about stockholders. We're not worried about paying off other individuals or whatever it may be. When we make money, we reinvest it right back into the organization, where we have gone through a rebuilding phase with the team, and now people have seen we're making investments into improving both the basketball team and the hockey team, Jazz and the Mammoth, and we're reinvesting into our facilities. We're going to be done in September with a new parking garage that's connected to the arena. 450 new parking stalls to enhance the experience there. And so really we reinvest into our marketing efforts and our social media efforts, and we reinvest back into the community.Jim reveals the most important skills for building a career in sports [23:50] Working in sports is no different than working in every other job. It's competitive. You have to grind. You have to work hard. You have to be focused. You have to learn to work with people. Like, it's, kind of, what everybody knows. It's hard. It's competitive. There might be jobs out there that are 9:00 to 5:00, but I don't know. That's not sports, you know. We work nights, we work weekends, we work holidays, we work early mornings, we work late, whatever. But it's just so fun. Show Links:Jim Olson | LinkedInSales Innovation Summit Presentation | David Eccles SchoolThe Delta CenterDavid Eccles School of Business (@ubusiness) | InstagramUndergraduate Scholars ProgramsRising Business LeadersEccles Alumni Network (@ecclesalumni) | Instagram Eccles Experience Magazine
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    40 min
  • S10E08: Mentorship, Community Banking, and Utah’s Growth with Becky Kearns

    S10E08: Mentorship, Community Banking, and Utah’s Growth with Becky Kearns
    2 Jul 2026
    The tenth season of the Eccles Business Buzz podcast continues with a conversation between host Frances Johnson and Becky Kearns, Director of Community and Business Development at Zions Bank.Becky and Frances talk about mentoring as a way to share knowledge, help students find direction and passion, and expand access to professional networks. Becky highlights student adaptability but notes they often need guidance in clarifying career paths. She also describes why corporate partnerships with higher education and community involvement matter, including employee engagement and “goodwill,” and how banks can design programs to meet unmet community needs. Becky explains the economic and cultural impact of sports events in Utah and discusses the future challenges of sustainability, water, and housing, urging collaboration and responsible growth. Eccles Business Buzz is a production of the David Eccles School of Business and is produced by University.fm.Eccles Business Buzz is proud to be selected by FeedSpot as one of the Top 70 Business School podcasts on the web. Learn more at https://podcast.feedspot.com/us_business_school_podcasts. Episode Quotes:The influence behind Becky's commitment to give back[06:22] Frances Johnson: Why was it important to you to be a mentor, to give back in that way?[06:39] Becky Kearns: Well, I think my parents both were two individuals who taught the four of us to always leave a community better than you found it. Now, how we define community is up to us. But that could be being very involved in the, you know, not-for-profit world and helping with boards, et cetera. But my parents were very clear that share the knowledge that you have with those that need it. And so that's why it was important to me because I also am not quite sure where I would have gone without the direction I had from both my father and the dean of the College of Business because I was going off in a total different direction than where they were. And they saw my strengths there, but they also saw the big pitfalls that came with that. So I think having the comfort... And sometimes it isn't always what you want to hear. In my case, it wasn't always what I wanted to hear. However, you know, it's just information that someone can use to help guide them along the way.The key skill for success in financial services today[09:38] Frances Johnson: What are some skills that students need to succeed today in the financial services industry, but also more generally, and how have those maybe changed or evolved over time from when you started your career?[09:52] Becky Kearns: I think being adaptable. The students today need to be adaptable with all the information that's coming at them from different directions, you know, where do they want to go? But being able to see there might be different avenues for them to pursue, whether today or throughout their career. Because when I started, especially in financial services, people would pick a specific genre that might be retail banking, commercial banking, investments, and they stayed plugged in, so to speak, to that specific area. In my case, I had the opportunity, and mainly through my husband's transfers across the country, I was pulled out of everything that was familiar to me and being plugged back into something I didn't know. In most cases, I was moving to cities I didn't know anyone. And so being adaptable to those changes and being able to find what would fit best for me really opened up a wealth of opportunity for me.What Becky wishes she had done earlier in her career. [38:18] We had four kids in my family. We were all going to school at the same time. God loves my parents, but they couldn't afford to put us all through. So, you know, we had to help. So I had to have a paycheck. And so, I stayed pretty risk-averse for a while. But when I started to be willing to take risks is when I found my greatest success but most importantly, my greatest joy. If I could give advice to myself and to others, be flexible, be adaptable. You know, be willing to bank on yourself, so to speak, that some of the skills I didn't think I had, I very much had. It just took me a long time to find them. And so, believe in yourself and believe in what you can provide. And I wish I had done that a little earlier.Show Links:Becky Kearns | LinkedInLiveLikeSam | Advisory Board ProfileDavid Eccles School of Business (@ubusiness) | InstagramUndergraduate Scholars ProgramsRising Business LeadersEccles Alumni Network (@ecclesalumni) | Instagram Eccles Experience Magazine
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    34 min
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