Becoming an Entrepreneur

Brandon Day is a Cornell Johnson Graduate School of Management MBA candidate, focusing on consulting. He is an experienced project manager and currently serves as VP of Finance for the Johnson Entrepreneurship Club.

Chelsey Kingsley is the CEO and co-founder of Kingsley Quality Woodworking, a WBE-certified company in Ithaca, NY. Her company solves sourcing and design challenges in architectural woodworking with precision manufacturing and extraordinary craftsmanship.

Ms. Kingsley developed her passion for woodworking as a teenager; her unconventional training in the arts and business includes apprenticeships with world-class wood artists in Canada and the U.S. She has worked with small businesses and startups in the arts, food manufacturing, and healthcare industries. Rev: Ithaca Startup Works and Cornell’s Smith Family Business Initiative have provided access to continued education and relationships that are key to Kingsley Quality Woodworking success.

As a CEO and family matriarch, Ms. Kinglsey has thrown out the dilemma of balance; instead, she promotes integration. She grows and learns at the intersection where guardianship of family relationships influences and is influenced by individual growth, economic self-expression, and vitality.

Daniel G. Van Der Vliet is the John and Dyan Smith Executive Director of the Smith Family Business Initiative (SFBI) at Cornell University. As the founding director of the SFBI, Mr. Van Der Vliet has guided the launch and growth of one of the leading educational centers for family business. He designed and developed the “Leaders in Family Enterprise” course, and he teaches executives and next-generation leaders through Cornell’s external education and eCornell programs. Under Mr. Van Der Vliet’s tenure, the SFBI has developed the Cornell Case Competition for Family Ownership, the Mentors Forum, and the Family Innovations Summit. Cornell has been named as one of the “25 best schools for family business” by Family Capital in 2015.

As director of the Family Business Initiative at UVM from 2003 through 2014, Mr. Van Der Vliet worked with owners and their successors to find solutions that worked for both family and business. In January 2013, he was part of the team that launched and funded the first-ever Global Family Enterprise Case Competition, with 16 teams from nine countries. As director of the Vermont Business Center from 2004 to 2008, Mr. Van Der Vliet led the launch and growth of the executive education curriculum and management development seminars at UVM in addition to establishing custom training opportunities offered by the Grossman School of Business at UVM.

Mr. Van Der Vliet received his M.Ed. at the University of Vermont (UVM) in 2010 and his B.S. in Natural Resources in 2001, also from UVM. He is a member of the Collaboration for Family Flourishing and an editor with familybusiness.org, the leading resource for family business research and information.

Natalie Grillon is Executive Director of the Open Apparel Registry, a free and open-source registry and interactive map of global apparel facilities. Championing access to open data and transparent practices, Ms. Grillon has worked for a decade to launch innovative solutions to complex problems in the apparel sector. She is the co-founder of Ethical Creators, training and supporting the next wave of content creators to become catalysts for change in the fashion, beauty, and lifestyle industries, and she co-founded Project JUST, an online platform to help bring transparency to fashion supply chains and empower consumers to shift their purchasing behavior. Ms. Grillon is an Acumen Fellow, an RPCV, and a graduate of Georgetown University (B.S.) and Cornell University (MBA).