Alumni at the Table

Jennifer Nichols graduated from the Honors College in 2003. She serves as executive vice president and general counsel of CRG, a national real estate development firm. With more than 20 years of legal experience counseling corporate clients on all aspects of real estate, corporate, tax, and commercial matters, together with her business background, Nichols brings a unique perspective to each project.

She has also held positions with the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan and Warner Norcross & Judd LLP. Nichols has bachelor’s degrees in finance and Spanish from MSU, a J.D. from Boston College Law School, a master’s of science in taxation from Grand Valley State University, and an MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management.

Nichols has been admitted to state bars in Oregon, Michigan, and Illinois.

Table Topic: Authenticity Isn’t a Personality, It’s a Practice

Description: Authenticity at work isn’t a fixed trait you either have or don’t – it’s a discipline you practice differently depending on where you sit in an organization.

As a student or early-career professional, it often looks like asking honest questions, admitting what you don’t know, and forming your own judgment instead of just mirroring what’s rewarded around you. As you take on more responsibility, managing others and then eventually leading, authenticity shifts from being about self-expression to being about consistency: making sure your values hold up even when a decision is costly, unpopular, or made when no one’s watching.

The through-line at every level is the same: staying recognizably yourself under pressure builds the trust that later becomes the foundation of real leadership. This conversation will unpack what that practice actually looks like at each stage, so participants can start building or strengthening the habit.

Michele L. Gerber, M.D., MPH, graduated from Lyman Briggs and the Honors College at Michigan State University in 1981. She earned her M.D. and trained as a rheumatologist at the University of Michigan Medical Center. With more than 30 years of experience in immunology, inflammation, and drug development across academia, biotech, and pharma, she is now the founder and CEO of Equinox Bio., where she uses cutting-edge research in immunology to develop innovative therapies for patients with autoimmune diseases.

Table Topic: From Hippocrates to VCs: Exploring Medical Entrepreneurship

Description: What is the path when a physician goes from asking, ‘How can I treat this patient?’ to ‘How can I improve the way this disease is treated?’

This table explores how to maintain a patient-first focus when traveling from Hippocrates to venture capital. What will the next generation of medical entrepreneurs look like?

Vikas Bajaj graduated from the Honors College and Michigan State University with a journalism degree in 1981. He is currently the energy and transportation editor for the business section of The New York Times, where he has spent the last 21 years in various writing and editing roles. Previously, Bajaj was a reporter at The Dallas Morning News.

Table Topic: News in the AI Era

Table Description: A lot of people are turning to artificial intelligence to look up information, including news. How should journalists and news organizations respond? What should universities and schools do, if anything, to better inform young people about using AI in this way? Should universities and schools be responsible for sharing best practices on staying informed about the world around us?

Matt Elliott is co-chair of MSU’s Green and White Council and founder of Blue Lake Ideas. He advises CEOs, leadership teams, and boards on corporate transformation, growth, and capital structure. In his forthcoming book, “Overloaded: Recapturing Leadership Capacity with the Power of &,” he argues that capacity is the defining leadership constraint of our time.

Drawing from research and his own executive experience as a market president at Bank of America, his frameworks equip leaders with tools to thrive in the always-on AI era.

Table Topic: Tension or Problem? Why the Distinction Matters

Description: In a world of accelerating change, the pressure to deliver results today and transform for tomorrow is rapidly increasing.

When Elliot works with a CEO on a new project, they often start by deciding which issues are problems to solve and which are tensions to manage. Both exist in the modern AI era, but tensions are often overlooked.

Sometimes the need arises to manage conflicting priorities: performance and people, speed and quality, execution today and investment for tomorrow. Neglecting either side could eventually cause failure. For success, it’s time to manage the tension over time rather than force a false choice. This table will talk about the “&s” we need to manage.

Christi Rager Wise is a leader in product innovation, digital transformation, and customer experience who has spent her career exploring how technology can improve people’s lives, particularly in health and wellness. Wise’s career has taken her from leadership roles at Fidelity and Aon to healthcare startups through MATTER to her own innovation consultancy, Strategy to Reality.

With a background spanning design, psychology, technology, and business, Christi is passionate about staying curious, embracing new opportunities, and helping others discover that there is no single path to a meaningful and successful career.

Table Topic: What Lights You Up? Finding Your Path to Impact

Description: You’ve probably heard the career advice to look for the intersection of what interests you, what you’re good at, what the world needs, and (eventually) what you can get paid to do. But when there are so many possibilities, how do you figure out which direction is right for you? One approach is to pay attention to the moments when you feel especially energized, curious, or excited by an opportunity.

In Wise’s career, she discovered her biggest “light-up” moments often came when she could explore something that hadn’t been done before, solve a meaningful problem, and have an impact on people or the world.

This table will explore what lights you up. How do you define impact? Where do you see opportunities to make a difference? And how might you recognize, pursue, and measure the impact you want to have?