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>>KATE KINDER: You'll hear people say,
oh, if only we could do this! Or I had this great idea;
I was thinking we could do this.
This is an avenue to actually get those ideas into action.
>>NEAL NAIGUS: What are we doing now that we can change?
What are we not doing that we could be doing?
JILL DUNAWAY: What I really wanted was to be heard
and to have a way to, to say hey, you know, here's some ideas.
>>KATE KINDER: When people see the ideas that were selected
and see them being implemented across the campus,
I'm hoping that will prompt more people to give us their good ideas
and to know that they could become a reality.
>>GREG RAPP: If we truly embrace change
and think more innovatively, we'll find ways
that we can serve our students even better than we are now.
>>NEAL NAIGUS: What is an entrepreneur?
That's a really good question.
To me, an entrepreneur is somebody
who creates and thinks innovatively, comes up with an idea,
and finds a way to implement it.
>>SHEILA MESERSCHMIDT: Entrepreneurs are individuals
who see opportunities for innovative change.
>>GREG RAPP: An entrepreneur is a person that,
that has an idea, but also has the conviction, the fire in the belly,
to go out there and, and make a difference
and make their dream a reality.
PEAK is the President's Entrepreneurial Advisory Council
and it was started in March of 2011.
Dr. Pulliams pulled this group together...
>>NEAL NAIGUS: Membership is made up of representatives
from all the campuses and centers and all classificiations
throughout the Portland Community College district.
The President sent out a notice to the college community
asking people to volunteer who were in interested in coming up
with innovative approaches to revenue generation,
and the people that volunteered were selected to be on the committee.
>>KATE KINDER: We reached out to the college
through various mechanisms. There's some great videos,
through some emails, through meetings,
to really try to get the word out to staff what PEAK was
and how they could submit their ideas.
>>DR. PRESTON PULLIAMS: I want to extend this open invitation
to everyone in the organization to be part of this effort.
>>CHERIE CHEVALIER: What is it that we can do
that will help us raise revenue, ongoing revenue,
or create cost savings for the college?
>>GWEN BRUNTON: The reason I decided to get involved in PEAK
and, and provide a suggestion was I,
that a little flyer came around one of my co-workers put on my desk.
And it kinda caught my eye. I thought,
wow, this looks like an avenue for me too give some feedback
and give some ideas about how we can save some money.
>>KATE KINDER: We had a lot of fantastic ideas that came in,
and one of the things we looked at
is how much it could save the college money,
how much money it could generate, and how innovative the idea was.
>>GWEN BRUNTON: I submitted the idea of changing from a paper,
regular mail, holiday card for the employees
to an electronic holiday card.
When I go to open my Christmas cards
I realize I have a lot of Christmas cards, and I thought, hmm,
PCC does a very nice job sending out Human Resource notices
and other kinds of correspondence electronically;
they could probably save a lot of money
by doing holiday cards the same way.
So, I submitted my idea via email.
Then I found out that they'd selected this particular idea.
I was pleased because it was something that was so simple
and yet could save a lot of money in the long run.
>>GREG RAPP: One of the great things about PEAK
is it created a, a forum, a process if you will, for people that,
that had ideas to easily submit their ideas, to have it reviewed,
and provided a means to give some financial support to these ideas
so those ideas could be implemented in the years ahead.
>>NEAL NAIGUS: We would like to make this a cultural shift within the college
so that everybody at every level
is thinking more creatively and more entrepreneurially.
JILL DUNAWAY: My colleague Jordan and I had the same idea.
The idea my colleague and I submitted to PEAK is e-payables,
which is a different method for paying the college's vendors.
Currently, the college issues checks to our vendors
or an electronic payment. E-payables will allow us
to pay our vendors via credit card.
So here's the analysis from the bank of potential vendors.
It looks like we have 15 vendors that the bank feels confident
will enroll in our e-payables program. >>JORDAN: Mm-hm.
JILL DUNAWAY: E-payables will create revenue
by increasing our rebate from the bank.
The potential rebate is about $150,000 a year.
It will also allow us to earn more money on our investments
because we will have our cash longer.
And it also will, will have a cost savings
in reducing the amount of checks that we're heading and mailing out.
I do like to think of new ideas and ways to work better.
And if there's a savings to the college or potential earnings
then that's even better.
>>GREG RAPP: I, I think there is a lot of excitement about PEAK,
and that comes from that people that are involved.
They want to participate. They want to have their ideas heard
and implemented. They want to make a difference.
>>NEAL NAIGUS: The results of the first round of PEAK
have been some really, really exciting new ideas that,
that show that people are really interested in finding new ways
and entrepreneurial efforts to, again, save costs and increase revenue.
>>GREG RAPP: PEAK really re-emphasizes
what we've done all along here at Portland Community College.
We are very innovative. We've always been very innovative.
>>NEAL NAIGUS: As we look down the road in the next 10, 20 years,
if we can't increase our revenue
and we're still trying to provide quality service to the community,
how are we going to do that?
Everybody has ideas, and this is a way that there's an avenue
for them to communicate those ideas.
>>SHEILA MESERSCHMIDT: I mean, that's what entrepreneurialism is about, right?
You seek opportunities that aren't already there.
You're willing to take the inherent risk involved.
And then you transform society.
>>KATE KINDER: We've met all our timelines.
We've been able to implement ideas
and would like to continue doing that and growing that in the next fiscal year
and getting more people involved in PEAK.
JILL DUNAWAY: I do think that a group like PEAK is important to the college
because people do have ideas,
and it may just be a thought, but this leaves you an avenue
to be able to make something happen.