Midland Institute for Entrepreneurship (MIE)
Special Guests: Austin Brooks & Anna Utz
“Today, I really felt just truly honored that Austin and Anna wanted to come all the way to Jerseyville to meet us and speak to us. Hearing both of their stories was so inspirational.” - Nadia Bowker (CEO students)

MIE is in their 15th year and there are 70 CEO programs across the country working woth 330 schools and 4,000 CEO students! Supporting all of these programs is a team of six at MIE.
It’s easy to see why so many communities want this program in their town given that it exposes students to the opportunities right in their backyard while finding inspiration from local entrepreneurs.

Anna Utz is the Operations Leader at MIE. She exemplifies “if there is a will there is a way”. She doesn’t give up or shy away from learning to do new things.
We’ve also heard she’s a fantastic pickleball player.
She shared her story with students of not really knowing what she wanted to do and figuring it out along the way. She has degrees in marketing, sales, entrepreneurship and recently received her MBA (masters of business administration). She received her degrees from University of Alabama and LSU. She encouraged students that if they don’t have a plan yet that it’s okay and it will all work out in the end.

“Failure is the best teacher.”
Austin Brooks is most known, in his current role as Executive Director, for being the student that sparked the CEO program. He wanted to speak with business leaders and a his teacher at the time, Craig Lindvahl (the architect of CEO), wanted all students to have this same opportunity to learn outside of the classroom.
Austin is well-spoken, doesn’t miss a detail, and a master of connecting people with his always growing network. He is a perfect person to lead MIE as he always wants people to grow and succeed at their passions. He enjoys keeping up with CEO alumni and cheering them on from the sidelines of their career journey.
Fun fact - his wife was in the very first CEO program in Effingham, IL where it all started.

Thank you for taking the time to come see us!