Meet the Speakers

Tom Bedell is one of Iowa's most energetic and visionary entrepreneurs. In 1979, Tom took over as president of what was then Berkley & Company, a fishing-tackle company that his father had founded as Berkley Fly Company in 1937. The company was renamed Pure Fishing in 1998 and is today the world's leading fishing tackle company, with manufacturing and marketing facilities in 22 countries and more than 1,100 employees worldwide.

Tom Cardella turned a business concept into a million dollar business. Having worked for two of the top five telemarketing firms in the U.S., Tom developed a plan for Access Direct. In 2000, Inc. magazine rated the company number eight on its list of the 500 fastest growing private companies. Cardella earned the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 1998 and the Small Business Administration Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 1999. Cardella is also the former chairman and CEO of Precision Response Corporation, a leader in sales, marketing, and customer care outsourcing services.

As a true entrepreneur at heart, Jim Foster took an idea written on the back of a manila envelope and became the inventor and founder of the game of Arena Football, the fast-paced, high-scoring "hybrid" played indoors. The success enjoyed by both the Arena Football League (AFL) and arenafootball2 (af2) is in no small part the result of Foster's vision and commitment. As a skilled sports league marketer, Foster has helped expand the reach of professional football across America, as well as overseas. After stepping down from his post as the original league commissioner in 1994, he became a managing team owner. His Iowa Barnstormers played in the AFL Championship game in 1996 and 1997, and his Quad City Steamwheelers won the first two af2 Championships in 2000 and 2001.