Dean, Lawrence Conservatory of Music, Lawrence University
Panelist: Driving Innovation, Opportunity & Personal Growth through the Arts
Brian Pertl is currently the Dean of the Lawrence Conservatory of Music. He is a leader in bringing change to a field of study in desperate need of change. He strives to combine a culture of play, curiosity, and unbridled creativity with intense professional music training. His program at Lawrence creates the flexible, innovative, entrepreneurial musician/scholar/leaders that both the arts world and the business world need today.
Brian is a trombonist, ethnomusicologist, didjeridu player, Deep Listener, executive coach, consultant, and an advocate for nurturing creativity in the workplace—whether that workplace is in the corporate world or a university setting.
Before accepting his current position, he was the manager of Microsoft’s Media Acquisitions Group in Redmond, Washington for 16 years. He is passionate about bringing the lessons of his conservatory music culture into the world of business. His entrepreneurship course at Lawrence University seamlessly blends high level business skills with exercises in improvisation, creative play, and collaborative problem solving. More than anything else, the world of business needs a creative, innovative workforce to tackle the rapidly changing demands of today’s world, but businesses are woefully lacking in the skills and methodology to build a creative workforce. Brian combines his unique background in business and music to help make businesses more creative, innovative, and productive.