Campbell Trophy Summit

Second Campbell Trophy® Summit Expands its Mentoring Impact

“It’s a real honor to be here, and to pay tribute to the man that this trophy is named after,” said Intuit Chairman and CEO Brad Smith in addressing the attendees. “It’s a great honor to speak to you because you have been recognized as someone who carries his name with distinction. That individual is Bill Campbell…. This is the must-attend event in Silicon Valley, and I can attest to that because I have had multiple people ask me how they can buy a ticket, but that is what makes this event so special you can’t buy your way here. You have to earn your way here, and everyone in this room has done just that.”

Each college in the country is allowed one nomination per year for the Campbell Trophy, and the requirements include a 3.2 GPA or better and for the student-athlete to be a significant contributor on the team in their final year of eligibility. Covering every college and university from all divisions of play, the nomination process effectively creates a pool of the best student-athletes from each school in the nation who are then invited to attend the Summit.

“We are so proud of the NFF National Scholar-Athlete program and the Campbell Trophy, which is the crown jewel of our scholarship program,” said NFF President & CEO Steve Hatchell. “The Summit has become a powerful platform for us to showcase all the great nominees for the trophy while providing us a vehicle for mentoring them and subsequently sending them out into the workforce with many of the tools and concepts that Bill Campbell used to influence so many people in the business world. This is a great way for those who loved Bill and the great game of football to pay it forward.”

The event, which aims to help attendees with their personal and career growth, pays tribute to Bill Campbell, the award’s namesake who passed away in 2016. Campbell, who played and coached at Columbia before a switch to the business world, became one of the most influential individuals in Silicon Valley, using the lessons of the gridiron to mentor Steve Jobsof Apple, Larry Page, Sergey Brin and Eric Schmidt of Google, Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Scott Cook and Brad Smith of Intuit and countless others. The event, which attracted 106 former nominees and featured 44 speakers, served as the perfect vehicle to carry on Bill’s legacy of mentoring. (See below for a full list of participants.)

“My goal this year was to find out what made Bill Campbell so special,” said Yaser Elqutub, a 2011 finalist from Northwestern State. “The irony was that you kind of imagine it as something top secret that we don’t know about, but when you listen to the speakers, they say ‘I wasn’t a scholar, and I wasn’t an athlete. I was just an average guy, and somehow Bill was able to bring it out of me.’ The irony is that we’re in a room full of accomplished student-athletes, so we’re kind of looking to these guys for answers but the answer is already within us… We have what it takes, and we just need a push to go for it.”

“One thing that really resonates with me about the way people spoke about Bill was that loving and caring about people first, and that’s the way Bill mentored people,” said Daniel Giovacchini, an attendee and a 2014 semifinalist from Brown. “If you bring that to all your interactions that will open the doors to have the hard conversations about the important initiatives and enable you to do huge things.”

“When I was listening to all the speakers, it wasn’t that they were smarter, better or naturally had these capabilities, but all of them talked about changing their mindset to accomplish things,” said Ryan Janvion, an attendee and a 2016 finalist from Wake Forest. “So, many times people want to feel comfortable, and it’s natural for us to feel comfortable, but just like on the football field and the weight room, we need to challenge ourselves in the same way in the business world where we have to put ourselves out there to be uncomfortable.”

MWF Advisors CEO Mark Flynn, a former linebacker at Saint John’s (Minn.) who coached eighth-grade boys-and-girls’ flag-football team with Campbell for thirteen years, played the lead role in organizing the event.

“The storyline of how we were able to put this together involved multiple people, saying how can we pull together something in the legacy of Bill Campbell and share some of his values, and make a difference because that was what Bill was about,” said Flynn. “We took the concept to Brad Smith who said ‘We are all in whatever it takes and whatever resources you need, Intuit is behind this’… All of you made it a priority to get out here, so our job is to make sure that it’s worth your while that we help you advance your life, your career, and we help you with your goals and ambitions.”

Expanding from three to four days, the 2018 event added a career expo with a dozen companies on site to recruit, several team building activities, a physical competition dubbed the “Summit Triathlon,” and a dinner cruise of San Francisco Bay. The panels covered a wide range of topics designed to foster leadership, personal growth and the career development. The speakers this year included a Hall of Fame panel with Ronnie Lott (USC) and Steve Young(BYU); a workshop with Liz Wiseman, the author of the New York Times bestseller “Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter;” and a discussion with Astro Teller, an entrepreneur, scientist, author and the Captain of Moonshots & CEO of Google X.

Companies participating in the career expo included Altamont Capital, Bank of America, Chegg, Enjoy, EY, Google, Intuit, the Knight-Hennessey Scholars at Stanford, McDermott Will & Emery, Snap! Raise, SoFi, SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, WeDriveU and the XFL as well as professionals from the medical and real state fields and several entrepreneurs from a diverse range of emerging companies.

This year’s attendees traveled from more than 34 states, Japan, Canada, and the District of Columbia, representing 81 colleges and universities from all divisions, and the event kicked off with a reception at Stanford Stadium, including welcome remarks from Smith, Hatchell and Flynn.

“We at the National Football Foundation try to do the right thing to protect the game, and Mark Flynn came to us, saying we can make a difference. We can add a new chapter, putting together the summit and putting the wind in its sails,” said Hatchell. “And Brad Smith said I’ll go shoulder-to-shoulder with you, and I’ll walk every step with you, and I’ll make it work. So for two years, this wonderful, spectacular event, which defines college football in the very best way is because of these two people, so thank you.”

The captain of Columbia’s 1961 Ivy League championship team, Bill Campbell found his true calling after an unlikely career change at age 39 from football coach to advertising executive. His ability to recruit, develop and manage talented executives – all lessons learned on the gridiron – proved to be a critical component of his ability to inspire his business teams to the highest levels of success.

Campbell joined the NFF Board in 1978 while he was still a coach at Columbia, and he continued to serve with distinction until his passing in 2016. In 2004, the NFF recognized Campbell’s contributions and accomplishments by presenting him with the NFF Gold Medal, the organization’s highest honor. In 2009, the NFF renamed college football’s premier scholar-athlete award as The William V. Campbell Trophy^® in his honor.

One of college football’s most sought after and competitive awards, the trophy identifies one individual as the absolute best in the country for his combined academic success, football performance and exemplary community leadership. Made of 25-pounds of bronze and 24-inches in height, the trophy is currently displayed at its official home inside the New York Athletic Club and accompanied by a $25,000 postgraduate scholarship endowed by HealthSouth Corp. Fidelity Investments serves as a proud partner of both the Campbell Trophy^® and the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Awards.

The centerpiece to the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Awards, the Campbell Trophy^® was first presented in 1990 and adds to the prestige of the program, which was launched in 1959 as the first initiative in history to award postgraduate scholarships based on a player’s combined academic, athletic and community accomplishments. The program has awarded $11.3 million to 841 top athletes since its inception, and it currently distributes around $300,000 each year. Coupled with the money distributed by its local chapters, the NFF has distributed more than $31 million.