Featuring Emmy Award-winning sports reporter Jen Lada.

The 10th Annual CUW Sport and Hospitality Business Networking Roundtable is a 2-hour networking event that allows college and high school students to meet with and learn from 30-40 business professionals from different sport and hospitality organizations in Wisconsin, Illinois, and beyond. It is the largest student-centric sport and hospitality networking event in Wisconsin!

This year's Roundtable will feature a keynote conversation with Emmy Award-winning sports reporter, Jen Lada!

While the primary purpose of the event is to allow students to learn from those that “do” in small group or even individual settings, experts and their organizations also use it to look for volunteers, interns, and job candidates. (It's a great chance to find your next young professional before demand increases in the spring.)

Students can also participate in the return of the "Best Resume Contest" (in which the top resume wins a $300 airline gift card for future interviews), a "Best Dressed" contest (for those making the effort to make an incredible first impression with our experts), free professional head shots for professional social platforms like LinkedIn, and even select mocktails and munchies!

REGISTRATION

Registration is preferred for this free event. To sign up, click HERE or on the Register Now button.

WHAT TO EXPECT

Student attendees are encouraged to bring resumes and ways to take notes from the advice given by experts. Attire can range between business casual to professional. (We advise against hoodies, shorts, sweats and hats for this event.) Experts are not required to bring materials, although we recommend an ample stack of business cards.

You are welcome to bring any items to promote your organization, its events, and career opportunities (volunteer, internships, or jobs). Our 10th anniversary will feature a combination of college students and business professionals. If these are your target markets, sponsorship opportunities are available. (All funds raised are used to subsidize expenses associated with this event).

For more information, email daniel.underberg@cuw.edu.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

After graduating from Marquette University in 2002 with a degree in communications, Jen Lada began her broadcasting career after college as a sports reporter and anchor for the NBC affiliate station WREX in Rockford, Illinois. A restaurant service job supplemented her income in Rockford. She moved to the Fox affiliate WITI in Milwaukee in 2006. In early 2013 she moved to a larger media market by joining the NBC affiliate Comcast SportsNet Chicago. At first hired to cover NHL hockey, she worked as a reporter and an anchor for CSN and sometimes appeared on its Kap & Haugh radio show.

ESPN hired Lada in July 2015, originally to contribute to Colin Cowherd's ESPN Radio show, but Cowherd left the network before Lada would have begun in August 2015. She briefly co-hosted a short-lived 8 p.m. ESPN Radio show, Jorge & Jen, with Jorge Sedano. Lada secured her role at the network by acting as a "utility player" who could contribute to a variety of shows. Since 2016, she has served in long-term roles as a features reporter for College GameDay and a host for College Football Live.

She has continued to appear on or guest host other ESPN shows, including Get Up and SportsCenter. A feature by Lada for E:60 about the death of college football quarterback Tyler Hilinski won a Sports Emmy Award for Outstanding Short Documentary in 2020.

Lada has remained active in regional sports media in Wisconsin. In 2020, she began co-hosting, with Gabe Neitzel and Mark Chmura, a morning sports show for the ESPN radio affiliate WKTI in Milwaukee. In 2022–23, she served as the host for a weekly WKTI radio show featuring Marquette men's basketball coach Shaka Smart.

Lada married Dario Melendez, sports director at WISN-TV in Milwaukee, and has three children. A recreational endurance athlete, she has run multiple marathons and triathlons.