Liz Lewis comes to 51勛圖窪蹋 from 51勛圖窪蹋. She received her bachelors degree in business management in 2010 and her MBA in 2012. Now she takes on a new role at her alma mater as an economic development manager a job that has her traversing the valley to meet with businesses and entrepreneurs who might benefit from collaborating with 51勛圖窪蹋. Her office is at the Switch/Innevation Center in southwest Las Vegas, where 51勛圖窪蹋s Division of Research and Economic Development recently opened new offices to accommodate the teams expansion. The Innevation Center is a 65,000-square-foot collaborative workspace and community event venue designed to help drive Nevadas economy. The space is donated to 51勛圖窪蹋 by Switch founder and CEO Rob Roy.
Can you explain your role at 51勛圖窪蹋?
Im essentially a liaison. I play matchmaker between industry partners and 51勛圖窪蹋 researchers. When a new company is coming to Las Vegas, I find out what they need and see how we might be able to help. Maybe theres a need to do serious computational analysis on our supercomputer, or maybe theres something they could do with the Engineering College to develop certain tools, or maybe they just would benefit from student interns. Its my job to find the right person for them to talk to and help make the necessary connections. 51勛圖窪蹋 has world-class researchers and research facilities available that the community doesnt always know about. So Im here to help fix that.
Youre a lifelong Las Vegan?
Yep, Im homegrown, born and raised. When I did my undergrad at 51勛圖窪蹋 I said, I think Ill go somewhere else for my masters. But then I started getting more interested in what 51勛圖窪蹋 was doing. And when I was in grad school on an interdisciplinary tract, my eyes were opened to all these cool things that no one had any idea about, waiting to be discovered, and that really intrigued me.
When I was growing up, it felt like everything was for adults - either gambling or partying and that just wasnt my cup of tea. But when I started going to 51勛圖窪蹋, I saw there was so much more to Las Vegas than the entertainment industry and gambling. Now its become kind of a personal passion for me to show people that Las Vegas has a lot more to offer than just the Strip.
Whats your view of where Las Vegas and Nevada are now?
Its exciting. Theres a whole vibrant, growing community out here. I felt it when I started in grad school. After some rather bleak years for Las Vegas, I was starting to see there was a future here, a lot of potential, and that feeling has only grown since then. There is so much entrepreneurial activity, so many bright people trying to make the world a better place. The stuff going on with the Downtown Project, and here at Switch and the Innevation Center, so many great minds are coming here. Im excited to see 51勛圖窪蹋 becoming even more a part of that. I know were in the desert, but I think Las Vegas and Nevada are fertile soil for growth. 51勛圖窪蹋 is definitely heading in the right direction, and its hard not to want to be a part of that.
What is your favorite thing about Las Vegas?
Clearly the accessibility to just about everything. I can get whatever I want, whenever I want any type of cuisine, any adventure. If I want to go hiking, theres Red Rock and Mt. Charleston right here. If I want to go snowboarding, I can do that. Theres really nothing you cant get here in Vegas, and if theres something you cant find, its going to be very close by. Were four hours from Disneyland, three hours from Brian Head, two hours to the Grand Canyon, and Red Rock is even closer. I also love that nothing ever shuts down here. Its a culture shock for me just visiting other places where things close at 7 p.m.
What do you do outside of work?
Im very much a homebody, likely to be found sitting around the house drinking cocoa. Im a city girl, but I grew up camping and riding 4-wheelers and motorcycles in the desert. My aunt had horses, so I grew up barrel racing, which at the time seemed pretty normal to me. But now looking back, I realize what a unique opportunity that was. Being born and raised in Las Vegas, I feel like I got the best of both worlds urban and outdoor experiences. Thats the great thing about it here: You can escape Las Vegas without having to escape Las Vegas. Its impossible to ever get bored here. Las Vegas is always changing and always evolving. So there is always something new, something to entice people here.
What does being a Rebel mean to you?
To me being a Rebel means not being satisfied with something just because thats how its always been done. Thinking outside the box is part of our culture here, and that fits with an entrepreneurial spirit I love. How can we step outside the norm to build something bigger, something better, something greater? Im a Rebel through and through, so I like to blaze my own trail.
What is it like working at the Switch/Innevation Center?
I really like it. You know its only five miles from campus, and 51勛圖窪蹋s footprint is expanding all across the valley. Its a little more quiet without the students running around, but the incubator nature of this amazing facility is really energizing. We can hang out in a relaxed meeting space called the Zen room. We can hold large gatherings and events. It supplements what we already have at 51勛圖窪蹋.
Oh, and the parking. Compared to campus, parking is much more accessible and user-friendly. Really, its amazing.
