BSB Entrepreneur Speaker Series
Networking Mixer: 5:30-6:30 p.m.
Main Program: 6:30-7:30 p.m.
Nearly every entrepreneurial journey begins with a simple observation: There has to be a better way.
In this engaging and practical conversation, entrepreneur, executive, board director, and author Lou Sandoval explores entrepreneurship not merely as the act of starting a company but as a way of seeing the world. Drawing on a career spanning startups, Fortune 500 companies, technology, healthcare, the marine industry, business leadership, and corporate governance, Sandoval shares how entrepreneurs learn to recognize problems others have accepted, challenge conventional assumptions, and turn insight into opportunity.
Drawing on personal experience building businesses, developing new markets, leading a technology turnaround, and transforming organizations, Sandoval introduces a five-part entrepreneurial playbook:
See. Reframe. Solve. Scale. Steward.
The discussion explores how entrepreneurs identify meaningful problems, distinguish symptoms from root causes, test ideas against market evidence, build organizations capable of scaling, and ultimately accept the responsibilities of leadership.
Sandoval also considers entrepreneurship in an age of artificial intelligence, where access to information and answers is rapidly democratizing, making curiosity, judgment, adaptability, and the ability to ask better questions increasingly valuable.
At its heart, There Has to Be a Better Way challenges aspiring entrepreneurs and established business leaders alike to look more closely at the problems around them and to ask not simply, “What business should I start?” but rather, “What problem is worth solving?”
About Lou Sandoval
Lou Sandoval is an entrepreneur, business executive, board director, advisor, and bestselling author whose career has centered on building businesses, accelerating growth, and leading organizations through periods of transformation.
He is the Founder and CEO of Halo Advisory Group, where he advises companies, investors, and leadership teams on growth strategy, operational performance, transformation, and value creation. His executive career spans healthcare and life sciences, technology, consumer and marine businesses, financial services, and business advocacy, with leadership roles at Johnson & Johnson, Brunswick Corporation, SupplyHive, and the Illinois Chamber of Commerce. Earlier in his career, he founded and built Karma Yacht Sales into one of the leading dealerships for its represented brands.
Sandoval has extensive corporate governance experience and serves on the Board of Directors of Wintrust Bank, NA. He is the author of the bestselling book Tenacity for Life: Lessons in Life, Business, and the World Around Us.
A lifelong competitive sailor, Sandoval has navigated more than 35,000 miles on the water and completed 26 Chicago Yacht Club Races to Mackinac. Sandoval often uses offshore sailing as a metaphor for entrepreneurship and leadership: the destination may be clear, but conditions continually change, requiring judgment, adaptability, teamwork, and the willingness to adjust course.
Throughout his career, one principle has remained constant: meaningful opportunities often begin when someone is willing to look at an accepted problem and say, “There has to be a better way.”