500 Firms and CEO @ Ohio State are bringing the CEO of DSW, Roger Rawlins to Ohio State for a chat with students. Courtesy: 500 Firms at Ohio State

Student organizations 500 Firms and CEO @ Ohio State announced Monday they are bringing Roger Rawlins, CEO of major footwear retailer DSW, to campus next week.

500 Firms aims to empower students to achieve their career goals through weekly collaborations and job-hacking workshops. CEO @ Ohio State aims to inspire students to seek out leadership positions by inviting CEOs of large companies to campus to present their stories and give advice.

The two groups host two executives every semester. Earlier this semester,  they hosted former CEO and executive chairman of Cardinal Health, George Barrett, who is currently ranked No. 14 on the Fortune 500 list.

Ohio State students and faculty will hear Rawlins speak about the routines and habits he used in college and beyond to develop his leadership skills, as well as his path to his former positions.

Jordan Pierre, vice president of 500 Firms and a fourth-year in industrial and systems engineering, said the organization wanted to bring Rawlins specifically because he is an Ohio State alumnus who got his bachelor’s degree in accounting and finance and his MBA, meaning current students can relate to him.

“Our mission is to bring high-performing and unattainable executives to campus to inspire students to embrace leadership positions, as well as show students that these people aren’t fundamentally any different than us,” Pierre said. “It really only comes down to the everyday habits, beliefs and how much we embrace opportunity that separates us and them.”  

Unlike other speaking engagement events on campus, Pierre said their events are run entirely for students, by students.

“We’re just a couple of student [organizations] without any strong relationships with any of the colleges with well-connected alumni,” Pierre said. “We’re just students asking CEOs of major corporations what we want to know from our own student perspective.”

The event will take place at 8 p.m. Tuesday in Independence Hall 100, with the opportunity to take photos at the end of the talk. The event is free for students and Ohio State faculty members. Tickets are available at ceoosu.com.