UIC student invited to national Forbes summit

Kalpit Shah is one of four students selected nationwide to attend the Forbes leadership summit this week.

Kalpit Shah is doing something extravagant over spring break.

He’ll rub elbows with some of the biggest names in industry, education and government at a luxury downtown Chicago hotel March 26-28, attending the 2014 Forbes “Reinventing America Summit,” a first-of-its-kind summit dedicated to the industrial executives, entrepreneurs, academics, and elected officials leading the next industrial revolution.

“This summit provides the opportunity to learn, build, and network with important figures in our country,” says Shah, a College of Business Administration junior and Honors College student.

He is one of only four students nationwide to be invited to attend the summit.

“I like to believe I got invited because I am a student leader at the University of Illinois at Chicago with extensive internship experience in various industries,” said Shah, a finance major, president of the Finance and Investment Group, and chairman of the Business Student Advisory Board at UIC.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Steve Forbes, Sam Zell, and other leaders in industry, education and government will meet at the two-day summit to discuss strategies that can help American business dominate the global stage once again.

“Other countries are catching up to us technologically and even passing us up, and we need to start thinking about how we can stay one step ahead,” Shah said.

Other topics that will be discussed include technological advances, innovative manufacturing techniques, transportation, the role of government, and new funding approaches for the nation’s industrial rebirth.

Shah hopes to contribute the viewpoint of an ambitious college student.

“I will take the ideas, more specifically, the networks and see how I can build on it to benefit myself, the university, the city, the state, and the country as a whole,” he said.