WorkForward Conference

Bill Barnett is a serial entrepreneur, author, and career and financial literacy coach with decades of experience building and leading companies across media, entertainment, and education technology. He served as the first President of Radio Aahs, which later became Radio Disney, co-founded Goldbar Entertainment, and built LikeLive, a video interview platform acquired by Educational Testing Service (ETS).

A USC alumnus who has spoken at Harvard Business School and USC Marshall School of Business, Bill now brings his real-world entrepreneurial experience to helping students develop the skills needed to build successful careers and prosperous futures.

What will you take away? Practical strategies for creating and managing wealth, making smarter career decisions, building a powerful professional network, and taking control of your financial future. Most importantly, Bill challenges students to think bigger about what is possible, and recognize that building a successful and financially secure future can start now.

Mark Bowles, Serial Entrepreneur, Inventor, VC, Television Producer

Mark has nearly 30 years in the semiconductor, wireless, retail, and biotech industries. He has been involved in the formation and funding of 9 venture-backed technology start-ups and has successfully raised 18 rounds of venture capital financing totaling more than $250 million. He is currently a cofounder of Truvian Sciences, an active angel investor in about a dozen San Diego companies, and a board member of a variety of companies, universities, and non-profits. Mark has been part of some successful financial exits for his start-ups including the acquisition of ecoATM by Outerwall for $350M. Mark is also co-founder, Producer, and co-host of investment TV series VC’s in a Van.

Mr. Bowles has 100+ patents granted and more pending. These innovations and products have won dozens of industry awards including a TechCrunch Crunchie and CEA Small Business of the Year.

Mr. Bowles holds an undergraduate degree in Industrial Distribution from Texas A&M University, and a Master of Science in Technology Management from Pepperdine University. Mark is a past member of the Pepperdine Graziadio Business School Board and an Advisory Board member for the University of San Diego's Center for Peace and Commerce and an EIR at Texas A&M’s Start-up Aggieland, and Board member of La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology. Mark grew up in Southeast Texas and arrived in Silicon Valley in 1987 and then moved to San Diego in 2003 where he lives now with his wife and 3 sons.

Travis Muhlestein
Product and AI Chief Technology Officer - GoDaddy

As Product and AI Chief Technology Officer at GoDaddy, Travis leads innovation in software development to better serve our customers through the power of AI. Since joining in 2021, he has delivered company initiatives in AI, analytics, experimentation and large-scale data platforms.

Previously, Travis held leadership roles at Nvidia and Microsoft, overseeing global teams in gaming at Xbox and GeForce, developer systems, online advertising and cloud technology.

He holds an MBA from the University of Washington and studied computer science at Brigham Young University. Based in the Kirkland area, Travis emphasizes service in the community, including contributions to his non-profit work.

David Singelyn

Chief Executive Officer/Trustee
American Homes 4 Rent

B.S., Accounting, 1984
B.S., Computer Information Systems, 1984

David Singelyn is the initial chief executive officer and a trustee of American Homes 4 Rent (NYSE: AMH).  He built the company from personally acquiring the company’s original three properties in 2011 to a company today that owns more than 60,000 properties in 22 states.

For 35 years, Singelyn has held senior positions in private and publicly traded real estate companies. Prior to AMH, from 2005 to 2012, Singelyn was CEO and a director of American Commercial Equities (ACE), a private real estate company that owns and manages a portfolio of retail and office properties in California and Hawaii. He built ACE’s management team and operational platform.  

From 2003 to 2012, Singelyn was president and a director of Public Storage in Canada (PSC).  The company was a publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange until Singelyn facilitated a transaction to take it private in 2010. Singelyn remains a director of both ACE and PSC. From 1989 to 2003, Singelyn held various senior finance roles at Public Storage in the United States.  

Singelyn started his career at Arthur Young & Company (now a part of Ernst & Young LLP) and thereafter served as controller of Winchell’s Donut House.  

He earned bachelor degrees in accounting and computer information systems from Cal Poly Pomona. He is the sponsor of the College of Business Administration’s Singelyn Graduate School of Business, the Singelyn Center for Innovative Analytics and a member of the Dean’s Advisory Council.  He is also a trustee of non-profit entities organized for the purpose of medical research and to facilitate the development of housing and other solutions for low income families and individuals.