"There is a path through pain to wisdom, through suffering to strength, and through fear to courage – if we have the virtue of resilience." That's some of the wisdom in Eric Greitens' new book, "Resilience," and a theme he will likely build upon during his "Becoming Resilient" keynote address during EDCUtah's annual meeting on Sept. 22.
The meeting will be held at the Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City beginning at 11 a.m. and, along with Greitens' speech, will include a report on EDCUtah's economic development results for FY 2014-2015 and the election of new board and executive committee members.
"Our annual meeting is a premier economic development networking event, bringing together leaders from across the state in business, industry, local and state government and education," says EDCUtah President and CEO Jeff Edwards. "One of the highlights of the event is the presentation of our Nick Rose Private Sector Leadership Award and our Thayne Robson Public Sector Leadership Award to two deserving individuals that have made significant contributions to economic development in the state."
"Last year Don Cash received the Nick Rose Private Sector Leadership Award, and Dennis Nordfelt was posthumously awarded the Thayne Robson Public Sector Leadership Award," Edwards continues. "We are excited to announce this year's awardees at the meeting Sept. 22."
Greitens' keynote address is expected to be an inspirational and motivational cap to the meeting. A native of Missouri, he is a decorated veteran, having served as a Navy SEAL officer with four deployments during the Global War on Terrorism to locations in Afghanistan, Southeast Asia, the Horn of Africa and Iraq. He served as the Commander of a Mark V Special Operations Craft Detachment, Commander of a Joint Special Operations Task Unit, and as Commander of an al Qaeda Targeting Cell.
Greitens attended Duke University, where he was selected as a Rhodes and a Truman Scholar. He went on to earn a master's degree in 1998 and a Ph.D. in 2000 from University of Oxford. His doctoral thesis, Children First, investigated how international humanitarian organizations can best serve war-affected children. He has worked as a humanitarian volunteer, documentary photographer and researcher in Rwanda, Cambodia, Albania, Mexico, India, Bosnia and Bolivia.
He is also a photographer and writer. His fourth book, Resilience, was released in March. Greitens is a sub-3 hour marathon runner and the winner of the Shamrock Marathon at Camp Fallujah, Iraq. As a boxer, he won two Oxford Boxing Blues and the Gold Medal at the BUSA National Boxing Championships. He holds a 2nd Dan Black Belt in Taekwondo.
