Marketing leader to share lessons learned in dean’s speaker series
When Robert Royer shares his story and lessons he’s learned about achieving success, his main goal is to make a connection with the people he’s addressing, and he hopes to do just that when he speaks at the University of Houston-Victoria at Katy next week.
Royer, a UHV alumnus and president and founder of Building Brands Marketing, will speak as part of the UHV College of Business Dean’s Distinguished Speaker Series at 6:30 p.m. on April 4 in Room 106 of UHV Katy, 22400 Grand Circle Blvd. In addition to Royer’s presentation, students and other attendees will have an opportunity to meet and mingle with him and local community leaders. The event is free and open to the public.
“Robert is a UHV alumnus who has built a great success story despite facing several adversities in life,” said Jeffrey Blodgett, interim dean of the UHV College of Business. “The speaker series is an opportunity for the business college to provide students with examples of inspiring stories and to give them the motivation to keep reaching for their dreams. Robert and others like him are examples of just how much a person can do with a degree.”
During his presentation, Royer plans to explain how individuals can build and use their personal brand to influence their corporate brand. He also plans to share some of his personal story and how he found ways to motivate himself to rise above his circumstances and become a successful business owner.
“It’s an absolute privilege to be invited to speak as part of this series,” Royer said. “I love having the ability to share my story and relate to other students who may have faced similar challenges or their own struggles in their efforts to earn a higher education. If I’m able to engage with just one student who needed to hear from someone like them, I consider the event a success.”
Royer attended high school in Sugar Land, so he said getting the opportunity to speak at UHV Katy felt a bit like coming home. His father passed away when he was four, and Royer lived with his mother and four sisters for the remainder of this childhood. He had a troubled youth and said he had trouble finding himself.
“There was just a continuing string of challenges,” Royer said. “At one point, I was homeless and couch-surfing from friend to friend while I was trying to earn my degree at UHV. I also became a parent at a very young age. But I’ve made an effort to learn from each of these challenges rather than dwell on them, and I hope other students will do the same.”
As part of his presentation, Royer will teach attendees about the DAD process, a tactic he uses to take his background of adversity to reinvent and rebrand himself, which led to his career as the head of a marketing company. He also plans to focus on how students can build professional relationships that can help them in the future.
“One of the things I’ve learned is that success can almost never be achieved alone,” he said. “As leaders, it’s essential to remember that our success is dependent on other people.”
The University of Houston-Victoria, located in the heart of the Coastal Bend region since 1973 in Victoria, Texas, offers courses leading to more than 50 academic programs in the schools of Arts & Sciences; Business Administration; and Education, Health Professions & Human Development. UHV provides face-to-face classes at its Victoria campus, as well as an instructional site in Katy, Texas, and online classes that students can take from anywhere. UHV supports the American Association of State Colleges and Universities Opportunities for All initiative to increase awareness about state colleges and universities and the important role they have in providing a high-quality and accessible education to an increasingly diverse student population, as well as contributing to regional and state economic development.