Warrington student representing University of Florida at St. Gallen Symposium
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Master of International Business student Craft Talbot (BSBA ’21, MIB ’22) is one of 200 students who have been selected to participate in the St. Gallen Symposium in Switzerland this summer.
The St. Gallen Symposium brings together leaders of today and tomorrow from business, politics, science and civil society to foster mutual understanding and joint action on our most pressing challenges and chances. The global community is comprised of more than 400 businesses and institutions and over 300 universities.
“Throughout my four years at the University of Florida, I have always strived for excellence, and finding excellent opportunities to grow me personally and professionally,” Talbot said. “The St. Gallen Symposium is incredibly competitive and prestigious to get into. I was not aware of any UF students getting in, or even applying in years past. To not only be representing the University of Florida, but the State of Florida and the United States at this event is an incredible honor. I believe my attendance at this event will show that the University of Florida is not just a place that makes national leaders, but global ones as well.”
In order to attend the St. Gallen Symposium, students must participate in an essay competition. This year’s competition featured submissions from hundreds of students in over 90 countries who were asked to write on a subject surrounding the conference’s annual theme.
This year’s theme is Collaborative Advantage, and students were asked to respond to what they believe should be written into a new intergenerational contract. Talbot focused her essay on intergenerational trust, to which she argued that no sustainable, long-term global initiatives will be here in 100 years if we don’t first establish intergenerational trust.
“Without trust amongst the contract participants, the contract will not endure,” she wrote. “For progress to be made in addressing critical global issues trust must be formed. Trust is a necessary foundation for which the rest of an intergenerational contract can be built…Once intergenerational trust is created and maintained, our society can be on the way to making lasting changes in areas of global issues, such as sustainability initiatives, stopping climate change, ending hunger, development and inequality, and ensuring access to clean drinking water.”
During the conference, Talbot is most excited about meeting other students and young professionals from around the world.
“Throughout the week, I will be able to partake in open dialogues and debates on how to solve some of the world’s most pressing issues, and I am so excited to hear so many international perspectives on issues that we encounter every day, like climate change, inequality, poverty, and so many other issues,” she said. “This is the 51st year of the symposium and the alumni pool from the St. Gallen Leaders of Tomorrow is close to 10,000 people across the globe and having the chance to join that and meet so many people is so exciting.”
Out of all the speakers attending the St. Gallen Symposium this year, Talbot has a few she’s most interested in hearing from, notably, Swiss Confederation President Ignazio Cassis, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Maria Ressa, Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarobic, Google Chief Privacy Officer Keith Enright, Director General of the European Space Agency Josef Ashbacher and Ukrainian Parliament member Yelyzaveta Yasko, among others.
After attending the symposium this May, Talbot will be studying abroad at WHU on the MBA European Summer Program in Vallendar, Germany. In addition to her time in Europe, Talbot will be completing an internship with Target’s Minneapolis, Minnesota-based corporate offices as an inventory analyst in its Global Supply Chain Division.
