Midday Keynote Session

Dustin is an award-winning business journalist, bestselling author, and the chief content officer of Smart Business. Over the past 30 years, he has interviewed thousands of business and civic leaders, and helped more than 50 CEOs and entrepreneurs transform their ideas into books. A trained investigative politics reporter and former digital media entrepreneur, Dustin joined Smart Business in 1997 after serving as an editor at several daily newspapers.

Dennis Murphree is the CEO of Murphree and Company Inc. (commercial real estate development); the Managing Partner of Murphree Venture Partners (seven venture capital funds); The Southern Funds Group (venture capital and private equity partnerships). He got his BA in Economics from Southern Methodist University and his MBA in Finance from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He has been an entrepreneur his entire career. Upon graduation from The Wharton School, he entered the real estate industry as a commercial broker in May 1971 and started his own firm, The Murphree Company, in December 1972. By 1985, that firm was the 11th largest commercial real estate developer in the U.S. and did $600 million in new construction that year throughout 13 U.S. cities.

In 1975, Dennis began doing venture capital deals as well, starting with 6 commercial bank start-ups and buy-outs between 1975 and 1980. He was chairman of the board of three of the banks: The Commonwealth Bank (Houston); Vail National Bank (Colorado); and Avon National Bank (Colorado). In 1982, he did his first high tech start-up, Analytical Engines Inc. By 1986, he had done 23 VC deals including the restaurants Cafe Express and Cafe Annie, where he was the largest shareholder for a decade. In late 1986, he sold his real estate operations and began VC work full time in January of 1987. Over the years, his firm has financed 109 portfolio companies through seven institutional venture capital funds and over 25 separate partnerships.

Roger Nicholson is senior vice president of service operations for Insperity. In this role, he is responsible for providing strategic leadership to Insperity’s service organization supporting the company’s three principal solutions—HRCore, HR360, and HRScale—and overseeing the development and delivery of human resources services and capabilities that enable clients’ businesses to succeed so their communities prosper.

Roger joined Insperity in 2002 as a client relationship manager and has held a series of leadership roles of increasing scope and responsibility, including director of northeast service operations, general manager of eastern region service operations, and vice president of field operations.

With more than 30 years of experience, Roger brings deep expertise across recruiting, staffing, sales, operations, human resources, payroll, and organizational leadership. Prior to joining Insperity, he held management positions at Manpower International and Manpower Professional. He also served in the United States Marine Corps as a gunnery sergeant, area manager, and career recruiter, where his early leadership experiences helped shape his commitment to mission execution and people development.

Roger earned his bachelor’s degree in English from The University of Florida and has completed extensive coursework in sales, communications, coaching, leadership, finance, and accounting.

Active in the community, Roger is the immediate past chairman of the Board of Directors for the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in The Woodlands, Texas, where he has served in multiple board and leadership roles since 2018. He is also a member of the national board of directors for Genesys Works, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preparing high school students for college and career success through work‑based learning and professional mentorship.