Execs Share Real World Insight with Students, Business Community

Guest lecturers, including presenters in the college's Wachovia Executive Lecture Series, help to bring a real world perspective and insight into corporate leadership styles for both students and the Triangle area business community.

Lisa Jeffries, NC State alumna (B.S., Textiles, 2007; B.S. Business Management, 2008) said she most likely went to her first Wachovia Executive Lecture at the suggestion of a College of Management professor who offered an extra credit point or two for students who attended.

“It really only took one time because after attending my first lecture and enjoying the format, I was ready for more,” Jeffries said. “I really enjoyed that many executives kept the ‘lecture’ part to points they felt were really important or currently relevant and then actually took time to just field questions and discussions with students and attendees. How often does a college senior get to pick the Progress Energy CEO’s brain about how to effectively lead a company into this new world of green concerns and energy management? It shows that they’re not presenting as a requirement of their c-level position, for some PR and face time with the public, but that they realize that NC State’s College of Management undergrad and grad students are the future of their businesses.”

Jeffries said that she also “enjoyed that the events were open (to the public).” Now as an alumn of the college, she continues to make an effort to attend, and sometimes brings others along. “Just last year I grabbed one of my sorority sisters from undergrad – who is now in grad school at Duke completing an advanced degree in energy management – to attend the Progress Energy lecture with me, as it’s something she’s interested in professionally and something I wanted to expand my understand of as a customer of Progress Energy services.”

Wachovia Executive Lecture Series

Bill Johnson, chairman, CEO and president of Progress Energy, was one of six Wachovia Executive Lecture Series presenters in 2008. Also speaking were:

• Ken Lewis, chairman and CEO of Bank of America
• Sam Palmisano, chairman, president and CEO of IBM
• J. Frank Harrison, III, chairman and CEO of Coca Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated
• Ursula Burns, president of Xerox
• William J. Ameliio, CEO and president of Lenovo.

In spring 2009, the lecture series presents:

• January 12 – Jim Whitehurst, president and CEO of Red Hat
• February 4 – Scott Custer, CEO of RBC Bank
• March 18 – Dr. Dennis Gillings, chairman and CEO, Quintiles Transnational

Additional details are available online.

Annual BioSciences Forum

Also open to the public is the college’s annual BioSciences Forum, presented by the BioSciences Management program in the college’s Jenkins Graduate School of Management. Speaking at the October 31, 2008 forum were:

• William K. Atkinson, PhD, president and CEO of WakeMed Health and Hospitals
• Myla Lai-Goldman, MD,medical director, chief scientific officer and executive vice president of Laboratory Corporation of America, Holdings
• Paula Brown Stafford, MPH, executive vice president, global biometrics, Quintiles Transnational Corp.
• Michael D. Kowolenko, PhD, senior vice president, Wyeth Biotech technical operations and product supply

ERM Roundtables

The Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) Roundtable series has been drawing over 100 participants to its morning programs for the past several years. Practitioners working on ERM initiatives for their organizations present an overview of their activities and participate in a question-answer session with the audience. The presentations are summarized on the ERM Roundtable website

Net Impact’s Sustainability Symposium

MBA students in college-based Net Impact student organization worked with the college’s Development and External Relations staff to arrange for a panel of experts in the energy industry for their annual Sustainability Symposium. The spring 2008 event, “Energize Your Future,” was presented as part of NC State’s Year of Energy Earth Week activities. Presenters were:

• David Kirkpatrick, managing director and co-founder, SJF Ventures
• John Morrison, vice president, Advanced Energy
• Ivan Urlaub, executive director, NC Sustainable Energy Association
• Chris Wedding, associate, Sustainable Planning Development, Cherokee Investment Partners
• Tammy Zucco, manager of strategic marketing, ABB
• Janice Hager, managing director, Integrated Resource Planning and Environmental Strategy, Duke Energy

Those interested in receiving notification of these and other college events may register for event announcements at the College of Management’s website.

In addition to the major public events, hundreds of professionals visit the college in the course of a year to speak with students in classrooms and at student organization meetings on specific topics related to the curriculum or the organization’s focus. They also speak at the biannual Supply Chain Resource Cooperative meetings, serve as mentors for students in the MBA program’s Entrepreneurship and Technology Commercialization concentration, and participate in career development activities.

“The college appreciates the time commitment made by all our guest presenters in the course of a year’s time,” said Ira R. Weiss, dean. “They truly do enrich the academic experience of our students and provide insight for our guests from the business community.”

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