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September 29, 2003
McCombs, BusinessWeek Team Up for Forum on Improving Corporate
Governance
Michael Dell, Herb Kelleher
headline roster of leading CEOs, academics and national experts
By Jerry Mahoney
AUSTIN – As investors are all too aware, confidence in public companies has been pummeled by recent, high profile corporate scandals. Powerful forces in both the private sector and the federal government are demanding that companies make wholesale changes in governance to restore trust.
“Every company is being asked by institutional investors and the Securities and Exchange Commission: How have you structured your board to be sure there is proper oversight,” said George Gau, dean of the McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin.
That question will be the focus of a two-day forum at the McCombs School, organized by BusinessWeek and Texas Executive Education Oct. 29-30 featuring national corporate leaders such as Michael Dell, chairman and chief executive of Dell Inc.; Herb Kelleher, chairman of Southwest Airlines; Edward Whitacre Jr., chairman and CEO of SBC Communications Inc.; and Michael Jordan, chairman and CEO of EDS Corp.
The BusinessWeek Leadership Forum on Restoring Corporate Integrity and Public Trust also will include leading academics from the McCombs School, as well as CEOs such as Jeffrey Rodek of Hyperion Solutions Corp. and Richard Schnieders of SYSCO Corp. Other experts include former U.S. Sen. Bill Bradley, (D-NJ), managing director of Allen & Co.; John O'Connor, vice chairman of PricewaterhouseCoopers; Charles Niemeier, member and former interim chair of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board; and Robert Bennett, the former federal prosecutor who heads the international enforcement group in the Washington, D.C., law offices of Skadden, Arps.
McCombs faculty will participate in two panel discussions:
- “Executive Compensation and Succession Planning: Beyond the Rhetoric,” featuring professors William Cunningham (Marketing), James Fredrickson (Management), Robert Parrino (Finance), and Laura Starks (Finance)
- “The Evolving Board: Effects of Recent & Anticipated Legislation,” featuring professors Michael Granof (Accounting), William Kinney (Accounting), Robert Prentice (Business law and MSIS), and James Westphal (Management), along with the dean of the UT School of Law William Powers.
Steven Tomlinson, senior finance lecturer and director of McCombs Plus, will deliver a session on the country’s macroeconomic outlook.
The forum, which has restricted admission, is designed for CEOs, chief operating officers, corporate presidents and directors of companies with revenue of at least $50 million annually.
The event includes an optional half-day executive education seminar on Friday, Oct. 31, created by McCombs faculty. Topics include, “Creating Engagement: How Leaders Build Loyalty & Commitment,” conducted by John Daly, and “Future Trends: Keep Track of Macro-environmental Factors,” led by Philip Zerrillo.
"The Friday Seminar will further enrich the learning experience for the CEOs attending the forum," said Chantal Delys, assistant dean and director of Texas Executive Education. "We are delighted to have Business Week as a partner in this venture," said Delys. "The forum brings together an outstanding faculty, at the vanguard of business knowledge and research, with industry leaders who make things happen and have a direct impact in the future of business."
The forum at the McCombs School, which is co-sponsored by SAP, is one of four BusinessWeek-sponsored gatherings hosted at America’s best b-schools dealing with timely business and economic topics. The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania hosted a forum in September. Other October events are scheduled at the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley and the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
For more information, including an online registration form and complete list of speakers, visit the conference Website at BusinessWeek Events.
About Executive Education at McCombs
Texas Executive Education offers programs that give executives the insights and skills that enable them to lead, think strategically and manage change. The learning experience at Texas Executive Education is synergistic and dynamic. Participants learn by capitalizing on the faculty's expertise, their own knowledge and experiences, and from the contributions made by peers from other leading companies. Classes are a combination of lecture and discussion, interactive role-playing exercises, business simulations, case analysis, videotaping with feedback, and working on company projects to solve real business problems. Texas Executive Education programs offer business leaders solutions to the challenges they face in today's complex marketplace.
For further information on the
Corporate Governance Forum or McCombs
Executive Education contact Assistant Dean and Director
Chantal Delys
(512-471-1064).
For information on specific programs at the McCombs School, consult our contacts page. For media information, contact the Communications Director by phone at 512-471-3314 or by email at CommunicationsDirector@mccombs.utexas.edu.
