UD to host discussions of business issues

3 p.m., Sept. 8, 2004--Important business issues facing the nation will be addressed this fall through three programs sponsored by the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance in the Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics at the University of Delaware.

The Weinberg Center will host an International Corporate Governance Network conference and sponsor a Directors College for corporate board members, in addition to offering a semester-long series of panel discussions as part of an undergraduate course on corporate governance.

Charles Elson, UD’s Edgar S. Woolard Jr. Chair and an internationally recognized authority on corporate governance issues, is the director of the Weinberg Center.

“The Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance was founded in part to stimulate conversation about real world issues facing the nation’s business community and bring about change through education and discussion,” Elson said. “We believe the conference, the Directors College and the panels all serve this important purpose.”

The corporate governance course, which meets from 9:30-10:45 a.m., Tuesdays and Thursdays, in 125 Alfred Lerner Hall, will feature discussions on the prevention of corporate fraud Tuesday, Oct. 5, on corporate governance guidelines Thursday, Oct. 28, and on the corporate gatekeeper Thursday, Nov. 11.

The Oct. 5 panel will feature William Allen, formerly of the Delaware Court of Chancery and now Nusbaum Professor of Law and Business and director of the Center for Law and Business in the New York University School of Law; Robert Guido, vice chairperson of audit for Ernst & Young; Patrick Gnazzo, vice president of business practices for United Technologies Corp.; Jonathan Karpoff, professor of finance and business economics at the University of Washington; Frank Menaker, senior vice president and general counsel for Lockheed Martin Corp.; John Noble of the Delaware Court of Chancery; John Steer, vice chair of the United States Sentencing Commission; and Raymond Troubh, director or former director of Time Warner, Starwood Hotels and Resorts, ADT and America West.

The Oct. 28 panel will include Edward Brennan, retired chairman of the board, president and chief executive officer for Sears, Roebuck & Co., who is also a director for several major corporations including Allstate, Exelon and McDonald’s; Justice Randy Holland of the Delaware Supreme Court; Kenneth Lehn, professor of business administration at the University of Pittsburgh; William Lytton, executive vice president and general counsel for Tyco International; James McDonald, president and chief executive officer of Rockefeller & Co, and a director of the New York Stock Exchange; Patrick McGurn, senior vice president and special counsel for Institutional Shareholder Services; and Nils Okeson, partner with Alston & Bird.

The final panel Nov. 11 will feature Hank Barnette, former chief executive officer of Bethlehem Steel Corp.; Ken Bertsch, director of corporate governance for Moody’s Investor Service; James Copeland, former chief executive officer of Deloitte & Touche; Justice Jack Jacobs of the Delaware Supreme Court; Edward Johnson, chairman and chief executive officer of Fidelity Investments; Ed Labaton, partner in the firm of Goodkind Labaton Rudoff & Sucharow; Donald Kempf, executive vice president, chief legal officer and secretary of Morgan Stanley; Jeffrey Peek, president and chief executive officer of CIT Group; and Joel Seligman, dean of the Washington University School of Law.

Alston & Bird and Goodkind Labaton Rudoff & Sucharow are sponsors of two of the panel discussions.

The ICGN conference will be held Oct. 21-22 at the Hotel du Pont in Wilmington. The theme of the event is “U.S. Corporate Governance Reforms: A Global Perspective.” Guest speakers will include leaders in business, the judiciary and the media.

The Directors College, an exclusive summit for board members of leading corporations, will be held Nov. 3-5 at Clayton Hall. It is cosponsored by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Among the speakers is U.S. Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes, coauthor of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

For information on these programs, contact the Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at (302) 831-6157 or visit the web site at [www.lerner.udel.edu/ccg].

Article by Neil Thomas

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