EDITORS: In some cases, reporters can arrange meetings with these business leaders prior to or following their lectures. Contact Laurie Van Horn, (303) 492-2224, for information.
Undergraduate students in CU-Boulder聮s Profiles in American Enterprise class will hear from a variety of top CEOs this semester from telecommunications companies like Nextel and Qwest to retailers like Wild Oats.
John Hess, a professor at the College of Business and Administration, coordinates the course in which students study a particular industry and attend a lecture from a highly successful CEO or entrepreneur. The executives also have the opportunity to meet with small groups of students.
In addition to the weekly lectures, Profiles students attend small, weekly recitation sections led by former students who have taken a special semester-long class in preparation.
Hess created the Profiles class, a component of CU聮s Total Learning Environment, 11 years ago. Profiles is one of the most popular classes at CU-Boulder.
The following business leaders will speak from 3:30 p.m. to 5:15 p.m. on Tuesdays in room 100 of the Math Building on the CU-Boulder campus.
Jan. 19: Ginger L. Graham, president, Vascular Intervention Group, Guidant Corp. A global leader in the medical device industry, Guidant provides innovative, minimally invasive and cost-effective products to improve healthcare.
Jan. 26: Thomas H. Weidemeyer, president & COO, UPS Airlines, United Parcel Service. With more than 330,000 employees worldwide, UPS emphasizes its employees and their role in delivering quality service to its customers.
Feb. 2: To be announced.
Feb. 9: Mike Gilliland, CEO, Elizabeth C. Cook, executive vice president and Marybeth Lewis, CFO, Wild Oats. Based in Boulder, Wild Oats is the second largest natural foods retailer in the United States with 63 stores in 18 states and Canada.
Feb. 16: Michael W. Wickham, chairman & CEO, Roadway Express, Inc. Ranked first in the $19 billion "less than truckload (LTL)" industry, Roadway has positioned itself as an industry leader.
Feb. 23: James E. Preston, chairman, Avon Products Inc. The world聮s largest direct seller of beauty and related products, Avon has been operating for more than a century. Women are the target market in 135 countries through approximately 2.6 million independent representatives.
March 9: Joe Kraus, senior vice president & co-founder, Excite Inc. Founded in 1994, Excite is one of the most frequently used portals on the Internet providing users with customized home pages, e-mail and search capabilities.
March 16: Peter B. Teets, president & COO, Lockheed Martin Corp. Internal growth and mergers have made this industry giant a leading company in defense and aerospace products and a variety of service industries.
March 30: Elizabeth W. Slifer, owner & president, Slifer Designs, Inc. This interior design company has become Colorado聮s leading residential design firm and is recognized as the number one residential design firm in the nation.
April 6: Joseph P. Nacchio, CEO, Qwest Communications International Inc. A recent addition to the Nasdaq-100, Qwest is one of the fastest growing companies in the telecommunications industry. It specializes in broadband multimedia services including voice, data and digital transmissions.
April 13: Gary G. Michael, chairman & CEO, Albertsons. With the recent acquisition of American Stores, Albertson聮s is currently the largest retail food chain in the nation.
April 20: Roger A. Gibson, vice president, North American Mountain Regions, United Airlines. United is the largest employee-owned corporation and commands the largest market share in the airline industry.
April 27: Daniel F. Akerson, chairman & CEO, Nextel Communications Inc.
Using advanced Motorola technology and offering new products, Nextel is positioned to be one of the future leaders in the wireless communications industry. It is the only company to offer a product that combines key communications features in one phone.