Feted by yale
CEO-studded event honors wilbur ross
Just two weeks before the Sago mine exploded, Wilbur Ross trotted over to the Waldorf-Astoria in midtown Manhattan to receive a “legend in leadership” award from Yale School of Management. The topic of the two-day conference was “CEO Impact: Where the Boss Makes a Difference.”
Such a subject would seem to be relevant to the decisions made – and pressures created – by Ross and his management team to increase production and cut expenses at the mines owned by ICG and Anker Coal. As noted in “Wilbur Ross Financed Sago Mine’s Owner Since 1997,” safety took a back seat to higher production at the mine – especially in 2005 – and the number of violations found by federal mine inspectors actually increased after ICG took over the property.
Below is Yale’s release announcing Ross’ award and the gathering of bigwigs to hash over the importance of “character and competence” in today’s business world.
Ross, by the way, received his BA from Yale and sits on the business school’s Board of Advisors, which made the event all the more cozy. —MR
Nation’s CEOs Gather to Address How CEO’s Impact Their Companies and to Honor Wilbur Ross Jr.
New Haven, Conn., Dec. 13, 2005 — One hundred globally prominent business leaders will gather to discuss how individual character and competence still matter despite complex global systems at the 52nd CEO Summit of The Chief Executive Leadership Institute of the Yale School of Management.
The conference, entitled “CEO Impact: Where the Boss Makes a Difference,” takes place at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City, December 15-16, 2005. Conference sponsors include: UPS, ArcaEx, Deloitte & Touche LLP, The Thomson Corporation and Russell Reynolds Associates.
This invitation-only leaders’ conference features lively, off-the-record, candid discussions by world-renowned chief executives, policy makers, and academics. Members of the press are invited to attend the conference dinner and lunch sessions.
On Thursday, December 15 at 7:30 p.m., Wilbur Ross, Jr., will be presented with the Legend in Leadership Award followed by a dinner panel entitled “Does a New Strategy Require a New Leader?” The closing lunch panel on Friday, December 16 at 12:30 p.m. is entitled “Cheering or Blaming the Coach: Too Much or Too Little Focus on the Boss?” Seating is limited and advance registration is required.
Conference participants include: industrialist/financiers Wilbur Ross and Kenneth Langone; Verizon Communications CEO Ivan Seidenberg; Starwood Hotels and Resorts CEO Steven Heyer; Ford President Mark Fields; SEC Commissioner Cynthia Glassman; U.S. Southern District Court Judge Jed Rakoff; Raymond James Financial CEO Thomas James; Tupperware CEO Rick Goings; American Red Cross CEO Marsha Johnson Evans; The Thomson Corporation CEO Richard Harrington; UNISYS CEO Joseph McGrath; American Cancer Society CEO John Seffrin; William Roberti, Chief Restructuring Officer, New Orleans Public Schools; MBIA Chairman Jay Brown; Visa USA CEO John Coghlan; Lennar Corporation CEO Stuart Miller; CarMax CEO Austin Ligon; former Merck CEO Raymond Gilmartin; former Procter & Gamble CEO John E. Pepper; and former Ambassador Andrew Young, among 80 other distinguished leaders.
“It is now critical to see how individual leaders can still make a difference given the backdrop of complex global and sector challenges that seemingly dwarf the power of one person,” said Jeffrey A. Sonnenfeld, Associate Dean of the Yale School of Management and conference organizer.
“Media figures often vilify or lionize individual CEOs while academics often embrace self-directed work teams that minimize heroic leadership models. Nonetheless, there is still a vital need for courageous maverick executives with wisdom and character.”
About Legend in Leadership Award Recipient Wilbur Ross, Jr.
Wilbur Ross, Jr., the widely respected Chairman and CEO of W.L. Ross & Company, will be presented with the Legend in Leadership Award by Richard Harrington, President & CEO of The Thomson Corporation, and John E. Pepper, former Chairman and CEO of Procter & Gamble.
Mr. Ross is perhaps the best-known turnaround financier in the United States, having been involved in the restructuring of over $200 billion of defaulted companies’ assets around the world. Fortune dubbed Ross “the King of Bankruptcy.”
In 1999, President Kim Dae Jung of Korea awarded Ross a medal for his help during Korea’s 1998 financial crisis. Earlier, President Clinton had appointed him to the Board of the U.S.-Russia Investment Fund, and he served as privatization advisor to Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.
Ross serves on the executive committee of the New York City Partnership. He is a member of the Business Roundtable and serves on the boards of the Japan Society and the Yale School of Management. He is a former chairman of the Smithsonian National Board. He holds an AB from Yale University and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.
The Chief Executive Leadership Institute, the world's oldest CEO college, is part of the Yale School of Management. It was founded in 1989 to provide original research on leadership and lively current educational forums through peer-driven learning for accomplished leaders across sectors.