By Darryl Geddes
More than 50 executives from across the country, representing companies in all areas of business, will come to Cornell April 29 and 30 to participate in the university's first-ever Corporate Executive Forum.
Highlighting the two-day forum will be presentations by Lewis E. Platt '64, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Hewlett-Packard, and President Hunter Rawlings. Platt will speak on "Competing Successfully in Today's Turbulent Times" on April 30. The alumnus, who in 1993 became the first chairman of Hewlett-Packard to succeed the company's founders, has charted a steady course of success for the computer products and instruments firm. In January, Hewlett-Packard, which had revenues of $31.5 billion in 1995, was featured by Forbes magazine as the Outstanding Corporate Performer of 1995.
Rawlings will discuss "Bridging Two Cultures: What Universities and Industry Can Learn From Each Other."
The forum will open Monday evening with a reception and dinner, featuring remarks by Platt and Rawlings.
Tuesday's program includes exchanges by executives, faculty and administrators on a number of issues and concerns facing both business and education today. Among the topics for discussion are "Exploring Dominant Issues Driving Change," "Developing the Competitive Corporate Workforce and Workplace of the Future," "Innovation and Technology in the 21st Century" and "The Corporate Employee: Empowered or Expendable?"
"In this period of transition and change, the goal of the forum is to give executives and managers, Cornell faculty, administrators and staff members an opportunity to exchange and test ideas and reflect on key issues confronting us all," said Nick Komanecky, director of corporate relations at Cornell.
"The forum also may lead to a better understanding of how university-corporate relationships can be mutually beneficial in the years ahead," he said.
All activities will be held in the J. Willard Marriot Executive Education Center of the Statler Hotel.