Tom Ridge, former Homeland Security chief, to talk at Notre Dame

“A Conversation with Tom Ridge,” will be held at the Mendoza College of Business Jordan Auditorium from 3:30-5 p.m. on Sept.10. The event is free and open to the public.

On Sept. 11, 2001, Ridge was serving as the governor of Pennsylvania when he received reports of planes flying into the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon building. A fourth plane that “disappeared from radar” was discovered to be United Airlines Flight 93, whose passengers mounted a heroic effort to take control of the plane from the hijackers. Ultimately, the plane crashed in a field near Shanksville, Penn., killing all 44 on board, including the four hijackers.

Ridge soon was called upon by Pres. George Bush to serve as the first secretary of the newly created U.S. Department of Homeland Security. He left that post in Feb. 1, 2005, and currently is the president and CEO of Ridge Global LLC, a global security consulting firm. The former governor also is honorary co-chair of the Flight 93 National Memorial Campaign, an effort to raise $18 million dollars to complete the memorial in Shanksville. The site is currently under construction with plans to dedicate the memorial on Sept. 11, 2011 – 10 years after United Flight 93’s fateful crash. The Flight 93 National Memorial will be the only national memorial dedicated to the events of 9/11.

For more information about Gov. Tom Ridge’s talk at the Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame, contact Carol Elliott, Mendoza College Dept. of Communications, at (574) 631-2627 or Elliott.37@nd.edu, or visit business.nd.edu/News_and_Events/Speaker_Series/Guest_Speakers/. For more information about the Flight 93 National Memorial, visit www.honorflight93.org/

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