What's trending: Mendoza College lecture series looks at major developments in next decade

Ten Years Hence, a signature lecture series of the Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame, will cover future developments in industries ranging from oil and gas, to efforts to bring about global peace, to IBM’s Watson and the age of supercomputers, during the 2014 event.

The annual spring series features experts in a broad range of fields and interests exploring the issues, ideas and trends likely to affect business and society in the next 10 years.

The talks take place from 10:40 a.m. to 12:10 p.m. on select Fridays throughout the spring semester and are held in the Jordan Auditorium at the Mendoza College. They are free and open to the public.

The schedule is as follows:

·        Jan. 31: Robert Schleckser, vice president and treasurer for Exxon Mobil Corp., who earned his received his B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from Notre Dame in 1978, and has worked for Exxon in a number of leadership roles during his 35-year career

·        Feb. 7: Lloyd Adams, chief operating officer for SAP Americas' Regulated Industries, who earned his bachelor’s and MBA degrees from Notre Dame and now holds key responsibilities for core operations, pipeline development and demand management, and revenue growth and acceleration for SAP

·        Feb. 21: Lt. Gen. Michelle Johnson, superintendent of the U.S. Force Academy and previous deputy chief of staff for Operations and Intelligence, Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, North Atlantic Treaty Organization

·        March 21: John Gordon, vice president of Marketing & Strategy IBM's Watson Solutions Division, who is a Notre Dame undergraduate alumni with degrees in Philosophy and Computer Applications, as well as an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin. Gordon develops the end-to-end business model for transforming the innovations created by IBM Watson into a strategic set of industry solutions

·        April 4: Shibley Telhami, the Anwar Sadat Professor for Peace and Development at the University of Maryland, College Park, and non-resident senior fellow at the Saban Center at the Brookings Institution

·        April 11: Michael Merk, director of Corporate Communications for Steelcase Inc., the global leader in the office furniture industry

·        April 25: Jon Freedman, global government affairs leader for GE Power & Water, Water & Process Technologies, who monitors and shapes domestic and international water policies and helps GE Power & Water develop technology collaborations with government entities

Ten Years Hence is sponsored by the O'Brien-Smith Leadership Program, which is made possible by a generous endowment from William H. O'Brien (ND '40) and his wife, Dee. The program is named after their respective parents. The O’Brien-Smith Program endowment provides an opportunity for students and faculty to interact with distinguished leaders from business, government and nonprofit sectors.

For more information about the series, contact Jean Meade, project administrator for Mendoza College Office of the Dean, at (574) 631-3277 or Jean.Meade@nd.edu.

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