IU BUSINESS CONFERENCE FEB. 25 TO FOCUS ON THE NEW MILLENNIUM

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Three individuals well qualified to comment on the future and how to view its risks as opportunities will speak Feb. 25 in Indianapolis at the 52nd annual conference of the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University.

Speaking this year will be Lou Dobbs, one of the most-watched business journalists; Lester Thurow, a highly respected global economist; and Robert W. Galvin, an executive who successfully shepherded one of the nation's oldest high-tech companies through a period of tremendous change.

Their comments are expected to help those in attendance answer for themselves a question that also serves as the conference's theme, "The Next Millennium . . . Are You Ready?" The program will begin at 7:45 a.m. in the Indiana Convention Center, with a breakfast with IU Football Coach Cam Cameron. It will conclude after a luncheon speech by Dobbs.

Keynoting the conference at 9 a.m. will be Thurow, professor of management and economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and author of the recent book, The Future of Capitalism: How Today's Economic Forces Shape Tomorrow's World (Morrow, 1996).

The former dean of MIT's Sloan School of Management and director of the school's Asia Pacific Initiative, Thurow is the author of several books. His 1992 book, Head to Head: The Coming Economic Battle Among Japan, Europe and America, looked at the nature of global economic competition and was on the New York Times best-seller list for more than six months. An earlier best-seller, The Zero Sum Society, looked at the need to make painful structural adjustments in order to preserve growth and rising standards of living in the future.

In his latest book, The Future of Capitalism, he looks at the changing structure of the global economy and what it will take for individuals, firms and nations to succeed in the new economic game at the end of this millennium. He will address these themes in his speech.

Thurow has served on the editorial board of the New York Times, as a contributing editor for Newsweek, and as a member of Time magazine's board of economists. He continues to be a frequent columnist for several U.S. and international newspapers, and is a regular commentator on the PBS program, The Nightly Business Report. In his academic work, Thurow focuses on international economics, public finance, macroeconomics and income distribution economics.

At 10:45 a.m., Galvin, who led Motorola Inc.'s successful drive to dominate the cellular telephone market, will speak about change, creativity and leadership in a dynamic business environment.

When Galvin began his career at the company his father founded in 1940, Motorola's primary focus was AM and FM radios for the home and car, and it employed just under 1,000 people. Over the next 50 years -- including 30 years as a senior officer for Galvin -- Motorola pioneered research in many forms of two-way communication, semiconductors and transistors, and computer microprocessors.

During the 1980s, the Schaumburg, Ill.-based company was a determined market leader in cellular communication. In 1983, the company began operating its first "Dyna-TAC" system and more than 43,000 Pocket Bell pagers were supplied to Nippon Telegraph and Telephone of Japan. The number of pagers in use there rose to 200,000 within a year.

Similar results took place across the globe, and by 1987 Motorola decided to produce its last auto radio. The company also divested itself of its display systems business and its automotive alternator and electromechanical meter product lines. New products included instrumentation for cars and trucks, and control modules for engine transmissions.

In 1988, Motorola was winner of the first Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award, given by Congress to recognize and inspire the pursuit of quality in American business. Other honors for Galvin have included being named to the National Business Hall of Fame, the National Medal of Technology, and the Bower Award for Business Leadership.

In 1990, Galvin stepped down as CEO, but remains a full-time company officer as chairman of Motorola's executive committee. The company continues to set the pace for the rest of the cellular telephone industry, employing more than 100,000 people.

Speaking at lunch will be Dobbs, executive vice president of Cable News Network, who is responsible for CNN Financial News, a division that produces news programs and updates for five cable TV networks, a radio network and Web site operated by CNN.

Dobbs is expected to speak about the domestic economy and the future of financial markets, a topic especially interesting given recent events in such markets worldwide.

He is most visible as anchor of the first nightly TV business program, "Moneyline with Lou Dobbs," as well as the other programs "Business Unusual," "Moneyweek" and "Managing with Lou Dobbs." Under his leadership, CNN Financial News produces 25 programs and nearly 400 updates each week that account for about 15 percent of all CNN television programming.

He joined the company at its inception in 1980, and has since received the George Foster Peabody Award for his coverage of the 1987 stock market crash, as well as other major honors in broadcast journalism. Reporting live from southern Iraq in March 1991, he broke the story of Saddam Hussein's release of Kuwaitis and journalists held hostage.

In May 1995, Dobbs was named executive vice president of CNN and was responsible for the launch of CNN Financial News that December.

At the business conference lunch, the Kelley School of Business will honor four successful business executives who are among its alumni: Mark S. Feighner, president of GTE Wireless Products and Services; C. Mack, president and CEO of Citibank Central and Mid-Atlantic regions; Todd Wagner, CEO and co-founder of AudioNet; and Mark Cuban, president and co-founder of AudioNet. The program is expected to conclude at about 2 p.m.

Registration fee for the conference is $100 before Feb. 16 and $110 afterwards, and it includes the breakfast with Coach Cameron and the luncheon. Company-sponsored table registration is $900 for 10 persons or $450 for five persons. Additional tickets to just the breakfast are $15.

Send registrations to Annual Business Conference, 1309 E. 10th St., Kelley School of Business, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405-1701. Credit card registrations can be sent by fax to Conference Registrar, Kelley School of Business, 812-855-3535. Make checks payable to the IU Kelley School of Business Alumni Association. For more information, contact the school at 812-855-6340.

(George Vlahakis, Office of Communications and Marketing, 812-855-0846 or 812-855-3911, gvlahaki@indiana.edu

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