Last modified: Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Former Joint Chiefs chair, Clorox Co. CEO exchange leadership ideas with Kelley School students
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sept. 30, 2008
EDITORS: The media is invited to attend a presentation Friday (Oct. 3) by Gen. Peter Pace and Clorox Co. CEO Donald R. Knauss, which will begin at 9:30 a.m. at the IU Auditorium. Pace and Knauss will not be available for interviews. Contact George Vlahakis at 812-855-0846 or gvlahaki@indiana.edu for more information.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Gen. Peter Pace, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Don Knauss, chief executive officer of the Clorox Co., will be visiting Indiana University's Kelley School of Business this week as part of the school's leaders-in-residence program.
Pace, who retired last year from the U.S. Marine Corps after more than 40 years of service, will interact with students and faculty at the Kelley School in Bloomington and Indianapolis. He will be a leader-in-residence for the 2008-2010 tenure.
"I have met Gen. Pace and have heard him speak on leadership-related topics and believe our students will gain valuable lessons from his decades of experience," said Dan Smith, dean of the Kelley School. "Gen. Pace has held many positions of significant responsibility and has faced a wide range of challenges and difficult decisions. I believe that our students will learn a great deal from how he has handled those situations.
Gen. Pace received attention about two years ago regarding his views about homosexuals serving in the military. In response to questions regarding Gen. Pace's personal beliefs on this topic, Smith has replied that "the Kelley School supports diversity in all of its various forms and has a long history of creating a supportive and inclusive culture. We do not see Gen. Pace's presence on campus as a Kelley School endorsement of his personal beliefs. The university is all about the exchange of ideas, including those that may not correspond with our own. It is our hope and expectation that students will raise questions about how Gen. Pace's personal views have affected his leadership."
Smith added, "At the Kelley School, each year we expose our students to a wide range of leaders from business and government, some of whom may be controversial. As we often remind our students, there will be many people we meet throughout our lives who hold views with which we do not agree. Yet, that should not keep us from engaging in a constructive dialogue with them."
Don Knauss
During his visit to the Kelley School, Pace and Knauss will participate in a presentation, "Leadership: From the Boardroom to the Pentagon," on Friday (Oct. 3) for students in the school's Integrated Core Program, its direct admitted students and faculty. Knauss, also the former CEO of Coca-Cola North America, received a bachelor's degree in history from IU in 1977. The event is not open to the public. They also are meeting with undergraduate and MBA students this week.
As is customary, the Kelley Leader-in-Residence this year carries the title of the Poling Chair of Business and Government, which was established in 1993 by Harold "Red" Poling, a Kelley School alumnus and Ford Motor Co. chairman and CEO from 1985 to 1994. Poling Chair holders are given the charge to stimulate discussion in the areas of leadership, the critical interactions between private business and government in matters of public policy, enterprise competitiveness and economic growth.
Previous Poling Chairs have come from both the public and private sectors. They include Bob Eckert, chief executive officer of Mattel Inc.; Ronald Dollens, former president and CEO of Guidant Corp.; Samuel K. Skinner, former U.S. secretary of transportation and chief of staff to former President George H.W. Bush; Sen. Evan Bayh, who taught prior to his election to the U.S. Senate; Randall L. Tobias, chairman emeritus of Eli Lilly and Co. and former vice chairman of AT&T Corp.; and Frank Popoff, former CEO and chairman of Dow Chemical Co.
About Pace:
As the 16th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Pace served as the principal military advisor to the president, secretary of defense, the National Security Council and the Homeland Security Council. Before becoming chairman, he served as vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from October 2001 to August 2005.
A 1967 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Pace holds a master's degree in business administration from George Washington University. He attended Harvard University for the Senior Executives in National and International Security program. He also is a graduate of the Infantry Officers' Advanced Course at Fort Benning, Ga.; the Marine Corps Command and Staff College, in Quantico, Va.; and the National War College, at Ft. McNair, Washington, DC.
Pace served as deputy commander of Marine Forces in Somalia from December 1992 to February 1993, and as deputy commander of the Joint Task Force in Somalia from October 1993 to March 1994. He was advanced to the rank of major general in June 1994 and was assigned as the deputy commander/chief of staff of U.S. forces in Japan. He was promoted to lieutenant general and assigned as the director for operations (J-3), Joint Staff, in Washington, D.C., in 1996.
He served as commander of U.S. Marine Corps Forces in the Atlantic/Europe/South from November 1997 to September 2000. He was promoted to general and assumed duties as the commander in chief, U.S. Southern Command, from September 2000 to September 2001.
About Knauss:
Donald R. "Don" Knauss was named chairman and chief executive officer of The Clorox Co. in October 2006. As CEO, he has overall responsibility for directing the company's worldwide business, which generated revenues of $4.8 billion in fiscal year 2007.
Prior to joining Clorox, Knauss spent 12 years with The Coca-Cola Company. He joined the company in 1994 as senior vice president of marketing for The Minute Maid Company, and, in 1996, was promoted to senior vice president and general manager for Minute Maid's U.S. retail operations.
Beginning in 1998, Knauss served nearly two years managing Coca-Cola's businesses in 10 countries of Southern Africa. In 2000, he was named president and chief executive officer of The Minute Maid Company. He became president and chief operating officer of Coca-Cola North America in 2004.
Knauss previously held a variety of positions in marketing and sales with the Frito-Lay and Tropicana divisions of PepsiCo, Inc. He began his business career as a brand manager in the paper products division at Procter & Gamble. Prior to that, he served as an officer of the United States Marine Corps.
A native of Highland, Ind., Knauss holds a bachelor's degree in history from IU and serves on the board of trustees of the United States Marine Corp University Foundation; board of directors of Kellogg Company and Grocery Manufacturers Association and board of trustees of Morehouse College.
