Distinguished Lecture Series
The Distinguished Lecture Series Program provides students and faculty with an opportunity to interact with prominent executives for an open exchange of views on current issues. Through this vital program, executives are brought into the classroom to offer students first-hand information about the complexities of the business world, while inspiring them to seek new ways to meet the challenges of tomorrow.Our program hosted speakers from diverse backgrounds and occupations. A list of the 2011 visiting executives is below.
Dr. Michael Burry (An Evening with Michael Burry)
Thursday, April 7
Profiled by author Michael Lewis in his #1 best-selling book The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine, Dr. Michael Burry is one of the few analysts to predict America’s financial collapse years before it unfolded. At the podium, Burry takes audiences into The Big Short, sharing further analysis of what caused the worldwide credit crisis—and what’s to come. Offering a new perspective into how The Big Short unfolded, Burry discusses the necessity for the natural evolution of the business cycle to take place, calling for less government interference in the market. Arguing that anyone who studied the financial markets carefully in 2003, 2004, and 2005
could have recognized the growing risk in subprime markets, Burry presents the case for an alternative economic strategy for America.
Dr. M. Dianne Murphy (Women in Leadership)
Wednesday, April 13
Dr. Murphy, a Tennessee Tech alumna, has been Columbia University's Director of Intercollegiate Athletics and Physical Education since November 2004. During this time she has led many initiatives aimed at improving the experience of Columbia's student-athletes. Murphy came to Columbia after six years as Director of Athletics and Recreation at the University of Denver. Under Murphy's leadership, eight Denver sport programs made NCAA tournament appearances and, on four occasions, Denver teams won a national title. At Columbia, she has undertaken a complete strategic planning process aimed at short- and long-term excellence in athletics. The impacts of this have resulted in numerous Ivy League successes and university records being broken. In short, Murphy has presided over one of the most successful periods in Columbia athletics history.
Paul DePodesta (Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game)
Thursday, September 15; 7:00 p.m.
Paul DePodesta has made a career of evaluating, measuring and assigning value to talent, and is currently Vice President of Player Development and Scouting for the New York Mets. Formerly the Executive Vice President of the San Diego Padres, and General Manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers during the 2004-05 seasons, DePodesta was the third-youngest person ever to assume the role of Major League GM. In rethinking how the system works – by asking what DePodesta calls the naive question, “If we weren’t already doing it this way, is this the way we would start?”—he, along with the A's General Manager Billy Beane, revolutionized the
way baseball teams are built. His work has been recognized by various publications, including Fortune, who named him one of the Top 10 innovators under 40.
Kent Eastman (Insight Into the New World Order of Commercial Banking)
Thursday, September 29th; 11:00 a.m.
As state president for Capital One Bank in Texas, Kent Eastman oversees the bank’s community resources and activities designed to help meet the needs of each local community. Eastman also serves as the commercial banking lead in North Texas, where he manages a regional group of commercial bankers who partner with major companies throughout the region on significant commercial development and economic opportunities. In addition to his tenure with Capital One, Eastman has 29 years of banking and management experience. He recently chaired a United Way of Metropolitan Dallas fundraising campaign that raised approximately $60 million, and he serves on the board of directors of Downtown Dallas, YMCA of Metropolitan Dallas, Dallas Convention and Visitors Bureau, and Texas Bankers Association. Eastman, a Tennessee Tech University graduate, also is a member of the Dallas Citizens Council and was recently appointed to the Governor’s Economic Development Council.
