The Reflector

Mississippi State University's College of Business will host its third annual Leadership Summit Sept. 29-30. The theme of this year's event is "Creating the New Economy."

The event consists of numerous speakers and events which will be free to students. Barbara Spencer, associate dean of the College of Business and a management professor, said students should expect "a world-class event."

Spencer said this year's Leadership Summit has a strong agenda with a lineup consisting of nationally know political correspondents James Carville and Mary Matalin, CNN business correspondent Ali Velshi, The North Face founder Hap Klopp and Ben and Jerry's founder Jerry Greenfield.

Other speakers will include Anthony Topazzi, CEO of Mississippi Power; Liza Looser, CEO of the Cirlot Agency; Sherry Stegall, vice president of Cellular South; John James, CEO of the James Group and many more.

"The event will be informative, entertaining and stimulating," Spencer said. "There will be much food for thought and fun." Emily Jones, a graphic design major, said she thinks the College of Business picked excellent speakers.

"The lineup sounds pretty diverse, so it should be interesting to hear what they all have to say," Jones said.

Rachael Jeffcoat, broadcast communication major, said she is excited for this year's lineup.

"It seems like this year they have speakers covering a broad range of jobs and leadership positions," Jeffcoat said. "The speakers will all have very different perspectives."

Spencer said she encourages students, faculty and the community to attend the summit because the speakers have so much to share about the current economic situation and the future of our country's economy.

"We are extremely lucky to be bringing so many people of this caliber to Mississippi State University," Spencer said.

Jones said she thinks it is good for MSU to hold conferences. "It is good to have stuff like this for the people who are interested - I know a lot of people that went to Colin Powell last year," Jones said.

Jeffcoat said he thinks bringing these to campus is good for the university.

"It is very good that MSU hosts programs such as this," Jeffcoat said. "It brings a fresh perspective to our school."

Jeffcoat, who attended last year's summit, said she will be in attendance again this year. "I want to hear all the different speakers, especially Jerry Greenfeild and the CNN correspondent," Jeffcoat said.

Spencer said the Leadership Summit was created by the College of Business with the assistance from Academic Outreach and Continuing Education.

"It's a top quality event," Spencer said. "We couldn't do it without the many student volunteers who help to make it happen." For more information visit summit.msstate.edu/index. html.

Spencer said students will be able to obtain tickets to selected events for free as long as seats are available.

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