The Executive Speakers Program brings executives in business and industry to the Hillsdale campus and gives students and faculty the opportunity to hear first-hand the lessons of these business leaders. 

RECENT SPEAKERS:

• Kenneth Whipple of Jackson, Michigan

Kenneth Whipple serves as Chairman of the Board of Consumers Energy Company which is one of the nation's largest combination electric and natural gas utilities.  The company provides natural gas and electricity to nearly 6.5 million of the state's 10 million residents in all 68 Lower Peninsula counties.  In addition to the generating plants that produce the majority of electricity for customers, Consumers Energy is a leader in developing renewable energy in Michigan.  The company has one of the largest underground natural gas storage capacities in the country.

• Katherine E. Doner of Austin, Texas

Katherine Doner is president of Doner Fundraising which is a full service fundraising and grassroots mobilization company that partners with issue-based non-profits, coalitions, corporations, professional associations, and candidates.

• Robert L. Luddy of Raleigh, North Carolina

David Armstrong is president and CEO of Armstrong International, Inc., a global, diversified, and family-owned enterprise specializing in the manufacture of products and the delivery of services in the fields of steam, air, and hot water energy.

PREVIOUS SPEAKERS:

• Bruce E. Thomsen, president and CEO of Asia Millennium Investments, Inc., Irvine, California.
• Miroslav Andrew Simo, president and founder or New Archery Products which reigns as the industry's premier archery accessory manufacturer, Forest Park, Illinois.
• Walter "Trip" Howell III, '80, an international director for the Washington, DC, operations of Jones Lang LaSalle, the largest commercial real estate firm in the world.
• Edward Peper Jr., '84, division general manager of Chevrolet, Detroit, Michigan.
• Michael Carnock, '84, founder of PDC, Inc., Columbia, Maryland, a land development company.
• Aaron Kennedy, founder and chairman of Noodles & Company, Boulder, Colorado, a high-growth, national chain of quick casual restaurants that features freshly sauteed noodle dishes from around the world.
• PJ Osgood, '95, co-owner of It's Just Lunch!, Chicago, Illinois, a premier dating service that specializes in low-pressure dates for busy and high-achieving professionals.
• Karlis Mateus, '81, president of Performance Systematix, Inc. in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
• JoAnne Shaw, founder and president of The Coffee Beanery, Ltd., Flushing, Michigan.
• Mark R. Taylor, president and CEO of St. John Hospital and Medical Center, Detroit, Michigan.
• John R. Hantz, CEO of the Hantz Group, a financial holding company located in Southfield, Michigan.
• Katherine Fischer, retired, Capital City Moving and Storage, Inc., Kansas.
• Robert Eastman, owner of Gorilla, Inc., Eastman Outdoors and Quick-Save Convenience Stores, Flushing, Michigan.
• William R. Sauey, chairman of Nordic Group of Companies, Baraboo, Wisconsin.
• Dennis Foley ’72, Green Beret, Hollywood screenwriter/consultant and novelist now living in Whitefish, Montana.
• George F. Kettle, former regional owner of Century 21 Realty, Washington, DC.
• John McIntyre, co-founder and former CEO of Health Care Microsystems, Inc., California.
• W. Robert Stover, chairman and founder of Westaff, Inc., California.
• Christopher Long, Chief Operating Officer of Friess Associates, LLC, Wilmington, Delaware.