Last Friday, I was able to attend the 2009 Tulane Business Forum at the Hilton Riverside as a student volunteer. I was quick to volunteer for the Forum as that the theme this year was Corporate Consciousness, and there was an impressive speaker list, which included among others: John Mackey (Chairman and CEO of Whole Foods), Gary Jay Saulson (Director of Corporate Real Estate at PNC Financial Services), and Mark Quartermain (President of Shell Energy North America).
There were approximately 800 attendees from all walks of the New Orleans business world listening in as the speakers told us about the ways that their companies were putting “a new spin on the old way of doing business”. Being a bit overstaffed on the volunteer end allowed us to take turns working the registration table so that we could listen to most of the speakers’ presentations. I was particularly impressed with Gary Jay Saulson as he described all of the green building projects that PNC had undertaken – who knew?!
While the 6:45am start was tough, I’m glad I participated because it was an inspiring and educational event for sure. So far I’ve been impressed with the social entrepreneurship opportunities and events in New Orleans. It seems like every week there are multiple options to get involved in these types of activities (speakers, conferences, etc.).
-sarah
sgaddis@tulane.edu
The volunteers bracing themselves for the onslaught of arriving attendees