The Spirit of Innovation

The sixth annual McGlothlin Leadership Forum was held from Oct. 25-27, connecting global leaders with the William & Mary community and its students. Each of the three Forum Fellows came from all over the United States to share insight from varied fields with W&M business and law students alike.

“The Forum introduces William & Mary students to the highest caliber national leaders in business and law and inspires them to the highest level of achievement possible,” says James W. McGlothlin ’62, J.D. ’64, LL.D. ’00, who founded the forum with his wife, Frances McGlothlin ’66.

The event began with a keynote speech titled “Value Creation Through Business Transformation” from Forum Fellow Ilene Gordon, chairman, president and CEO of Ingredion Incorporated, a leading global ingredients solutions company. Gordon later joined Professor Inga Carboni for a session in the MBA program’s Organizational Behavior course.

Forum Fellow Dan Akerson, chairman of eDiscovery management solutions provider LDiscovery, spoke to Bob Williams’ Global Strategic Management class before providing the luncheon keynote (“Leading in Times of Crisis”) on the second day. After lunch, all three fellows participated in a student question-and-answer session, moderated by James McGlothlin.

At William & Mary Law School, Skadden Arps partner Patrick Fitzgerald, also a Forum Fellow, shared his experience in private practice and with the Department of Justice in Chicago and New York. To close the event, Fitzgerald delivered a keynote speech in the Great Hall of the Wren Building entitled “Prosecutorial Discretion: How It Is Exercised.” Each of the fellows spent time at both William & Mary Law School and the Mason School of Business.

The forum aims to “prepare students to make a difference in the world by expanding their understanding of the vital roles of leadership and accountability in global political, legal and economic systems.” In past years, the forum has welcomed influential leaders such as former Indiana Senator Evan Bayh, former U.S. Steel chairman and CEO Thomas Usher, former Treasury Secretary John Snow and former Hertz and Kinko’s CEO George Tamke.