For the ninth consecutive year, more than 150 students, faculty, and staff members will converge on Marietta College for the McDonough Leadership Conference that brings together undergraduate and graduate leadership students on campus for two days.
“The main goal of the conference is to give undergraduate leadership students a space to share their research and learn from one another,” said Dr. Gama Perruci, Dean of McDonough. “We have a great program with exciting speakers and student presentations. This is a student-run event. I am very proud of the work that the McDonough Scholars have been doing to get ready for this national event on our campus.”
This year, the conference will be held on April 6-7 and it has 25 institutions represented, including students from Notre Dame, Purdue, Harvard and South Carolina. The theme this year is “The Collaborative Side of Leadership.”
All conference events are free and open to the public through the generous support of several organizations. The conference’s Lead Sponsors are The Scott Theodore Leadership Conference Endowment, McDonough Corporation, Marathon Petroleum Company, Peoples Bank, and World Pac Paper. Key Sponsors include the Buffalo Marine Service, Inc., and The Galley Restaurant. Sponsors include MCA Associates, Inc., Hines Furlong Line, and Dr. George McAfee and Family.
Aside from student presentations, the conference also features workshops, keynote speakers and a Leadership Master Class that will be led by Sadhana Hall, Deputy Director of the Rockefeller Center for Public Policy at Dartmouth College.
The keynote speaker for the conference is Ambassador (Ret.) Edward B. O’Donnell, Senior Strategy Advisor to the Assistant Secretary of Diplomatic Security at the U.S. State Department. He is also a faculty associate at Arizona State University’s McCain Institute for International Leadership in Washington, D.C.
The featured graduate student speaker is Sana Rafiq from the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard Kennedy School. Her presentation is entitled, “Pay-for-Monopoly? A Behavioral Economics Perspective on Reverse Payments by Pharmaceutical Firms.”
Also speaking is John Gardner ’65, who is the Chair and Chief Executive Officer of the John N. Gardner Institute for Excellence in Undergraduate Education. Gardner, a world-renowned expert on the first-year experience in higher education, is the Leader Dialogue Speaker.
The conference also will include a “Best Practices Forum” presented by Marathon Petroleum Company. George McAfee from Marathon Petroleum will serve as the moderator. Forum participants include Peter Gilgen, MPLX GP LLC; Tammi Weigand, Marathon Petroleum; David Mitchem, Peoples Insurance Agency, LLC; Andy McAleer, MCA Associates, Inc.; Thomas P. Marian, Buffalo Marine Service, Inc.; and Paul Worstell, Retired President, PRO-TEC Coating Company (a joint venture partnership between U.S. Steel and Kobe Steel of Japan).
“The McDonough Center emphasizes leader development through the components of knowledge, action and growth. Our mission stresses the importance of service and integrity in leadership as well as the importance of engagement, diversity, and experiential learning,” said Derek Krieg ’19, Conference Chair. “This year, the McDonough Leadership Conference will give both students and professionals the opportunity to expand their skill sets through interactive sessions and activities.”