Kalamazoo native returns to share Wall Street wisdom
Oct. 15, 2003
KALAMAZOO -- Dr. B. Joseph White, a Kalamazoo native who has gained insights on financial markets as both a business scholar and managing partner of a top investment firm, will speak at the Haworth College of Business Monday, Oct. 27.
White will present "Building Your Financial Future: Wisdom from Main Street and Wall Street" at 7:30 p.m. in the Brown Auditorium of Schneider Hall. He will explore how financial markets really work and detail why stock prices are not the only factor one should take into account when investing. The presentation, part of the University's Centennial Scholar and Artist Series, is free and open to the public. Following the talk, there will be a public reception in the Fetzer Center. White's visit is sponsored by the Haworth College of Business and the WMU Centennial Committee.
Currently, White serves as the Wilbur K. Pierpont Collegiate Professor and Professor of Business Administration at the University of Michigan Business School. The former managing director of the New York investment firm Fred Alger Management, White was interim president of the U of M from January through July 2002. He also served for a decade as dean of Michigan's Business School, and for nine years as president of the William Davidson Institute, a U of M-affiliated organization that focuses on business development in emerging market economies.
Before becoming dean in 1991, White served as associate dean of the U of M Business School from 1987 to 1990. He was an officer of Cummins Engine Company from 1981 until 1987, and he was a U of M faculty member from 1975 until 1980.
White currently serves as a director or trustee of several companies, including Equity Residential, Kelly Services, Kaydon Corp. and Gordon Food Service. He is a member of the Advisory Board of the Life Sciences Institute at the U of M.
After earning his bachelor's degree from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, White earned his MBA from Harvard Business School and a doctoral degree from the University of Michigan. A native of Kalamazoo, he graduated from Hackett Catholic Central High School.
The Centennial Scholar and Artist Series has been in the making for more than a year and includes a diverse lineup of lectures, performances and presentations.
Guests for the series are national and international achievers in the arts and culture, business, education, government, health, science and other areas. Several are WMU graduates and others have longstanding ties to Kalamazoo.
The events, which are intended to draw participants from campus and the extended community, are underwritten in part by the WMU Centennial Committee, with additional sponsorship by University Archives and Regional History Collections, the Haenicke Institute of International and Area Studies; WMU's College of Fine Arts, College of Arts and Sciences, College of Education, College of Health and Human Services, Haworth College of Business, Lee Honors College, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the College of Aviation. Other collaborators include the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra and the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts.
A complete schedule of Centennial Celebration events is posted on University's Web site at <www.wmich.edu/centennial>.
Media contact: Jessica English, 269 387-8400, jessica.english@wmich.edu