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GM2009

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Global Management 2009: Keynote speakers

LEE, Mark

Mark Lee holds a DBA from the Nova Southeastern University, Florida, USA. He began his career working in a family-owned real estate and insurance business in 1984. In 1991, after completing his MBA, Mark moved to Saskatchewan, Canada, to teach undergraduate business courses and graduate studies in leadership and management at Briercrest College. While at Briercrest, Mark also took on the role of Vice President of Finance and Operations, which required doing a significant turnaround of the organization’s finances and operations. In 1999, Mark became the President & CEO of Lakeland College in Alberta, Canada. During his tenure as President, the College grew from 3,000 students to over 10,000 students, and grew revenues from $24 million to around $47 million. In the summer of 2005, Dr. Lee left Lakeland to return to the classroom at Trinity Western University, Canada. Since arriving at Trinity Western University, Mark has been appointed the Director of the MBA program, and has launched both the MBA program and the iMBA program.

Mark’s main research interests are focused on Strategy, Restructuring, Fast Growth Companies, Organizational Behaviour and Leadership. He has several years of intense experience working with companies to develop strategic plans and a business case for their IPO's.

Mark’s hobbies include golfing, camping, and travelling.

SPAHR, Ronald W.

Ronald W. Spahr is a Professor and currently serves as Chair of the Department of Finance, Insurance and Real Estate in the Fogelman College of Business & Economics. He received his Ph.D. and MBA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, an MS in Operations Management from the University of Southern California and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from South Dakota State University.

Previously, Dr. Spahr was the National City Bank Distinguished Professor of Banking and Finance at the University of Illinois, Belk Distinguished Professor of Finance at the University of North Carolina and Professor of Finance at the University of Wyoming.

In addition to teaching at the above universities, he has also taught in the American University of Armenia in Yerevan, Academy of National Economy/California State University-Hayward MBA program in Moscow; Moscow Gupkin Academy of Oil and Gas in Moscow, Saratov State University, Saratov Technical University; Saratov State Socio-Economic University and the Saratov State Agricultural Academy. He served as a Captain in the US Air Force as a Missile Launch Officer, pulling alerts at the Strategic Air Command’s alternate command post. Dr. Spahr has been a prolific researcher and publisher with numerous publications in journals such as Financial Management, Engineering Economist; Financial Review, The Journal of Real Estate Research; The Journal of Risk and Insurance; Journal of Real Estate Economics, and Land Economics.

Dr. Spahr has authored a number of studies and papers on mortgage risk and as a result, he was invited to be a Visiting Scholar at the Federal Home Loan Bank Board in Washington, DC during 1987 and 1988. During this time he continued to work on mortgage risk and was jointly responsible for early work on controlling both interest rate risk and default risk. His work is now reflected in FASB 115 for reporting and controlling interest rate risk for depository institutions. After leaving Washington, Dr. Spahr co-authored studies for the Congressional Budget Office in Washington on the risk that Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae pose to the Federal Government because of its implicit guarantees of the two housing GSEs. He also co-authored a study in 1995 for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development on the risk to Freddie and Fannie of the required purchase of subprime mortgages because of the Federal Housing Enterprise Financial Safety and Soundness Act of 1992. Dr. Spahr also worked as a consultant and expert witness for the Resolution Trust Corporation.

Spahr also is President of Montis West Corporation, a consulting firm. He consults in the areas of Electrical Power Systems, Bank Management, Capital Budgeting, Product Pricing, Asset Valuation and Risk Management. Dr. Spahr is credited with developing the TransAmerica Grid (TAG) Proposal that will substantially improve the efficiency and reliability of the current electrical grid system in the U.S. The TAG concept is being considered by stakeholders in the electrical generation and transmission industry including the U.S. Department of Energy. The TAG proposal including emission free coal-fire generation of electricity (IGCC) and coal to liquids was mentioned in two of President Bush’s State of the Union Addresses. He is also currently one the principals in the development of a coal to gasoline project in Wyoming.

Dr. Spahr has consulted with firms including Amoco, Siemens, Black and Veatch as well as numerous smaller firms. His international consulting includes NIKoil Investment Corporation, Moscow, Russia; Bereg UFC, Russian Investment Services in Saratov, Russia; Prospect Investments, Moscow, Russia; Fininvest Contract, Consulting and Investment Company, Moscow, Russia; Siemens AG, Erlangen, Germany.

URWIN, Gerry

Gerry Urwin completed his Doctor of Business Administration at Henley Management College, carrying out case study research in project management effectiveness, particularly in relation to the implementation of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. He has 27 years experience in information systems management, consultancy and project management.

Gerry is currently engaged in research and lecturing at Coventry Business School, Coventry University, where he has been employed for the last 17 years. He has published several research papers in Project Management, e-Commerce and Teaching and Learning at international conferences and in academic journals. He also contributes to postgraduate teaching at Henley Management College, Liverpool University, Surrey University and the Brigade Command Course at The Fire Services College.

Professor Urwin’s main research interests are focused on Information Systems, Business Process Management and Innovation, Knowledge Transfer, e-Commerce, IT Contributions to Management Effectiveness, Business Strategy and Organizational Communication. He has been Director of the Applied Research Group in Business Process Innovation, Teaching and Research Supervision.