Dr. Chuck Wall is a published author, lecturer and motivational speaker in the fields of communications, stress management, employee motivation, leadership and "random acts of kindness."

After receiving an Associate of Arts degree from Bakersfield College, he earned a B.A. and a M.B.A. from San Francisco State University, followed by a Ph.D. in Educational Administration and Management from U.C.L.A. He has co-authored a book on organizational renewal, authored The Kindness Collection, Selling Lemonade for Free, Lessons in Kindness, a video puppet show entitled "Kindness for Kids” and Teams: The Tenneco Way. In January 2004 he published the 3rd edition of his interactive textbook entitled People Skills for Business and Industry. He has written several scholarly articles, co-authored a newspaper column series entitled “The Kindness Corner,” produced and directed a multi-media look into the 21st century for the president of the United States and hosted his own television and radio programs. Between January and December 2005 he co-hosted a weekly radio program called “Bakersfield College Today” and aired over KERN Radio. Dr. Wall has headed two of his own firms, one in publishing and the other in manufacturing.

As of December 15, 2005, Dr. Wall became Professor Emeritus at Bakersfield College. In 1992 he received the prestigious Hayward Award for teaching excellence in California community colleges. He is the President of Kindness Inc. a California Non-profit corporation and chaired the 1995 Kern County Governmental Charter Review Committee. From January to July 2004 he served as the community member of The Bakersfield Californian newspaper's editorial board. He is currently a member of The Bakersfield Californian editorial “Sounding Board.”

At this time, Dr. Wall is deeply involved in the "Random Acts of Kindness” movement which has received international attention. His work with the creation of this movement has been recognized by the United States House of Representatives, which instituted an "Act of Kindness Awareness Week for the United States. To date, some 10 nations have now adopted the kindness concept as part of their humanitarian efforts. As a result of the “Kindness” movement, Dr. Wall was the recipient of the Greater Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce “Beautiful Bakersfield” Presidents Award for 1994.

Chuck and his wife of forty years, Di, form a finely coordinated team. Di provides the organization that enable Chuck to pursue his many interests. These include changes in business and industry, his former teaching career and his promotion of Kindness, Inc.

Even though he is blind, he does not consider himself disabled, but merely must spend extra time dealing with one of life’s little nuisances.

Dr. Edwin Andrews is the Director of Academic and Education Programs & Services at PMI. He came to the organization in 2005 as the Manager of Research having had a distinguished record in both industry and academe.

Ed was educated as a veterinarian and obtained a PhD, establishing himself as an academician and sponsored researcher at The Pennsylvania State University’s College of Medicine and at Cornell University. He was recruited to industry and rose to the vice president level in several Johnson & Johnson companies. During his tenure with J & J he was also a Director of Global Marketing. His alma mater, The University of Pennsylvania called on his management and financial expertise by recruiting him as Dean of Veterinary Medicine.

He is the author of over 50 refereed publications and books and has been an active presenter at seminars, congresses and symposia worldwide. Dr. Andrews has served on many boards as well as academic, corporate, government and international committees including an ISO standards committee. In 1992 he was appointed by the Secretary of Health and Human Services to the Research Resources Advisory Council of the National Institutes of Health.

Ed's presentation will review global trends in project management; and, provide information on global accreditation of degree granting programs in this new management discipline.

For example, World Bank data shows that 71 Trillion dollars of global GDP are related to Gross Capital Formation resulting from infrastructural projects. The growth of Gross Capital Formation has steadily increased over the last decade as have retooling of plants, expansion of global markets requiring increased capital expenditures, and, significant increases in new product development. Recent data from the Economist Intelligence Unit in London demonstrates that CEOs globally recognize an alarming skill gap as a result of this global growth in projects. The supply-demand gap in project managers is more than an inconvenience to industry; it also has significant economic impact as shown by a recently released study conducted by The Anderson Economic Group.

The session will highlight the significant opportunities that exist for engineering schools to implement teaching and research programs in project management as part of their overall management offerings.

"Operating Above the Gray Zone: The Dynamics of Ethics in Excellence" | Panel of Business Leaders

Excellence can be demonstrated in multiple ways, and ethics can be viewed as absolute, when there is a solid threshold for the achievement of ethical behavior, or relative, when it depends on the situation. If ethical behavior means “doing the right thing,” then good organizations generally do the right thing, and in so doing exhibit ethical behavior. But, when organizations demonstrate excellence, how does this translate to ethical behavior? The connection between excellence and ethics is an important topic at the executive level today, and the implications for both business education and organizational management are significant.

The panel discussion will include an exploration of a new “ethics and excellence” paradigm in which ethical and responsible behavior is an outcome of excellence and leads to meeting the needs of stakeholders. The session will include ample time for questions and comments from the audience.

LeeAnn Pelham (top) has served as Executive Director of the City Ethics Commission since January 2001. She heads a staff of 21 and is responsible for a $2.3 million annual budget and an $11 million Public Matching Funds Trust Fund. Appointed by a five-member citizen oversight board, Pelham directs a partial public financing program for city candidates, a lobbyist registration and disclosure program, and a governmental ethics program for city employees and officials. Before joining the Ethics Commission in 1991, Pelham served with the non-partisan Office of the Auditor General in Sacramento, and was a Senior Political Organizer for Common Cause in Washington, D.C.

Michael Boylan, Ph.D. (middle) is professor of philosophy at Marymount University in Arlington, Virginia. He has written numerous books and articles on philosophy and ethics, including: A Just Society, his manifesto on ethics and social/political philosophy which is the subject of a recently published book of a dozen exploratory essays by scholars from seven countries: Morality and Justice: Reading Boylan’s A Just Society. He is also the author of Ethics Across the Curriculum: A Practice-Based Approach. Boylan was a fellow at the Center for American Progress, a Washington, D.C. policy think tank from 2007-2009, and is the ethics editor for the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

Brian Ruttencutter (bottom) has more than 20 years of experience in senior financial, operations and sales management positions for both public and private companies, with an emphasis in the construction, manufacturing and distribution sectors. He currently serves as chief financial officer of Cumming Group, Inc., in Aliso Viejo, Calif. Ruttencutter holds a BS in accounting from Biola University and an MBA from California State University, Long Beach. He is a certified management accountant and has held leadership roles with Financial Executives International (FEI) and the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG). Ruttencutter has written articles and had editorial comments published in Financial Executive magazine, The Orange County Business Journal and The Orange County Register.