Tulane Business Forum announces 2017 speakers
Big data is one of today's biggest buzzwords. For the 38th annual Tulane Business Forum, local and national business leaders will offer fresh insights on how data is transforming their organizations and creating new opportunities in financial services, health care, accounting and other areas.
This year’s Tulane Business Forum — titled “Big Ideas, Big Data – Connecting. Managing. Improving.” — will take place on Friday, Sept. 22, 2017, at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center.
Serving as this year’s morning keynote speaker is Michael B. Eason, divisional CIO of Commercial Banking Technology at Capital One Financial Corp. Eason will discuss the impacts of digital disruption and how Capital One is undergoing a technology transformation centered on delivering breakthrough digital customer experiences. Eason, who joined Capital One in 1998 and has served in a variety of leadership roles with the company, will also share key learnings about what matters most through the digital transformation journey.
Dr. I. Steven Udvarhelyi, president and CEO of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana, will deliver this year’s luncheon keynote presentation. Despite the dramatic changes that have roiled health care in recent years, certain key trends have remained prominent for decades. Udvarhelyi, who joined Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana in 2016 after spending nearly 20 years with Independence Blue Cross in Philadelphia, will outline some of those key trends and discuss the approaches that BCBSLA is taking to address them.
In addition to Eason and Udvarhelyi, this year’s forum will include welcoming remarks by Tulane President Michael A. Fitts and Freeman School Dean Ira Solomon and presentations from C. Brian Fox, president and founder of Confirmation.com, Bill Masterton, president and CEO of University Medical Center New Orleans, and Garth Roark, managing director of Tax Transformation and Technology at KPMG. The program will also include a panel presentation on doing business in Cuba featuring Caitlin Cain, CEO of the World Trade Center of New Orleans, Brandy D. Christian, president and CEO of the Port of New Orleans, and José R. Cot, partner at Hurley & Cot and co-editor of Cuba: A Legal Guide to Business. The panel will be moderated by Christopher K. Ralston, partner at Phelps Dunbar.
The Tulane Business Forum is an annual presentation of the Tulane Association of Business Alumni (TABA), which represents the more than 20,000 alumni of the A. B. Freeman School of Business. Each year, the forum features speakers of national and international renown who address topics of interest to the business community.
Forum registration, which includes continental breakfast and lunch, is $200 for the general public and $150 for Tulane alumni. Once again this year, attorneys can get four hours of Continuing Legal Education for attending the forum, Certified Public Accountants can get five hours of Continuing Professional Education credits, and Professional Engineers can get five hours of Professional Development Hours. For more information or to register, visit tulanebusinessforum.com or call 504-861-7921.