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Delta State to present International Business Symposium

By March 25, 2008General

 David Abney

Dr. Karen D. Loch 

W. Laird Hamberlin 

Delta State University’s Division of Management, Marketing, and Business Administration will present the 2008 International Business Symposium on April 3and 4 in the Delta and Pine Land Theatre of the Bologna Performing Arts Center on campus. 

The annual symposium is sponsored by Sherry and David Abney, Delta natives who currently reside in Atlanta, Georgia. Abney is an alumnus of Delta State University and serves on the Delta State University Foundation Board of Directors.
 
The 2008 International Business Symposium guest speakers are top ranking international business professionals, whose knowledge of the field is renowned and experience spans the globe.
 
The theme of the symposium is “Asia’s Impact on the World Market.”
 
Presenters include Abney, Chief Operating Officer of UPS and President of UPS Airlines; W. Laird Hamberlin, President Southeast-Asia and Vice President of Global Account Sales and Marketing for Tyco Fire & Security Services; and Dr. Karen D. Loch, Professor and Director of Global Partners MBA at Georgia State University.
 
Abney will present the keynote address at 6 p.m. on Thursday, April 3.
 
As Chief Operating Officer for UPS and President of UPS Airlines, Abney directs all operations worldwide of its sophisticated global transportation network, including the eighth largest airline in the world.  He oversees the pick-up and delivery of 14.8 million packages and documents daily to a service area that includes every address in the United States, as well as to over 200 countries and territories.  In addition to his corporate responsibilities, he is a Trustee of The UPS Foundation, which is the charitable arm of UPS.  He has served on the Board of Directors of the Air Courier Conference of America and the U.S.-Japan Business Council.  Currently, he serves as a board member of the Southern Center for International Studies and the Coalition of Service Industries.
 
Hamberlin and Loch will be the featured speakers from 9 a.m. until noon on Friday, April 4.
 
Hamberlin a Delta State alumnus and Greenville native earned his bachelor’s degree in marketing in 1987.  As President  Southeast-Asia and Vice President of Global Accounts Sales and Marketing for Tyco Fire & Security for more than three years, he has been instrumental in developing and overseeing the sales, service and operational business units of global accounts, retail security; also known as EAS (electronic article surveillance), port security, commercial security to include access control and CCTV (closed circuit television), residential and commercial central station monitoring, technical operations, fire detection, fire suppression and new business development. Hamberlin was instrumental in establishing one of China’s first central monitoring stations that currently operates under the ADT brand name. He is based in Singapore, the Asia divisional headquarters. 
 
Tyco Fire & Security Services Asia operates in over 150 locations throughout 14 countries.  Tyco Fire and Security’s most well known brands in the United States are ADT, Sensormatic and Simplex Grinnell.
 
Prior to Tyco, Hamberlin was with Brinks Home Security for ten years, holding numerous positions of increased responsibilities, most recently as Regional General Manager before joining Tyco Fire & Security’s ADT North America division in 2001.
 
Loch, who earned her Ph.D. in Management Information Systems from the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, has led several unique international initiatives for the Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University.  She launched the Global Business Leaders Roundtable, a peer-group of senior-level managers of firms with significant international interests.  In addition, she founded the Center for Global Business Leadership, a multi-disciplinary center that focuses on applied research efforts, as well as executive training and development, and more recently launched the full-time 14 month Global Partners MBA program.
 
In 1992, she founded and continues to serve as faculty advisor for the International Business Alliance, a student organization that offers students the opportunity to meet and network with international business leaders in Atlanta. 
 
As a research faculty member, Loch pursues a research program which focuses on international IT transfer in developing countries and the role of national ICT policy, and the social and ethical concerns of IT.  She serves as Global Editor for the Journal of Global Information Management, and as review board member for Information Resources Management Journal. 
 
Faculty members of Delta State University’s Division of Management, Marketing, and Business Administration coordinating the event are Dr. Kimberly Dorsey, Mr. Robert Fleming, Ms. Renee Foster, Dr. Rebecca Hochradel, Mrs. Elise Jenkins, Dr. Cooper Johnson, and Dr. Jamye Long.
 
Student Advisory Committee members include John Coleman, Samantha Minga, and Barbara Rogers.
 
The public is welcome and encouraged to attend these free sessions.
 
For additional information, please contact Dr. Jamye Long, Assistant Professor of Management, at (662) 846-4420 or e-mail jlong@deltastate.edu.