THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT DALLAS

Naveen Jindal School of ManagementCenter for Global Business

http://jindal.utdallas.edu/cgb/

BUSINESS IN AFRICATrade and Investment, Sustainability and Social Impact

And Why the United States is Falling BehindMonday, Oct. 30, 2017 6-8:30 p.m.

Naveen Jindal School of Management Executive Dining Room

Free for all UT Dallas students, faculty and staff. Advanced registration required: https://jindal.utdallas.edu/application/global-business/

$25 for publicThis event is co-hosted by Jindal School’s Center for Global Business and the Global Chamber in Dallas.

n Meredith Wilson, CEO

Emergent Risk International

n Phillip Carter, U.S. Senior Foreign Service Diplomat Former U.S. Ambassador to the Cote D’ Ivorie

n H.E. Étoundi Essomba, Cameroon Ambassador to the U.S.

n Zemedeneh Negatu, Chairman of Fairfax Africa Fund

n Laban Opande, Owner The Opande Law Firm

SPEAKERS

MODERATOR

BUSINESS IN AFRICA Trade and Investment, Sustainability and Social Impact

And Why the United States is Falling Behind Monday, October 30, 2017

The University of Texas at Dallas 800 W. Campbell Road, Richardson, Texas

Philip Carter, Senior Foreign Service American Diplomat and Former United States Ambassador to Cote D’ Ivorie Prior to his appointment as U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Cote D’ Ivorie, Phillip Carter served as a Senior Advisor to the Africa Bureau and previously as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary from 2008 to 2010. He was also the Africa Bureau’s Acting Assistant Secretary during the transition between the Bush and Obama administrations.

H.E.Étoundi Essomba, Cameroon Ambassador to the United States

Henri Etoundi Essomba, a longtime member of Cameroon’s Foreign Service, was appointed on April 11, 2016, to be his country’s ambassador to the United States. Etoundi Essomba’s first thought of a vocation was the priesthood. However, after attending seminary for a while, he found that it wasn’t for him and he left. While considering his next move, Etoundi Essomba took the placement test for Cameroon’s foreign ministry and was accepted. His early assignments included postings in Paris and Brasilia. However, the majority of his career has been spent in Israel. He was originally sent to the country in the early 1990s as chargé d’affaires, expecting to set up Cameroon’s mission there and leave shortly thereafter. However, he stayed for five years, returning home when he was made deputy chief of protocol. In 1998, Etoundi Essomba returned to Israel, this time as ambassador. He spent 17 years there, raising his four children with his wife, Esther. During his tenure, Cameroon became an ally of Israel, often voting against anti-Israeli measures at the UN. For its part, Israel trains some of Cameroon’s military and supplies it with weaponry. Etoundi Essomba had been dean of Israel’s diplomatic corps for several years when he left for Washington.

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Zemedeneh Negatu, Chairman of Fairfax Africa Fund An Ethiopian-American, Zemedeneh is widely recognized as one of Africa’s top business leaders and has received numerous global awards and recognitions including the “100 Most Influential Africans of 2013” from New African magazine, “Who-is-Who of African Finance 2015” from Global Finance of New York, CEO Magazine’s “Titans Building Nations 2014” award and “Pioneer Ethiopian-American Diaspora Business Person of the Year Award 2012” in Washington D.C. A trusted global advisor to senior decision makers, Zemedeneh has worked in the U.S., Brazil, Argentina, the Middle East and throughout Africa. He has advised Wall Street investment banks, Governments, Sovereign Wealth Funds and multinational corporations in various sectors including financial services, airlines and consumer products. Zemedeneh regularly provides powerful and influential global thought leadership about finance, economics and investments and has been featured on CNN, BBC, the FT, Bloomberg and as a “Power Lunch” guest on CNBC television discussing FDI in Africa.

Laban Opande, Principal, Opande Law Firm Mr. Opande graduated Cum Laude from Texas Southern University’s School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences with a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science in 2001. He was also president of the Environmental Health Club at TSU from 2000- 2001. He is also a Master in Business Administration (MBA) graduate from the University of Phoenix. He graduated from the Thurgood Marshall School of Law, Texas Southern University with a Juris Doctor degree in May of 2007. At Thurgood Marshall, he was Chief Justice of the Honor Court, Vice President of the International and Immigration Law Society, a Member of the Environmental Law Society, and Member of the Dean’s Diversity Committee. He was also an active participant of the law school’s Client Counseling, Moot Court, and Mock Trial Competitions. As a law student, he interned for Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s (TCEQ) General Law Division dealing with Labor, Employment and Contracts Law, and TMSL’s Criminal, Immigration, and Environmental Law Clinics. Prior to his admission to law school, he worked for several years as an IT Technical Analyst for American International Group (AIG) in Houston, as well as a Product Support Consultant for PlanView Inc, a software development company based in Austin, Texas.

Meredith Wilson, CEO of Emergent Risk International Ms. Wilson serves as a political risk and intelligence advisor to executive management members and the government and has 19 years of experience in international environments, the energy sector, major corporations and the U.S. intelligence community.

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UT Dallas Faculty

Mike Peng, PhD Mike W. Peng is the Jindal Chair of Global Strategy at the Jindal School of Management, University of Texas at Dallas. He is also a National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award winner and a Fellow of the Academy of International Business (AIB). At UT Dallas, he has been the number one contributor to the list of 45 journals tracked by Financial Times, which ranked UT Dallas as a top 20 school in research worldwide. Over 50 of his articles appear on the Financial Times list. Professor Peng received his PhD from the University of Washington. Prior to joining UT Dallas, he served on the faculties of the Ohio State University, Chinese University of Hong Kong, and University of Hawaii. He has taught in five states in the United States (Hawaii, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, and Washington), as well as in China, Hong Kong, and Vietnam. Truly global in scope, Professor Peng’s research has investigated firm strategies in Africa, Asia Pacific, Central and Eastern Europe, and North America. He is best known for his development of the institution-based view of strategy and his insights about the rise of emerging economies such as China in global business. He has published over 130 articles in leading journals, over 40 pieces in non-refereed outlets, and five books. Used in over 30 countries, his textbooks, Global Strategy, Global Business, and GLOBAL, are global market leaders that have been translated into Chinese, Portuguese, and Spanish. With over 27,000 Google citations and an H-index of 66, he is widely regarded as one of the most prolific and most influential scholars in global strategy. He is one of the only 70 top scholars in business and economics—and the only one from the Jindal School—listed among The World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds (compiled by Thomson Reuters based on citations). Both the United Nations and the World Bank have cited his work. Recent research awards include a Journal of International Business Studies Decade Award (2015) and an Academy of Management Perspectives Best Impact Award (2014)

David Ford, PhD Dr. David Ford is Emeritus Professor of Organizations, Strategy, and International Management in the Naveen Jindal School of Management at the University of Texas at Dallas. During his more than 50 years of professional experience, Dr. Ford has worked as an industrial engineer for an aerospace firm, as an educator, trainer, manager, and organization development consultant. His other full-time and visiting academic appointments have included UCLA, Purdue University, Michigan State University, and Yale University. He received his B. S. degree in industrial engineering from Iowa State University, M.S. in industrial engineering and Ph.D. in organizational analysis – both from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. As president of his own management consulting firm, D. L. Ford & Associates, Dave has provided consulting and management development services for fortune 1000 clients and government agencies such as General Electric (GE Medical systems, GE Appliances, GE Corporate Training & Development), Whirlpool, Anheuser Busch, Hilton Hotels Corporation, Exxon-Mobil Corporation, U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Department of Commerce, Internal Revenue Service, and Federal Aviation Administration. International assignments have included clients in South Africa, China, Russia, Trinidad, Barbados, India, and Turkey. Consulting engagements with these clients and others have involved: (a) improving team functioning and inter-group relations; (b) designing organizational surveys for problem diagnosis of employment issues such as conflict management, communication breakdowns, diversity management, and leadership development; (c) organizational culture audits associated with change projects; (d) strategic focus development using future search conferences and appreciative inquiry methods; and (e) individual executive coaching and counseling for role clarity, career planning and development, and work-life balance. Dave has also served on corporate and non-profit boards as a director. Professor Ford’s research interests and areas of publication cover such topics as individual and group decision-making processes, job stress, workforce diversity, leader effectiveness, knowledge management, and cross-cultural management issues. He has more than 75 refereed journal articles, book chapters and other publications. His professional associations include: Academy of Management, Association of Social and Behavioral Scientists, Academy of International Business, INFORMS, PhD Project Management Doctoral Students Association, Organization Development Network, and Society of International Business Fellows (SIBF). Dave served as a facilitator for the SIBF-sponsored Central Eurasia Leadership Academy from 2002 – 2004 and the Middle East Leadership Academy in 2012. He resides in Dallas, Texas with his wife, Jackie.

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Habte Woldu, PhD Born in Ethiopia, Dr. Woldu attended Haile Selassie I University in Addis Ababa where he earned an undergraduate degree in social science while simultaneously working as an auditor for the National Bank of Ethiopia. From there he went on to pursue Masters Degree program in human resource management followed by a Doctorate degree in Economics from the Poznan University of Economics, Poland. After beginning his academic career as an Assistant professor at his alma mater in Poznan University of Economics, Dr. Woldu continued on to join the University of Texas at Dallas in 1993. Dr. Woldu has done extensive research and has many publications covering a wide breadth of topics, including comparative management and cross-cultural Studies, empirical analysis of cultural differences and divergence, human resource management in Central & East European countries and understanding the African international trade and foreign direct investment patterns. During his 19 year employment at the Jindal School of Management, Dr. Woldu has grown with the university itself and has been actively involved in the internationalization of UTD.

Hubert Zydorek Hubert Zydorek serves as Program Director of the Bachelor of Science in Global Business as well as Director of Center for Global Business at the University of Texas at Dallas. Hubert has 16+ years of experience in international consulting, academic teaching and management of design, development and delivery of blended-learning solutions for international clients. Prior to joining UTD Hubert worked for Ernst & Young (EY) and Xerox Learning Solutions. He has lived and worked in Poland, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, India, China and led development teams from China, India, Malaysia, Mexico and the Philippines. Hubert received his BA in International Relations and Business from Cleveland State University, his MBA from Cleveland State University, and MA in Finance and Investments from the University of Nottingham Ningbo, China.

AGENDA

Monday, October 30, 2017 Center for Global Business/ Global Chamber

Business in Africa Conference Executive Dining Room

5:30pm - 8:30pm

Time Activity Facilitator Institution/Title

5:30 – 6:00 Registration Susan Philips UT Dallas Staff

6:00 – 6:10 JSOM Welcome JSOM Leadership Dr. Habte Woldu

UT Dallas Faculty

6:10 – 6:20 Africa Experience Dr. David Ford

UT Dallas Faculty

6:20 – 7:00 Presentations (10mins each)

7:00 – 7:45 Panel Discussion Meredith Wilson Emergent Risk

International CEO

7:45 – 8:00 QA and Closing

Meredith Wilson

Hubert Zydorek

Emergent Risk International

CEO UT Dallas

Faculty

8:00 – 8:30 Networking