As a student of Shenandoah University, I can only dream of having a prestigious guest, Jeffrey Lacker, the President of the Federal Reserves in Richmond Virginia, speak at our university. It was even more meaningful that he traveled after a snowy Monday to be with our business school community early Tuesday morning.
When he started to speak and tell his story, the audience was consumed by his expert words. Without giving advice, he was able to portray his past decisions and expound upon the reasons why something was done or not done in his past tenure as the President of the Federal Reserves. He made it clear that he worked extremely hard to climb the ladder of success.
The event was accessible and informative — it felt as if a professor was teaching a class at the Harry F. Byrd, Jr. School Of Business. Lacker was once a professor at William and Mary University and Purdue University. Because of this experience, the audience felt comfortable and felt as if he was speaking to them directly. Lacker left no questions unanswered. He even explained menial things to business students, such as what is the GDP and what affects its growth. As a speaker, he came in prepared, understood his angles and he had an informative answer for any question the audience asked of him.
Having speakers of this caliber present to our community allows students to be part of something larger than the campus community. Media from all over the world covered this event, giving us a chance to see how the real media works and how a high-end government official projects himself.
The business school is increasing its student’s value of education. It is providing fantastic networking opportunities and bringing inspirational, top of the line, speakers to the school. The Jeffrey Lacker event was infectiously interesting and inspiring to the entire audience. As a student of Shenandoah University, I would like to thank Jeffrey Lacker for spending his time with our Business School Community and, most importantly, for spending time with the students of the Harry F. Byrd, Jr. School of Business.