2009-10 Speakers
Programs are held at 8:15 pm in Chrysler Hall, Norfolk.

T. BOONE PICKENS
Tuesday, October 13, 2009 – 8:15 p.m.

T. Boone Pickens is founder and chairman of BP Capital Management, one of the nation’s most successful energy-oriented investment funds. In 2008, he launched an ambitious, self-funded grass-roots campaign aimed at reducing our country’s dependence on imported oil. In television ads, on his PickensPlan website and in personal appearances, he spelled out how our dependence on foreign oil is an addiction that threatens our economy, our environment and our national security. His book, The First Billion is the Hardest, details what this country must do to win back its energy independence. Pickens pursues a wide range of business interests including water marketing, wind power, ranch development initiatives and Clean Energy, a company he founded. Clean Energy, is advancing the use of natural gas as a cleaner-burning and more cost-effective transportation fuel alternative to gasoline and diesel. Pickens has been a generous philanthropist giving away more than $700 million. The T. Boone Pickens Foundation is focused on improving lives through grants to support educational programs, medical research, athletics and corporate wellness, at-risk youths, the entrepreneurial process, and conservation and wildlife initiatives.
 

ELIAS ZERHOUNI, M.D.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009 – 8:15 p.m.

Dr. Elias Zerhouni, senior fellow in the Global Health Program of the Gates Foundation, advises the foundation in its discovery and policy and advocacy strategies. He served as director of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) from 2002 to 2008. During Zerhouni’s tenure, the NIH tripled its international funding for global health; Congress passed the NIH Reform Act which institutionalized Zerhouni’s innovative reforms; synergy between all 27 NIH institutes and centers was enhanced; compelling research initiatives that no single institute could support were funded; and a series of new programs to encourage high-risk, innovative research was launched. Prior to joining the NIH, Zerhouni was the executive vice dean of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and chair of the Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science. Previously, Zerhouni served in the department of radiology at Eastern Virginia Medical School and DePaul Hospital from 1981 to 1985. As a diagnostic radiologist, his research focused on pioneering new quantitative imaging methods based on CAT and MRI scanning to diagnose and treat cancer and pulmonary and cardiovascular diseases.

LOU HOLTZ
Tuesday, January 19, 2010 – 8:15 p.m.

Legendary collegiate football coach Lou Holtz is also a renowned speaker and best-selling author. Best known for his eleven seasons at Notre Dame, he also re-vitalized programs at five other colleges during his 26 year coaching career. Holtz is the only coach in the history of college football to take six different teams to a bowl game; win five bowl games with different teams; and have four different college teams ranked in the final Top 20 poll. As a speaker, Holtz is considered among the greatest speaking legends in America. He speaks on overcoming seemingly impossible challenges by setting goals and working to achieve them. He has built a reputation as a motivator, a demanding disciplinarian and someone who relishes challenges and hard work. Holtz has written three New York Times best-selling books; the latest, Wins, Losses and Lessons, is the story of his life and the lessons he has learned. Currently, Holtz is a college football analyst on ESPN.

JON MEACHAM
Tuesday, April 13, 2010 – 8:15 p.m.

Editor of Newsweek and a best-selling author, Jon Meacham was named “one of the most influential editors in the news magazine business” by The New York Times. A skilled raconteur and eloquent speaker, he understands important issues and events in all of their complexity and how they impact our lives. Meacham is responsible for all day-to-day editorial operations of Newsweek and has written many cover stories. His best-seller Franklin and Winston: An Intimate Portrait of an Epic
Friendship, explores the fascinating relationship between the two leaders who piloted the free world to victory in World War II. His most recent New York Times bestseller, American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House, won the Pulitzer Prize for biography and was cited as an “unlikely portrait of a not always admirable democrat, but a pivotal president, written with an agile prose that brings the Jackson saga to life.”