School of Business

Westar CEO Jim Haines to present Chandler Lecture

Jim Haines, CEO of Westar Energy in Topeka, will speak on “Corporate Governance, Business Ethics, and Individual Responsibility” as the fall 2004 Anderson Chandler Lecture. The School of Business hosts the lecture at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 8. at the Lied Center of Kansas on the Lawrence campus.

Jim Haines was named director, chief executive officer and president of Westar Energy in December 2002, returning to a company where he had served as chief operating officer years earlier. But by the time of his return, Westar was troubled by, among other issues, a $3.6 billion debt.

Haines served nearly six years as director, CEO and president of El Paso Electric Company before retiring in November 2001. He was adjunct professor and Skov Professor of Business Ethics in the College of Business Administration, The University of Texas at El Paso, before returning to Westar. Haines is a 1975 graduate of the University of Missouri Law School.

The lecture series, which began in 1997, is sponsored by Anderson Chandler, b’48, CEO, president and director of Fidelity State Bank and Trust Co. of Topeka and vice president and director of First Bank of Newton. He is a member of the School of Business Dean's Club, serves on the school’s Board of Advisors, and is a recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award. He also has received the Fred Ellsworth Medallion from the Alumni Association for his service to KU.

The Chandler lecture is free and open to the public. Tickets are not required.

“An Inside Look at Enron”

William Plybon, a KU business school alumnus who worked on the team of lawyers that analyzed the Enron case will present “An Inside Look at the Enron Case” at 7 p.m. Oct. 19 in Aldersen Auditorium at the Kansas Union. The event is free, open to the public, and will focus on:

- a description of Enron’s special-purpose entity transactions and its disclosure practices,

- the effects of the accounting practices in typical Enron transactions,

- the role of Enron’s board of directors and officers.

After his presentation, Plybon, b’82, will be available for a question-and-answer session.

Plybon is vice president and deputy general counsel for Coca-Cola Enterprises. Before joining Coca-Cola in 2004, he was a partner at the Atlanta law firm of Alston & Bird LLP. A member of the litigation and trial practice section, Plybon focused on complex commercial litigation. He was a leader of A&B’s Enron Examination team.

A&B was hired by the court to examine Enron’s special-purpose entity transactions and to tell the story of what happened at the company. Over its 18 months of work, A&B published four reports, totaling about 4,400 pages.

After earning his KU accounting degree, Plybon received a law degree from Emory University in 1986.

Business School alumni share experiences with students

Larry Horner is the 2004 International Executive in Residence for the Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER). He presented “The Global Energy Landscape: Politics, Finance, and Environment” Oct. 8.

Horner, b’56, is the former leader of one of the world’s largest international accounting firms. After his KU graduation, he joined Peat Marwick Mitchell & Co., where he rose from entry-level accountant to chairman and chief executive officer. Horner was among the first in the accounting profession to foresee the globalization of markets and the need for world-wide accounting standards. He masterminded the merger of Peat Marwick with the German-Dutch-Anglo firm of Klynveld Main Goerdeler. This transaction created the world’s largest international accounting firm, KPMG Peat Marwick, and set off a wave of international mergers. He has been involved in business activities in China and serves on a variety of corporate boards, including ConocoPhillips. He is a former member of the Alumni Association national board and has received KU’s Distinguished Service Citation and a Distinguished Alumni Award from the School of Business.

David Booth, chairman and CEO of Dimensional Fund Advisors (DFA), spoke Oct. 8 to the School of Business Finance. Booth earned his MBA at the University of Chicago.

In 1981 Booth and Rex Sinquefield, a former student from the University of Chicago, founded DFA, an investment firm based in Santa Monica, Calif.

In 2002 Harvard Business School completed a case study on DFA. The KU Finance Club studied this case and Booth visited Summerfield Hall to discuss it with about 20 business students.

Homecoming 2004

KU Business School graduate and 2004 Track and Field Olympian Charlie Gruber, b'02, g'04, served as Grand Marshal of this year’s Homecoming Parade. Gruber competed in the 1500 meters in Athens.

For more information visit the School of Business website.