H. Ross Perot Will be Capstone Speaker for Business Day 1999 at Colorado State University

H. Ross Perot, Texas billionaire and founder and former president of the Reform Party, will be the capstone speaker for Colorado State University’s annual Business Day, scheduled for Oct. 13 at 8 p.m. in the Lory Student Center Theatre. The speech is free and open to the public.

"Most people know about H. Ross Perot the presidential candidate, but fewer know of his mega success in the world of business and technology," said John Plotnicki, chairman of the Computer Information Systems department in Colorado State’s College of Business. "This is an opportunity to hear Perot the business leader and entrepreneur share his thoughts on what it takes to succeed and what not to lose sight of along the way."

Perot made his first successful mark in the business world as the founder of Electronic Data Systems, which he later sold for $2.5 billion to General Motors. Since then, he has started a competing public company in Dallas called Perot Systems Inc.

"We were very lucky to get Mr. Perot to visit the campus and share some of his valuable time and insights," said Gladys Eddy, assistant to the dean for Colorado State’s College of Business. "He joins a long line of key business leaders who have come to Colorado State for this event."

Business Day was developed in 1979 by the Business College Council and the College of Business, in cooperation with the Associated Students of Colorado State University.

The first speaker who helped to kick off the tradition of Business Day was Ronald Reagan, in 1979, when he was the former governor of California followed the next year by Malcolm Forbes, then editor-in-chief and CEO of Forbes Magazine. Others include: F. James McDonald, President of General Motors; Najeeb Halaby, former CEO of Pan Am Airways and former FFA administrator; Lewis Platt, former CEO of Hewlett Packard and Colorado Rockies owner Jerry McMorris.

Perot’s speech will follow a reception and a dinner, both of which are reservations only. Reservations for the dinner and the reception can only be made after Sept. 1 by calling Gladys Eddy at (970) 491-5325.