Alumnus brings energy to BB&T Global Capitalism Lecture Series

Alumnus Jamie Webster ’98 delivered the keynote address at the COBE BB&T Global Capitalism Lecture Series Luncheon.
Alumnus Jamie Webster ’98 delivered the keynote address at the COBE BB&T Global Capitalism Lecture Series Luncheon.

Jamie Webster ’98, a senior director at the Boston Consultant Group (BCG) Center for Energy Impact delivered the keynote address Nov. 3 at the College of Business and Economics (COBE) BB&T Global Capitalism Lecture Series Luncheon.

Speaking to a large gathering at COBE’s Kyle Hall, Webster addressed ways United States capitalism and energy are changing the world.

Webster is the first alumnus to be invited to speak at COBE’s prestigious semiannual lecture series, an ongoing collaboration between BB&T and COBE to stimulate thought and discussion about capitalism, the tenets of free enterprise and the best practices of successful organizations. The lecture series is underwritten by a gift to COBE by BB&T that began in 2009.

At BCG, Webster is an expert in energy markets and geopolitics, with a focus on oil market balance evaluation, OPEC analysis and national energy policies.

The BCG Center for Energy Impact works with companies and policymakers on the future of energy to shape thinking about the availability, economics and sustainability of the world’s energy sources and to consider the implications for energy companies and their portfolios.

“Twice each year, we are able to bring to campus the best and brightest minds to speak on current topics related to capitalism, business and the global economy,” COBE Dean George Low said. “In addition to hearing from one of the leading oil and gas industry experts in the world, our students were able to see that anything is possible with a business degree from Radford, and our faculty who taught Jamie saw the fruits of the seeds sown many years ago in Whitt Hall.”

Through the lecture series, which is in its ninth year, Low said “faculty, staff, administrators, students and regional business executives all benefit from the unique event as they learn about the challenges and opportunities facing free market systems around the world.”

Senior economics major Chris Boggs of Arlington said he enjoys the series “because as students, it provides us the ability to hear from someone who we otherwise wouldn't be able to. It definitely helps me to grow because it gives a new view and insight from someone who's active in the business world. It's a unique opportunity that I'm glad I've been able to take part in."

Webster said coming back to campus was “a great experience,” and “it was great to see some of the professors – those who taught and inspired me – still there to help the next generation. Radford was a key part of my professional development and it was great to come back and see how much it has grown as well.”

In addition to Webster, COBE BB&T Global Capitalism Lecture Series events have included:

·       Jennifer Grossman, CEO of the Atlas Society

·       John Allison, retired chairman and CEO at BB&T, retired president and CEO of the Cato Institute

·       Barry DuVal, president and CEO of Virginia Chamber of Commerce

·       Brady Deato, BIFAD chair and chancellor emeritus of University of Missouri

·       Ann Cudd, distinguished professor of philosophy at the University of Kansas

·       Russell S. Sobel, visiting scholar in entrepreneurship in the School of Business Administration at The Citadel

·       Steve Pearlstein, Pulitzer-Prize winning business and economics columnist for the Washington Post

·       Christopher Coyne, director of graduate studies of the Department of Economics at George Mason University

·       Hamid Ghanadan, founder and president of the Linus Group

·       Mary Rose Carosia and Theresa Werner, Standard and Poors (S&P) Capital IQ

·       Kevin Daley, former vice president at the J. Walter Thompson Advertising Agency and founder of Communispond

·       Faye Gilbert, former COBE dean

·       Jason Bingham, vice president, central territory of North America, for Ingersoll Rand

·       John Allison, former BB&T chair and CEO

·       Keith Shields, senior statistician and analytic development lead for Marketing Associates in Detroit

“Thanks to the generosity of BB&T, and our careful stewardship of their gift, this event will continue indefinitely into the future,” Low said.

Nov 9, 2017
Chad Osborne
540-831-7761
caosborne@radford.edu