Last Friday Bradley received a visit from an important speaker.
Former Secretary of Labor, Elaine Chao spoke at the Peoria Civic Center on behalf of Theresa Falcon’s $2 million donation and Bradley’s executive MBA program.
Rob Baer, the dean of the Foster College of Business Administration, said Chao’s speech was the first among many.
“This speech was the first to kick-off the speeches,” he said. “Chao came to speak to the EMBA students beforehand, which was the real prize. We had about 650 people from Bradley and the Peoria community come to see her.”
Director of the EMBA program Jack Russell said he expects three speakers a year to visit Bradley.
“The idea is that one well-known person, such as Chao, will be there and we will have a big event,” Russell said. “When it gets going we will have two other noted business leaders that will come to [EMBA] classes and smaller events.”
He said the speakers will be business and government leaders who will speak about looking for leadership, how to grow and make a company run right and people with experience working with other companies in the real world and with business.
Russell said the Falcon donation adds to the Bradley name and he believes the prestige will bring in people from around the country who will want to speak to the EMBA class and have a public meeting with the Peoria community.
“Elain Chao was [former President] Bush’s Secretary of Labor, chances are she never would have come without this program,” Russell said. “If that was the case the message she had for us might not have been heard.”