Electifying!

Those attending the annual Business Ethics Forum Nov. 1-4 will come face-to-face with an early American leader in corporate integrity. A very early leader -- Benjamin Franklin.

The conference, organized by Baylor's Hankamer School of Business, will celebrate the 300th anniversary of the innovator's birth combined with the University's emphasis on business ethics. Ralph Archbold, official Benjamin Franklin impersonator for the city of Philadelphia, will perform at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 1 at the Mayborn Museum Complex.

"It will be a business retrospective that celebrates and critiques Franklin's business heritage," said Blaine McCormick, assistant professor of management and associate dean of undergraduate programs at Hankamer. "Are we better off because he was in our pool of Americans? He's a wonderful role model to consider in terms of business ethics -- where he was strong and where he was lacking."

Speakers at the forum include Peter Handal, chief executive officer of Dale Carnegie and Associates; John C. Bogel, founder of the Vanguard Group; and J.A. Leo Lamay, Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Professor of Colonial American Literature at the University of Delaware.

Other events, which will take place on the fifth floor of Cashion Academic Center, include roundtable discussions and lectures on financial integrity and community responsibility. Speakers also will address students in classroom visits.

The forum is sponsored by the Harry and Hazel Chavanne Endowment for Christian Ethics in Business and in association with the Ethics Officer Association, an international professional association for those responsible for their company's ethics, compliance and business conduct programs.

Some sessions are free and open to the public. Tickets for the Archbold presentation are $50.

To register or for a schedule, visit www.baylor.edu/businessethics