The 43rd President of the United States, George W. Bush, will speak on TCU’s campus late February at a Neeley School of Business luncheon.
Bush will be the keynote speaker at TCU’s 14th annual Investment Strategies Conference titled “The Global Competition for Capital.”
The conference is scheduled for Friday, Feb. 26 from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. The morning sessions will be held at Dee J. Kelly alumni center. The luncheon will take place in the Brown-Lupton University Union Ballroom.
“The reaction has been very strong, even stronger than we expected,” Jim Hille, TCU’s chief investment officer, said.
After an ice storm coincided with last year’s event, Hille and others were looking to regain the positive growth trend from previous years. So Hille said they looked for top-notch speakers and were able to arrange for Bush to speak through his chief of staff.
The event has been gaining national attention, according to Charlotte Holliday, administrative assistant in the Luther King Capital Management Center for Financial Studies.
“This is a very high energy and high profile event,” Holliday said. “It draws people from all over the country.”
“It was becoming a national event and now we’ve made it a national event, just as TCU has become a nationally-renown university,” Hille said.
The conference is designed to educate investment professionals while giving exposure and access to the TCU Finance community.
Bush will be speaking in a “fireside chat” style interview that gives insights into his time in office and how decisions are made at a policy level.
A total of 450 reservations for the conference became available Monday. Although by 11:00 a.m. Friday Hille said they were almost completely booked.
The event is free for Neeley faculty, staff and students. It is $250 for CFA Society members and $500 for the investment community and general public.
Depending on final numbers, Hille said they may decide to open a few more spots to Neeley students, and there is a possibility to book an overflow room with a live stream of the conference and luncheon.
TCU’s LKCM for Financial Studies and the TCU Endowment Office are sponsoring the event.
Prior to his eight years of presidency from 2001 to 2008, Bush served as Governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000.
Bush has a DFW metroplex connection as well. He was a co-owner and general managing partner for the Texas Rangers from 1989 to 1994.
The registration link for the conference can be found here.
