Distinguished Speakers Series

Mary Barra at Fuqua's Distinguished Speakers Series

Mary Barra, Chair and CEO of General Motors, speaks with former dean Bill Boulding

Since 1984, the Dean's Office of The Fuqua School of Business has hosted the Distinguished Speakers Series, bringing a variety of corporate leaders to Duke's campus. The speakers provide significant educational enrichment that is a natural complement to the school's curriculum.

The objective of the series is two-fold. It brings high-profile corporate leaders to one of the world's leading business schools to share their insights on current business issues and corporate strategies. The program also builds and strengthens the relationship between Fuqua and the world's leading corporations.

The Distinguished Speakers Series is supported by the Dean of Duke's Fuqua School of Business, and the series is open to the Duke University community.   

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Detavio Samuels

CEO, REVOLT

Detavio Samuels, CEO of REVOLT, talks about brand purpose and career progression.

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Linda Rendle

CEO, Clorox

Linda Rendle, Clorox CEO and chairperson, shares her perspective on shifting corporate culture and achieving gender parity in business leadership

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David Heath

CEO, Bombas

Bombas CEO David Heath shares what makes Bombas different from other companies with social impact missions.

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Dr. Arvind Krishna

CEO, IBM

IBM's CEO said we are in a "Netscape moment" in artificial intelligence, comparing ChatGPT to the web browser that made the internet widely known in the 1990s.

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Dr. Albert Bourla

CEO, Pfizer

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla discussed leading the company during one of the most critical periods of history and developing one of the first COVID vaccines. 

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Julie Sweet

CEO, Accenture

Accenture's CEO speaks about the need for companies to understand technology as a core business competency, about AI, and about the potential of the metaverse. Her recommendation for students: dream big.

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Ken Frazier

Merck executive chair and former CEO

Ken Frazier reflected on his career, the role of business in “reinventing the country,” and his work with OneTen, a coalition of business leaders working to get one million Black Americans hired into family-sustaining jobs in 10 years.

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Indra Nooyi

Former PepsiCo CEO

Former PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi discussed juggling work and family and the role of mentorship, plus how she hopes her personal story will help create change for working families and essential workers.

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Alex Gorsky

Johnson & Johnson

When he took the helm of Johnson & Johnson 10 years ago, Alex Gorsky would not have predicted he’d be leading the global health care company in the race to end a pandemic.

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Mary Barra

General Motors

Mary Barra, chair and CEO of General Motors, describes a year of innovation and how the firm pivoted to produce much-needed ventilators to avoid a COVID-19-driven shortage of the life-saving devices.

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Eric Yuan

Zoom

 Eric Yuan, CEO of Zoom, explains the opportunities and challenges the company has faced in a year that transformed how the world does business and more than tripled Zoom’s revenues.

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Ajay Banga

Mastercard

Mastercard Chairman Ajay Banga defines decency in business leadership and explains why leading and serving others is a privilege.

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