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An interview with Madeleine Albright

Published: 13 November 2007

Former U.S. Secretary of State to address “Business and the Poor” in public discussion

McGill University’s Desautels Faculty of Management and the Dobson Centre for Entrepreneurial Studies are pleased to welcome Madeleine K. Albright as the first guest speaker in the Peter Brojde Leadership Lecture series. On November 20 at 6:00 pm, Dr. Albright will participate in a public interview with Canada’s former Ambassador to the United Nations, Yves Fortier, at the Mount Royal Centre, 2200 Mansfield St., Montreal. The topic of their discussion will be “Business and the Poor, 2007.”

Madeleine Albright was sworn in as the first woman Secretary of State of the United States in January 1997 and became, at that time, the highest ranking woman in the history of the U.S. government. She retained that position throughout President Bill Clinton’s second term, until January 2001. Previously, she served in the first Clinton administration as the U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 1993-97. Her most recent book, The Mighty and the Almighty, Reflections on America, God and World Affairs, explores the role of religion in world politics. Her bestselling autobiography, Madam Secretary, was published in 2003.

During her tenure as Secretary of State, Dr. Albright oversaw the major U.S. foreign policy challenges of the Middle East Peace Process, the bombings of the U.S. embassies in Dar-es-Salaam and Nairobi, and the NATO intervention in the Balkans. She is a frequent media commentator on U.S. politics and foreign policy. She is now Principal of the Albright Group LLC and Chair and Principal of Albright Capital Management LLC, an investment advisory firm focused on emerging markets.

Yves Fortier is an internationally respected lawyer, arbitrator and diplomat and a distinguished graduate of the McGill Faculty of Law (’58). From July 1988 until January 1992, Mr. Fortier served as Canada’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations. Chair of Ogilvy Renault LLP since 1992, Mr. Fortier was named President of the London Court of International Arbitration in 1998 and, in 2006, was ranked the world’s best arbitrator by the American Lawyer/Focus Europe global survey of law firms. He is a Companion of the Order of Canada.

The Peter Brojde Leadership Lecture was established in memory of the co-founder of Eicon Technology Corporation to provide a public forum that will challenge students, faculty and the general public to understand how businesses can be a force for confronting and overcoming societal and economic problems of global scope. The event will feature a 15-minute introductory address by Dr. Albright, followed by a 35-minute informal interview session with Mr. Fortier and 10 minutes of written questions from the audience.

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