Speakers

Charles R. Schwab, Keynote Speaker

This year’s keynote address will be like no other as you engage in an enlightened question and answer session with Charles Schwab.

Charles R. Schwab, 70, started his San Francisco-based firm in 1971 as a traditional brokerage company and in 1974 became a pioneer in the discount brokerage business. Mr. Schwab took an early lead, offering a combination of low prices with fast, efficient order executions, and soon became the nation’s largest discount broker. Today, the company is one of the nation’s largest financial services firms with $1.4 trillion in client assets. Schwab provides a full-service investing experience to clients through domestic offices, the Internet, and multilingual and international offices.

Mr. Schwab is also chairman of Charles Schwab Bank and a trustee of the Charles Schwab Family of Funds, Schwab Investments, Schwab Capital Trust and Schwab Annuity Portfolios, all registered investment companies.

He has been chairman and a director of The Charles Schwab Corporation since its incorporation in 1986. He also served as chief executive officer from 1986 to 1997, and as co-chief executive officer from January 1998 until May 2003. He was re-appointed CEO in July 2004.

In addition to his professional commitments, Mr. Schwab takes an active interest in a variety of volunteer and non-profit activities. Along with his wife Helen, he is the co-founder and chairman of the Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation, a nonprofit organization that focuses on helping children with learning disabilities nationwide and also focuses on supporting low income families through initiatives in poverty prevention, homelessness and substance abuse. Mr. Schwab is also chairman of both the All Kinds of Minds Institute, a non-profit institute dedicated to the understanding of differences in learning, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

On January 22, 2008, President George W. Bush named Mr. Schwab chairman of the President’s Advisory Council on Financial Literacy. The 16-member panel meets regularly to advise the President and the Secretary of the Treasury on ways to promote and enhance financial literacy among the American people.

His current book is a completely revised and updated version of his 1998 book, Charles Schwab’s Guide to Financial Independence. He is also the author of It Pays To Talk, written with his daughter, Carrie Schwab Pomerantz, and You’re Fifty — Now What?

Mr. Schwab was born in Sacramento in 1937. He is a graduate of Stanford University, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics in 1959 and a Master of Business Administration degree from Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1961.

A father of five children, Mr. Schwab resides with his wife, Helen (O’Neill), in the San Francisco Bay Area. Please come prepared with your financial questions as we “Talk to Chuck.”

Randy Blach, Executive Vice President, Cattle-Fax

Randy Blach was raised on a family ranching and farming operation at Yuma, Colorado. He graduated from Colorado State University in 1980 with a degree in Animal Science. Blach received the Honor Alumni award from the College of Agricultural Sciences in 2004.

Mr. Blach has been with Cattle-Fax since 1981. He served as Director of Market Analysis for 15 years and was appointed as the Executive Vice President in February of 2001. Cattle-Fax is a member-owned organization whose objective is to help member cattlemen make more profitable marketing and management decisions. Cattle-Fax supplies its members with timely market information, analyses and research to assist them in making better market and management decisions.

Mr. Blach and his family remain actively involved in a cattle ranching business that includes cow/calf, stocker and finishing cattle. He is also an owner/operator of High Country Steaks which provides high quality steaks to consumers across the nation. He has been a keynote speaker at hundreds of cattle and beef industry conventions, meetings and seminars during the past twenty years.

Dr. Bernadette Dunham, D.V.M., Ph.D. Director, FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine

Dr. Bernadette Dunham was appointed Director of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) on January 7, 2008 by Commissioner of Food and Drugs, Andrew C. von Eschenbach, M.D. Prior to becoming CVM’s Director, Dr. Dunham was CVM’s Deputy Director. Dr. Dunham also served as the Director of CVM’s Office of Minor Use and Minor Species (OMUMS) from August 2006 to January 2008. She came to CVM in December 2002 as the Deputy Director of CVM’s Office of New Animal Drug Evaluation (ONADE). Dr. Dunham received the degree of Doctor of Veterinary Medicine in 1975 from the Ontario Veterinary College at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada and her Ph.D. in cardiovascular physiology in 1984 from Boston University in Boston, Massachusetts.

She is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology at the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine, a position she has held since 1996. She lectures on a variety of topics from emerging issues and opportunities in veterinary medicine to the role of consensus building in policy development. Dr. Dunham will speak during the Industry Issues Forum on Thursday, October 23.