Cutco Foundation Hosts 8th Annual Lecture on Entrepreneurial Leadership

OLEAN, N.Y., March 13 /PRNewswire/ -- In its ongoing efforts to promote entrepreneurship and business ethics, Cutco Cutlery will sponsor the 8th Annual Cutco Foundation Lecture on Entrepreneurial Leadership at Alfred University on April 24.

The guest speaker will be Alfred University graduate Joel Moskowitz, president and chairman of the board of Ceradyne, Inc., an advanced technical ceramic corporation which he co-founded in 1967. Ceradyne, based in Costa Mesa, CA, has grown from its founding to become an international, publicly- held corporation with a market cap of $1.5 billion.

The company has multiple research and manufacturing facilities in the United States, Germany, France, Canada and China. The company's technical focus has been the development and commercialization of advanced structural ceramics for consumer, industrial and defense applications. Ceradyne was recently selected by Business Week as one of the country's top 100 growth companies.

"We're anticipating an outstanding program," said Erick Laine, chairman of the board of Alcas Corporation, the parent company of Vector Marketing (http://www.vectorscholarships.com/) and Cutco Cutlery. "Our goal with this program is to expose Alfred University students, faculty and friends of the university to the motivations, leadership skills and business approaches that have taken our high profile speakers to success in their careers. Over the years, we have had many of the country's leading senior executives discuss their experiences and how they can be applied to virtually every business."

The annual Cutco Foundation Lecture is made possible through an endowment to Alfred University from Erick and Marianne Laine and Cutco. Its goal is to attract nationally prominent entrepreneurial leaders to campus to meet with students, faculty, and friends of the university. Past speakers have included:

   - Andrea Jung, chairman and CEO of Avon Products
   - Doris Christopher, founder and chairman of the Pampered Chef
   - Peter Cuneo, CEO of Marvel Comics
   - David Oreck, chairman and founder of Oreck Corporation
   - Tami Longaberger, CEO and chairman of Longaberger Company
   - Richard Smucker, co-CEO of the J.M. Smucker Company
   - James R. Houghton, chairman of the board of Corning, Inc.

Cutco Cutlery, based in Olean, NY, is the nation's largest kitchen cutlery manufacturing company. Founded in 1949, Cutco sells its products exclusively through a national network of college students who sell through in-home personal demonstrations. All sales activities are coordinated through Vector Marketing, the company's sales subsidiary.

"We have built a very successful business through this direct sales strategy," added Laine. "College students are energetic and enthused about the opportunity we provide. Many people have said that we're really training the next generation of entrepreneurs.

"Our annual program is a perfect fit for what we are doing with our student sales force. It's important that they understand business ethics as they advance with Cutco or use these skills in other careers."

About Cutco Cutlery and Vector Marketing

Cutco Cutlery (http://www.cutco.com/) is a 58-year-old company with headquarters and manufacturing facilities in Olean, New York. Cutco Foundation's website is located at http://www.cutcofoundation.org/. Vector Marketing (http://www.cutcofoundation.org/) is the company's sales subsidiary which trains and coordinates the activities of the direct sales force of college students.