Global Financial Summit Announced by Benedictine College

ATCHISON, Kan. and HONG KONG, Dec. 18 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Stephen D Minnis, president of Benedictine College in Atchison, Kan., just completed a series of meetings in Hong Kong and mainland China intended to expand the reach of the school's business offerings abroad. Already in operation with prestigious undergraduate degree completion programs in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing, the college is planning to extend its presence to Singapore and Malaysia in January 2009.

President Minnis and the newly appointed executive director of the Benedictine School of Business, Antonio J. Soave, visited with a number of institutions in the historic city of Xi'an in mainland China last week. David Yau, Benedictine's Hong Kong-based partner, arranged the groundbreaking meetings with academicians, government officials and business leaders there.

During the trip, concluded on Dec. 15, Minnis and Soave announced that the School of Business will play host to the first ever Global Financial Summit at Benedictine College in Kansas. Tentatively scheduled for April 2009, the Summit will assemble a number of executives from Fortune 500 companies and industry experts from Asia, Europe and Latin America. The Summit will not only serve as a platform to discuss and debate the current financial crisis, but will also be the catalyst by which to propose a number of solutions to the economic challenges the world now faces. Results of the Summit will be officially submitted to global financial leaders and politicians and will be published in the Benedictine Journal of International Business.

"The Global Financial Summit at Benedictine College will function as an important public policy forum and will consolidate not only the debate concerning these issues, but the possible solutions as well," said Minnis.

The Global Summit will also feature guest speakers from the School's prestigious International Business Advisory Council (IBAC). IBAC members include Don Soderquist, former Vice Chairman of Wal-Mart; Cresencio Arcos, former U.S. Ambassador to Honduras and Deputy Secretary of State; Rudy Beserra, Vice President of the Coca-Cola Company; Graham Bell, managing director of Bridge Capital Partners in Dubai; Robert Atwell, chairman and CEO of Nicolet Bank; and Doug Deluca, co-executive producer of ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live."

Benedictine College is a Catholic, Benedictine, liberal arts college located in Atchison, Kan. For more information, go to www.benedictine.edu/business.