John Zogby is Keynote Speaker at VCU’s International Business Forum

By Tom Gresham

Renowned pollster and author John Zogby will serve as keynote speaker at the 16th Annual International Business Forum of the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Business next week, joining panelists to discuss the new realities of the American work force in the 21st century.

“Working in the 21st Century: The Way We Will Be” will explore Americans’ place in the rapidly changing global business environment as it evolves during this still-young century. The forum, which is co-sponsored by the VCU School of Business, the VCU School of World Studies and the Society of International Business Fellows, will be held on April 7 from 3 to 5:30 p.m. in the University Student Commons Ballroom, 907 Floyd Ave. Attendance is free and open to the public. A reception will follow in the Snead Hall Atrium at the VCU School of Business.

Zogby, president and CEO of Zogby International, a research and marketing firm that does business in more than 70 countries, is a renowned leader in polling and market research. He also is the author of the 2008 bestseller, “The Way We’ll Be: The Zogby Report on the Transformation of the American Dream.” He writes a weekly column for Forbes.

In addition to Zogby, featured speakers include David Payne, Ph.D., vice president and COO of Educational Testing Services (ETS), and Matt Thornhill, founder and president of The Boomer Project, a marketing research and consulting firm with a focus on the baby boomer demographic. Van Wood, professor of marketing and Philip Morris Chair of International Business at VCU, will moderate.

In his role at ETS, Payne is responsible for higher education outcomes assessments and learning tools and the Strategic Relations, Sales and Marketing group, working with student, faculty and administrative organizations in higher education around the world. Prior to joining ETS in 2003, he was a tenured professor of psychology at Binghamton University.

Thornhill is a leading authority on marketing to the influential age cohort of the baby boomers. The Boomer Project’s clients include such brands as Walmart, Johnson & Johnson, Lincoln Financial, Verizon FiOS and Home Instead Senior Care. Thornhill is the co-author of “Boomer Consumer: Ten New Rules for Marketing to American’s Largest, Wealthiest and Most Important Demographic Group” and spent 23 years in the advertising business before starting The Boomer Project.