Thanks to the foresight of former business executives from a well-known local company, students in ODU’s College of Business and Public Administration can take advantage of an educational bonus each year in the form of guest speakers who are successful leaders from the business arena.

Now in its fifth year, the Landmark Executive-in-Residence speaker series is continuing its tradition of sharing “real world” stories with students who will one day embark on their own business careers.

Past speakers have included O.M. “Tony” Nicely, chairman, president and CEO of GEICO, and Debbi Fields, founder of Mrs. Fields Cookies, as well as a mix of local leaders and successful ODU alumni, such as Les Cappetta ’83, executive vice president of North American business development for HMS Host Corp., who spoke last spring.

“The series is designed to enrich students’ entrepreneurial spirit, their awareness of the success that can be built on their academic experience and their understanding of the importance of leading with integrity,” said Nancy Bagranoff, dean of the business college.

Indeed, the 2005-06 edition of the series is billed “Lessons in Ethical Leadership.” The first speaker, who visited the campus Sept. 13, was Bethany McLean, a senior writer for Fortune magazine who is widely credited as the first journalist to question Enron’s stock price in a Fortune article, “Is Enron Overpriced?” She is co-author of the 2003 book “The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron,” which was made into a movie and released earlier this year.

Also scheduled to speak are: Jack L. Ezzell Jr., president and CEO of Zel Technologies in Hampton, on Nov. 1; Richard Cole, CEO and chairman of Geeks On Call America Inc., on Feb. 7; and Luke Hillier, a 1994 ODU graduate of the business administration program who is the founder and CEO of Mythics Inc., the largest Oracle software reseller in the country, on March 14.

Founded in 1999 in Virginia Beach, Mythics has grown from a garage start-up to a dominant Oracle solutions provider with more than 60 employees and annual sales of more than $120 million.

Hillier also serves as CEO of ADS Inc., one of the nation’s leading special and tactical operations equipment providers with annual sales exceeding $200 million. The company has a 90-person work force with operations on both coasts.

Past alumni speakers have included: W. Lance Anderson ’84, president of NovaStar Financial; Jeffrey P. Black ’83, president of Teleflex; Richard Conrad ’70, president, northeast area, of Verizon Wireless; Jeffrey Littman ’67, president of Cavalier Marine Supply Co. Inc.; and Eric Schvimmer ’86, vice president of technology for The Washington Post.

The lectures are open to the general public, as space permits.

Established in 2001, the series is funded by an endowment from a group of former Landmark Communications executives in honor of Frank Batten, Landmark founder and current chairman of the executive committee of the Landmark board. Batten was the first rector of Old Dominion’s Board of Visitors when it became an independent institution in 1962.

For more information about the series, contact Michael Walker at 757-683-3319 or mwalker@odu.edu.