Thursday, October 12, 2006
Andrew Duff '76
Chairman and CEO
Piper Jaffray Companies
Piper Jaffray in Today's Security Industry
Andrew Duff has been a mainstay of Piper Jaffray through its various incarnations for more than a quarter century. Since 1980, he has risen through the ranks of the company, becoming president of U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray in 1996. After the spin-off of Piper Jaffray in 2004, Duff became chairman and CEO.
A native of Minneapolis, Duff holds a bachelor's degree in economics from Tufts University and attended the J. L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management. His board service includes the New York Stock Exchange Regional Firms Advisory Committee and the Securities Industry Association. A Blake parent as well as an alum, Duff currently serves on the boards of the Walker Art Center, the Hennepin Theatre Trust and the University of St. Thomas College of Business.
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Marilyn Carlson Nelson
Chairman and CEO,
Carlson Companies &
Current Blake Grandparent
A Leader's Perspective
Though not a Blake graduate, Marilyn Carlson Nelson and her family are long-time supporters of the School. In 1961, Carlson Nelson graduated with honors from Smith College in Northampton, Mass., with a degree in international economics and a minor in theater. Her studies included terms at the Sorbonne in Paris and the Institute des Hautes Etudes Economiques Politiques in Geneva.
A global business leader, Carlson Nelson directs the business of Carlson Companies, whose brands are present in 151 countries. She is recognized as one of the World's Most Powerful Women by Forbes Magazine, has served a presidential appointment as chair of the National Women's Business Council and is a leader within the World Economic Forum. In addition, she serves on the boards of Exxon-Mobil and the Mayo Clinic. During the next Breakfast at Blake, Carlson Nelson will speak on emerging trends she sees in global business and society.
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Lucia Watson '72
Lucia Watson is the proprietor and chef of Lucia's, a Restaurant, Wine Bar and the adjacent Lucia's To Go. The restaurant opened in 1985 in one of Minneapolis's oldest neighborhoods. Lucia is a third generation Minnesotan,and learned to cook from her grandmother, Lulu, who used to pick blueberries and bake bread in a wood stove at the family's summer cabin on the Canadian border. She began her career in a tiny French Bistro, L'Auberge, in Middleburg, Va., then moved back to Minneapolis where she ran a successful catering business.
Lucia's Restaurant opened 21 years ago and was the first in this region to offer a small menu that changes weekly. The adjacent wine bar opened in 1990 and Lucia's To Go opened in 2005.The menus are deeply committed to using locally produced products and the cooking is tied closely to the land and the seasons. Lucia's work with farmers, local organics and sustainable food systems is reflected in her menus, the integrity of the cooking, and in the warm hospitality she offers her guests.
Lucia Watson's formal education began with a B.A. in French from the University of Minnesota. She studied at The School for American Chefs with Madeline Kamman and has her first level Master Sommelier certificate. She currently serves as Board Chair for the Youth Farm and Market project, teaching kids about organic gardening, food systems and work skills. She writes a column for In Fisherman Magazine, is guest chef on their television show, and has written a book for them "Cooking Fresh Water Fish" released in November 2006.
Lucia has written articles for Fine Cooking Magazine and Gastronomica. She is a former board member of The Chef's Collaborative andshe served a four year term on the Organic Advisory Task Force to the Minnesota Dept. of Agriculture. She has also participated in the Women Chefs and Restauranteurs mentoring program.
Co-author of Savoring the Seasons of the Northern Heartland (Knopf, 1994) with writer Beth Dooley, this popular book embraces the traditional cooking of the diverse peoples of the Upper Midwest. The New York Times Book Review choose it for a "Christmas Pick", and it garnered praise from the L.A. Times, The Chicago Sun Times, The Chicago Tribune and the Minneapolis Star and Tribune. The book is a volume in Judith Jones Knopf Cooks American series.
Lucia lectures and teaches nationally and locally, often in support of sustainable food. She was a keynote speaker with Gary Nabhan at the Madison Food for Thought festival and a guest chef at the Kellog Center at the University of Michigan. In 2004, 2005, and 2006 she was nominated for Best Midwest Chef by the James Beard Foundation, and in 2006 she received the Commitment to Community award form the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy with co-recipient Dr. Edgard Pisani.
Ms. Watson lives in Minneapolis with her two dogs, and when she is not at Lucia's, she is in Brittany France, studying French food and eating oysters at her refurbished house in the village of Trequier.
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Siri Marshall
Former Blake Parent & Senior Vice President,
General Counsel and Secretary
General Mills, Inc.
Siri Marshall is General Mills' Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary and its Chief Governance and Compliance Officer. She has responsibility for the company's worldwide legal issues and compliance programs as well as its Board and corporate governance. She is also a member of the Corporate Management Committee.
Prior to joining General Mills in 1994, Marshall was Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of Avon Products, Inc. in New York, with responsibility for global legal and government affairs. She was also a member of the Corporate Management Council. Before joining Avon in 1979, she was a corporate associate with the law firm of Debevoise & Plimpton in New York.
Marshall received her undergraduate degree with honors from Harvard University in 1970 and is a 1974 graduate of the Yale Law School. She is a Director of Ameriprise Financial Inc. (Chair of the Nominating and Governance Committee), Equifax, Inc., the International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution, Twin Cities Diversity in Practice, and a Trustee of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and the General Mills Foundation. She is also on the Board of the Yale Center for the Study of Corporate Law.
Marshall has broad corporate management experience, having also managed General Mills' Tax function (1994-1999) and Corporate Affairs group (1999-2005), including government relations, corporate public relations, internal communication and the General Mills Foundation.
Marshall has served as a Director of NovaCare, Inc. (a New York Stock Exchange health care services provider and professional employer organization), Jafra Cosmetics International (a privately-held direct-selling cosmetic company) and Snack Ventures Europe (a snack food joint venture with PepsiCo), the American Arbitration Association and the Yale Law School Fund. She has also served as a member of the New York Stock Exchange Legal Advisory Committee and the Bank of America Midwest Advisory Council.
Marshall has broad experience in the global consumer products and health care services industries from corporate governance, legal, public affairs and strategic perspectives. She has advised on corporate governance issues for over 15 years and has written and spoken on the topic to institutional investors and Directors. Marshall was named one of Corporate America's Five Most Influential Women General Counsel by Corporate Legal Times in 2003, and one of North America's Fifty Most Influential In-House Counsel by Inside Counsel in 2006.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Joe Dowling
Former Blake Parent &
Director of the Guthrie Theater
Joe Dowling, Guthrie Theater Director since 1995, has directed numerous Guthrie productions including The Merchant of Venice playing on the Guthrie's Wurtele Thrust Stage starting March 10, 2007. Other directorial credits include work for the Broadway stage as well as prominent theaters across the United States, England and Ireland. Mr. Dowling served as Artistic Director for the Abbey Theatre, the Abbey's second stage, the Peacock Theatre, the Irish Theatre Company and The Gaiety. He founded the Young Abbey, Ireland's first theatre-in-education group, and the Gaiety School of Acting, Ireland's premiere drama school. Mr. Dowling holds four Honorary Doctorates and is a member of the Artistic Directorate of the Globe Theatre in London. Under Mr. Dowling's leadership, his vision for a new Guthrie Theater has become a reality. The $125 million dollar three-theater complex, a National Center for Theater Arts and Theater Education, opened in June, 2006.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Eric Dayton '99
Founding Director of The Leadership Emergence and Development Project (L.E.A.D)
Eric Dayton '99 is Founding Director of L.E.A.D. A 2003 graduate from Williams College with a B.A. in English, Eric was a member of the Arctic Transect 2004 dogsled expedition, and then spent six months doing volunteer social work in Chile. Eric also serves on the boards of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and the Rockefeller Family Fund, and is personally committed to causes that benefit the arts and the environment. Eric will discuss how to engage the current generation of young professionals in the strong local traditions of philanthropy and civic leadership.