Former Defense Official Keynoter At Klein Symposium

9-11-97
University Park, Pa.--Dr. Paul G. Kaminski, former U.S. undersecretary of defense, will deliver the keynote address at a blue-ribbon conference on establishing new priorities for the defense industry in the post-Cold War era on Sept. 17 at the University Park campus.

The Second Klein Symposium on the Management of Technology also will feature remarks by executives from several of the nation's leading defense contractors. Officials from such billion-dollar businesses as Northrop Grumman, Harris Corporation, and Lockheed-Martin will discuss the strategies their companies have used to restructure and revitalize themselves in response to recent major changes in the global political and economic environment.

The event is underwritten by an endowment from Robert and Judith Klein and The Smeal College of Business Administration at Penn State, and is under the direction of Dr. Gerald I. Susman, holder of the Robert and Judith Klein Professorship of Management and chair of the Department of Management and Organization.

Dr. Kaminski, 54, stepped down earlier this year as undersecretary of defense for acquisition and technology, overseeing a $50 billion budget for the purchase of state-of-the-art military hardware and materiel. He was the architect of many of the policies of diversification that have meant continued viability for many major firms.

Over the years, Kaminski has held numerous high-level posts in government and the defense industry. Prior to his experience as undersecretary, he was chair and CEO of Technology Strategies Alliances, a technology-oriented investment banking and consulting firm. He also has been chair of the Defense Sciences Board and an adviser to the Office of the Secretary of Defense, NASA, the Naval Studies Board and the Air Force Studies Board of the National Research Council, the office of the Secretary of the Air Force, the Center for Naval Analysis, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and others. A graduate of the Air Force Academy, Kaminski holds advanced degrees from MIT and Stanford.

The Klein Symposium will focus attention on corporations which have turned to diversification to leverage dual-use, defense-related technologies for commercial application. Sessions will thoroughly explore the complex ramifications and implications of this strategy for the companies, for partner corporations, and for research institutions.

The symposium also will help launch a major new book on the diversification strategies of defense-related companies. Remarks delivered at the event will be brought together with papers produced for the occasion by experts from top-level firms, universities, and think tanks in a publication by Elsevier Science scheduled for 1998. Materials from a companion symposium at Syracuse University in October will be added.

The Syracuse gathering is under the direction of Dr. Sean O'Keefe, former secretary of the Navy and a former member of The Smeal College faculty.

Speakers for the Klein Symposium will be: John Steulpnagel, director of research and development operations for North Grumman; William T. Hanley, chief executive officer for the optics firm Galileo Corporation; Leonard A. Trugman, chair, CEO, and president of the electronics manufacturer Del Global Technologies Corp.; Albert Smith, president-electronic components sector, Harris Corporation; James Koshak president U.S. Materials Business Unit of the aerospace materials maker Hexcel Corporation; Richard Flam, chief scientist for the software company ORBIT/FR, Inc.; John Manuel, vice president-domestic business development, Lockheed-Martin; Gerald D. Brasuell, vice president and general manager-Systron Donner Inertial Division, BEI Sensors and Systems Company; Richard Farrelly, vice president of the electronics firm Base Ten Systems, Inc.; and Dr. Susman, who also is director of the Center for the Management of Technological and Organizational Change at Penn State.

The Klein Symposium will be held in the Nittany Lion Inn on Penn State's University Park Campus.

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Contact: Charlie DuBois (814)863-3798 or at ccd@psu.edu