Deranian Presidents Conference - Keynote Speakers

For the first time ever Theta Chi Fraternity's Deranian Presidents Conference will feature keynote speakers! There will be three keynote speakers at this years conference, Richard Smith, John Hanes, and Mel George. Below are each of their respective biographies. Theta Chi is very excited for each of these men to speak to our brothers. We hope this gives you a glimpse of what to expect from these outstanding men.

Richard W. Smith - Friday January 8, 2010 7:25 PM

Richard W. Smith is a depth-educator and organizational development specialist. Richard graduated from the University of Notre Dame and has a graduate degree in Family Therapy from Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis, Indiana. For the past 40 years he has been helping individuals, teams, and organizations develop more fully. He has facilitated more than 1000 searching conversations, seminars, workshops and learning sessions and has spent more than 45,000 hours working with for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. His work includes, but is not limited to: Searching Conversations, Leadership Development & Renewal (Executives, Managers, and Supervisors), Manager/ Executive Coaching, Building High Performing Teams, Board Development, Renewals for Professionals (Educators, Nurses, Clergy, Physicians) & Organization Development/Re-Structuring. In 1975, Richard was introduced to Robert K. Greenleaf’s concepts of the Servant as Leader and he has been studying, applying and living these concepts ever since. During the past 33 years he has helped a number of organizations adopt the servant-as-leader concepts.

The following is a short list of organizations that Richard has worked with regarding servant-leadership (see a more complete list of higher education institutions below):

The Robert K. Greenleaf Center for Servant-Leadership, Indianapolis, Indiana
Starbucks Coffee Company, Seattle, Washington
The Center for Creative Leadership, Greensboro, North Carolina.
United States Air Force, Senior Officer Leadership Development, Wright-Patterson AFB.
KLM (Royal Dutch Airlines), Hilversum, The Netherlands
The W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Battle Creek, Michigan.
Eli Lilly and Company, London, England & Indianapolis, Indiana.
Bank One, Cincinnati, Ohio.
The Leadership Institute, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee.
Baylor Medical School, Houston, Texas.
The American Association for Higher Education, Washington, D.C.
The Foundation for Integrative Leadership, Annapolis, Maryland.
Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, Georgia
Center for Leadership & Executive Development, University of Dayton, Dayton, Ohio.

Program/Course Development * Developed and delivered a series of lectures in servant-leadership for Oxford University, Oxford, England

Some of the Higher Education Institutions that have utilized Richard’s skills to help them explore the concepts of Servant-Leadership include, but are not limited to MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia Indiana State University, Terre Haute, Indiana Virginia Polytechnical University, Blacksburg, Virginia University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida De Paul University, Chicago, Illinois



John W. Hanes - Saturday January 9, 2010 9:00 AM
Beta Omicron/University of Cincinnati ‘76

John W. Hanes, Ed.D has always had a missionary zeal to help leaders and organizations improve their effectiveness. He is one of the nation’s most dynamic facilitators, known for his fast paced, hard hitting delivery. John is a sought after consultant to executive groups and is noted for his "real world" application of concepts. Since 1986 he has been president of Effectiveness Dimensions International, a southern California based leadership development and consulting firm.

John has personally trained over 24,000 managers from over 800 organizations in his nationally acclaimed 3 day seminar, Team Top Gun. He has conducted over 1,500 executive candidate assessments and is the author of 11 psychological instruments and 7 training simulations.

Prior to starting Effectiveness Dimensions, John held leadership positions at Caterpillar and Key Bank and was a Visiting Senior Scientist with the world renowned Battelle Memorial Institute and The Center for Creative Leadership.

John lives and works in both Lake Arrowhead and Irvine, California. He holds a doctorate in leadership from The University of San Diego along with bachelors and masters degrees in management. His diverse client list includes Fortune 100 corporations, federal, state and local governments, prestigious "think tanks", internet companies, sports teams and the military.
John is passionate about most major sports and enjoys an active year round sport oriented lifestyle.

John was the chapter president for two consecutive years at Beta Omicron Chapter. After graduation, he served as a Field Representative for the International Fraternity from 1976 -1977.



Melvin D. George
Delta Iota/Northwestern University

Melvin D. George is President Emeritus of the University of Missouri, President Emeritus of St. Olaf College, and Professor Emeritus of Mathematics, University of Missouri-Columbia. He was an undergraduate at Northwestern University, where he became a member of Theta Chi (Delta Iota Chapter) in 1953 and received a BA in Mathematics in 1956. After receiving a Ph.D. in Mathematics from Princeton University in 1959, George joined the faculty of the University of Missouri in 1960. He became Associate Dean of the Graduate School in 1967, then moved to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1970 as Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. He returned to the University of Missouri as systemwide Vice President for Academic Affairs in 1975, serving as Interim President in 1984 before moving to St. Olaf College in Minnesota as President in 1985. Following his retirement from St. Olaf, George returned to Missouri in 1996 and then served a second time as Interim President of the University of Missouri system, retiring again in 1997. Over the years, he has been active in efforts to improve mathematics and science education, serving on many committees and panels for the national Science Foundation and for the National Research Council. He was the author of a major 1996 report on science education for the National Science Foundation, entitled “Shaping the Future.” Since retiring, he has several times taught courses in the Honors College of the University of Missouri-Columbia, and he currently participates in an NSF-funded project based at the University of Wisconsin relating undergraduate science education and sustainability issues. He is married, with 2 daughters and one granddaughter. He loves the outdoors, has been down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon in wooden dories 3 times, and he recently completed a quest to see all 17 species of penguins in the wild. The installation of the Iota Mu Chapter of Theta Chi at Missouri was a 2009 highlight for him.