About the Albers Executive Speaker Series

Since 2002, the Albers School of Business and Economics has organized the Speaker Series, live panels featuring top business leaders from the Puget Sound Area. 

Guests talk about a topic of their choice and respond to questions from a panel and the audience. The Speaker Series is yet another way Albers is committed to build student connections with the Seattle business community. Past speakers include Howard Schultz (Starbucks), Jim Sinegal (Costco Wholesale), Alan Mulally (Ford), Denise Morrison (Campbell Soup), and Charlie Munger (Berkshire Hathaway).

The event is held at Pigott Auditorium in Pigott Building. Attendance is free and open to the public.

In 2020, in response to COVID-19, the Executive Speaker Series debuted a podcast version called The Leadership Playbook. Listen to the episodes for free on The Leadership Playbook page or wherever you get your podcasts.

Check out the podcast

The Speaker Series on Podcast

The Leadership Playbook

Grab more insights about leadership from The Leadership Playbook. The podcast asks top executives from the business world's most recognizable brands and companies about the stories behind their success, their leadership secrets, and the biggest obstacles they've faced and overcome.

Upcoming Speakers

April 9, 2024
5:30 to 6:30 p.m.
Barry Posner
Leadership Scholar and Author

April 25, 2024
5:30 to 6:30 p.m.
Krish Srinivasan
CEO, PCC Community Markets

Past Speakers

2023-24


Sean Tresvant
CEO, Taco Bell
February 8, 2024

Preston Feight
CEO, PACCAR
Trucks and Transportation Solutions that Move the World to a Better Place
January 24, 2024

Ketul Patel
CEO, Virginia Mason Franciscan Health
Reimagining Healthcare: Leading Through Changing Times
October 17, 2023

2022-23

Peter Tomozawa
CEO, SEAFWC26
How Seattle Won Over FIFA to Host the 2026 World Cup
May 8, 2023

James R. Barth, PhD
Lowder Eminent Scholar in Finance, Auburn University
Challenges and Opportunities: The 5 to Watch in 2023
November 2, 2022

Jim Weber
Chairman & CEO, Brooks Running
Leading with Purpose
October 13, 2022

2021-22

Laura Clise
Founder and CEO, Intentionalist
Economic Allyship: Bridging the Gap between Intention and Action
May 12, 2022

Catie Griggs
President of Business Operations, Seattle Mariners
The New Return on Experience (ROE): Redefining the Fan Experience
April 27, 2022

Mary Kipp
President & CEO, Puget Sound Energy
Beyond Net Zero: How PSE Plans to Transition to Clean Energy
November 18, 2021

Eric Artz
President & CEO, REI Co-op
Go Do. Go Try. Go Challenge.
October 13, 2021

2019-20

Manny Medina
CEO, Outreach
Navigating a Business Pivot: My Most Important Moment of Leadership
February 20, 2020

Rajeev Singh
CEO, Accolade
Wanted: Contrarians, Disruptors and Do-gooders
January 22, 2020

Mark Mader
President & CEO, Smartsheet
The Future of Work is Human
November 19, 2019

Tod Leiweke
CEO, NHL Seattle
Building a Successful Sports Franchise and Bringing Hockey Back to the Northwest
October 16, 2019

2018-19

Francois Locoh-Donou
President & CEO, F5 Networks
Giving as a Leader
June 3, 2019

Margaret Meister
President & CEO, Symetra
Growth Through Transformation: Leading a business through change
April 9, 2019

Orlando Ashford
President, Holland America Line
The Power of Authenticity in Leadership
February 19, 2019

Rick & David Cantu
Co-founders, CEO and COO, Redapt
Delivering Continuous Innovation
January 15, 2019

Dean Allen
CEO, McKinstry
Building on Unconventional Wisdoms
November 1, 2018

Boeing Panel Discussion
Featuring former Boeing Commercial Airplane CEOs Alan Mulally, Ray Conner and Frank Shrontz
Leadership and Culture
October 11, 2018

2017-18

Benson Porter
President & CEO, BECU
Leading Beyond the Balance Sheet
May 22, 2018

Kevin McAllister
President & CEO, Boeing Commercial Airplanes
Perspectives on Boeing and Lessons in Leadership
April 19, 2018

Bryan Mistele
President & CEO, INRIX
The Future of Transportation: The impact ACES (Autonomous, Connected, Electric, and Shared vehicles) Will Have on Society
February 1, 2018

Diversity and Inclusion Panel
Diversity and Inclusion in the Corporate Sector
Featured Speakers:
Margy Elliott, MarComm for Global Diversity and Inclusion Organization, Amazon
Denise Merle, SVP of Human Resources and Information Technology, Weyerhaeuser
Laura Swapp, Director of Multicultural Marketing and Brand Partnerships, REI
January 10, 2018

Nick Hanauer
Entrepreneur, Venture Capitalist, Activist, Philanthropist, Author
Political Polarization and Economic Inequality: America at a Crossroads
November 7, 2017

Scott & Ally Svenson
Co-founders, MOD Pizza
Using Pizza as a Platform for Social Impact
October 11, 2017

2016-17

Jeff Musser
President & CEO, Expeditors International
Creating a Culture of Opportunity
May 23, 2017

Brandon Pedersen
EVP Finance & CFO, Alaska Air Group
What Keeps Alaska Air Growing?
April 20, 2017

Doyle Simons
President & CEO, Weyerhaeuser
WEYERHAEUSER: Creating a Winning Company Vision and Culture
February 28, 2017

Jerry Stritzke
President & CEO, REI
Business as an Embodiment of Northwest Values
January 19, 2017

Elena Donio
President, Concur
Creating A Culture That Encourages Employees To Be Who They Really Are
November 2, 2016

Kurt Beecher Dammeier
Founder, Sugar Mountain (which includes Beecher Cheese)
Artisan Brand Marketing
October 18, 2016

2015-16

Mark Mason
CEO, HomeStreet Bank
HomeStreet Bank -- Doing Well by Doing Good
May 12, 2016

Rich Barton
Co-Founder & Executive Chairman, Zillow Group
Co-Founder, Expedia, Glassdoor, Trover
Power to the People: How Technology is Catalyzing a New Industrial Revolution
April 19, 2016

Colleen Brown
Board Chair, American Apparel
February 16, 2016

Dan Price
CEO, Gravity Payments
More Than a Business Plan: My Mission to Help the Little Guy or Gal Achieve Their American Dream
January 21, 2016

Jamie Nordstrom
President of Stores, Nordstrom
Follow the Customer
Thursday, November 12, 2015

Alan Mulally
Former President & CEO of the Ford Motor Co.
Strategic & Operational Leadership and Working Together
October 28, 2015

2014-15

Jeff Wilke
Senior Vice President of Consumer Business, Amazon
Amazon.com: Our Peculiar Leadership Principles
May 12, 2015

Adrian Hanauer
Owner & former GM, Seattle Sounders FC
The Story Behind Seattle Sounders FC
April 16, 2015

Bill Ruckelshaus
President & CEO, Blucora
Value Creation and the Internet Economy
February 3, 2015 

Ron Armstrong
CEO, PACCAR
Global Success for the Long Haul
January 14, 2015

Leadership: Building Agile and Adaptive Teams in a Complex Environment 
A panel discussion
Melanie Dressel
President & CEO, Columbia Bank

Harvey Kanter
Chairman, CEO, & President
Blue Nile

Lieutenant General Stephen Lanza
Commander, I Corps
Joint Base Lewis-McChord

November 13, 2014

Stein Kruse
CEO, The Holland America Group
Cruising to Success
October 21, 2014

2013-14

Jim Weber
President & CEO, Brooks Running
Building a Loved Running Brand
May 27, 2014

Diane Jurgens
Managing Director, Shanghai OnStar
China: Successfully Navigating the Middle Kingdom
April 23, 2014

John Williams
President & CEO, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco
The Federal Reserve: Inside Monetary Policy
March 5, 2014

Roy Whitehead
Chairman, President & CEO, Washington Federal, Inc.
Business and Banking: Challenge and Opportunity in a New Economy
February 18, 2014

Ray Conner
Vice Chairman, The Boeing Company, and President & CEO, Boeing Commercial Airplanes
Delivering Value to Customers in a More-for-Less World
January 16, 2014

Phyllis Campbell
Vice Chairman of the Pacific Northwest Region, JPMorgan Chase
Leading in the Turbulent Financial Sector
November 7, 2013

Brad Tilden
President & CEO, Alaska Airlines & Alaska Air Group
CEO, Horizon Airlines
Success at 3.5% Market Share?
October 24, 2013

2012-13

Leo Hindery
Managing Partner, InterMedia Partners VII, LP
Better Educating Future Managers
May 28, 2013

Spencer Rascoff
CEO, Zillow
Lessons in Entrepreneurship
April 30, 2013

John McAdam
President, CEO, & Director, F5 Networks
From Surviving to Thriving: The F5 Story
February 7, 2013

Steve Davis
President & CEO, PATH
Innovation for Social Good
January 15, 2013

Tom Marra
President & CEO, Symetra Financial Corporation
Respect the Cash Cow
November 19, 2012

Mark Vadon
Co-Founder & Chairman of the Board, Blue Nile & Zulily
The Inside Story on Two Seattle Internet Startups
October 18, 2012

2011-12

Gary Scott 
Former President, Bombardier Commercial Aircraft
Leading a Non-US Global Enterprise
May 14, 2012

Dan Nordstrom
CEO, Outdoor Research
Anatomy of a Turnaround
April 26, 2012

Howard Schultz
CEO, Starbucks
Business at Starbucks
April 10, 2012

Jim Sinegal 
Former CEO, Costco Wholesale
Costco: The First 30 Years
March 1, 2012

David Beckmann
President, Bread for the World
Exodus From Hunger
February 28, 2012

John Stanton
Chairman, Clearwire
Founder and former CEO, Western Wireless Corporation
Former Chairman and CEO, VoiceStream Wireless
Navigating Unintended Consequences
January 24, 2012

Tod Nielsen 
Co-President, Application Platform, VMware
Career Lessons from the Software Industry
November 3, 2011

Rene Ancinas
President and CEO, Port Blakely Companies
Preparing for an Unexpected Future 
October 19, 2011

2010-11

Kurt DelBene 
President, Microsoft Office Division
Transforming the Microsoft Office Business for the Cloud
May 19, 2011

Kimberly Harris
President & CEO, Puget Sound Energy
Delivering Our Energy Future 
April 20, 2011

Craig Jelinek 
President and COO, Costco Wholesale
Costco Global Expansion 
March 1,  2011

Jim Albaugh
Executive VP, The Boeing Co.
President & CEO, Boeing Commercial Airplanes
There Are No Shortcuts: Reflections on Leadership, Ethics, and Innovation
January 20, 2011

Andrew Doman
CEO, Russell Investments
The Changing Needs of the Global Financial Services Industry 
October 20, 2010

2009-10

Jeff Raikes
CEO, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
The Business of Doing Good
May 24, 2010

Robert Cremin
Chairman, Esterline Technologies
Designing a Strategy for the Turbulent Aerospace Market"
May 10, 2010

Deanna Oppenheimer
CEO, UK Retail Banking, Barclays Bank
Retail Banking: The Way Forward
March 4, 2010

Tom Lewis 
CEO, The Green Exchange Venture
Environmental Finance and the Development of Cap and Trade
February 3, 2010

Tay Yoshitani
CEO, The Port of Seattle
The Port of Seattle: Where a Sustainable World is Headed
January 13, 2010

Bill Ayer
Chairman & CEO, Alaska Airlines
Staying Aloft in an Industry Storm
November 5, 2009

Co-operative Panel
Sally Jewell, 
President & CEO of REI
Gary Oakland, President & CEO of BECU
Scott Armstrong, President & CEO of Group Health
Cooperatives: A Better Path to Socially Responsible Business?
October 20, 2009 

Dick Kovacevich
Chairman, Wells Fargo Bank
A Conversation With Dick Kovacevich - How Wells Fargo Stayed the Course
October 15, 2009

2008-09

Dan Fulton
President & CEO, Weyerhaeuser
Managing Today to Grow Tomorrow
May 11, 2009

Colleen Brown
President & CEO, Fisher Communications
The Future of Media
April 15, 2009

Tom Falk
CEO & Chairman of the Board, Kimberly-Clark
Operating a Global Company in a Global Recession
February 9, 2009

Jerry Grinstein
Former CEO, Delta Air Lines
Restructuring 101
January 29, 2009

Kemper Freeman
Chairman/CEO of Kemper Development Co.
The Entrepreneur-Driven Economy
November 6, 2008

Peter Rose
CEO, Expeditors International
Making 5.2 billion out of 300,000
October 15, 2008

2007-08

Kevin Turner 
COO, Microsoft Corporation
Being a Leader: Experiences In Leadership
May 22, 2008

Steve Reynolds 
Chairman/CEO, Puget Sound Energy
Cleaner, Greener, Smarter
May 6, 2008

Jeff Brotman
Chairman, Costco Wholesale
February 27, 2008

James C. Alling 
President, Starbucks International
January 24, 2008

Scott Carson
President and CEO, Boeing Commercial Airplanes
November 5, 2007

Carol Nelson, President and CEO of Cascade Bank 
Melanie Dressel, President and CEO of Columbia Bank 
Deborah Horvath, Chief Information Officer of Washington Mutual
October 25, 2007

2006-07

Blake Nordstrom
President, Nordstrom Inc.
May 7, 2007

Bill George
Former CEO, Medtronic; author of True North, and Authentic Leadership
April 30, 2007

Paula Reynolds
President and CEO, Safeco
April 18, 2007

Mark Olson
Chairman, Public Company Accounting Oversight Board
Auditing in a Post-Sarbanes-Oxley World
January 23, 2007

Robbie Bach
President, Entertainment and Devices Division, Microsoft
Connected Entertainment
January 22, 2007

Family Business Panel Discussion
Tomio Moriguchi, Chairman, Uwajimaya
Carolyn Kelly, President and Chief Operating Officer, Seattle Times
Bruce Williams, President and CEO, HomeStreet Bank
November 14, 2006

Steve Rotella
President and COO, Washington Mutual
Leading Through Change
November 2, 2006

2005-06

Gary Brinson
SU Alum, 1966
Acclaimed expert on global investing
Opinions and Reflections on Investment Management
May 24, 2006

Jim Whittaker
If You Aren't Living on the Edge, You're Taking Up Too Much Space
May 8, 2006

Leo Hindery
President and CEO, Yankees Entertainment and Sports (YES) Network
Leadership: Don't Forget Your Stakeholders
May 9, 2006

Mohamed Ali Alabbar
Economic Success in Dubai: What's Next for the Middle East and the US?
April 10, 2006

Phyllis J. Campbell, Alaska Air, Nordstrom, and Puget Energy
Mary E. Pugh, Washington Mutual
Sally G. Narodick, Puget Energy, Cray, Solutia, Penford Corporation, and SumTotal Systems
Boardroom Ethics & Culture: What Have We Learned? A Panel Discussion
February 16, 2006

Jim Voelker, Infospace
Jim Weber, Brooks Sports
Tracy Cumming, Lang Manufacturing
Leading a Business Turnaround, a panel discussion
January 23, 2006

Rick Holley
President and CEO, Plum Creek
November 7, 2005

Mark W. Olson
Member, Federal Reserve Board of Governors
October 13, 2005

2004-05

Bill Ayer
CEO, Alaska Airlines
May 24, 2005

Steve Ballmer, Microsoft 
Mark Pigott, PACCAR
Jim Sinegal, Costco
Celebrating Leadership: Impact and Legacy, a panel discussion to inaugurate the newly remodeled Pigott Auditorium
April 5, 2005

Sally Jewell
Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, REI Corporation
February 15, 2005

W. G. "Gary" Reed, Jr.
Simpson Investments
January 20, 2005

Jeff Raikes
Group Vice President, Information Worker Business, Microsoft
November 16, 2004

Mike McGavick
Chairman and CEO, Safeco Corporation
October 13, 2004

2003-04

Frank Shrontz, former CEO, The Boeing Company
Chuck Pigott, former CEO, PACCAR
Jack Creighton, former CEO, Weyerhaeuser and United Airlines
Building Ethical Organizations, a panel discussion
May 27, 2004

Denise Morrison
President of Global Sales and Chief Customer Officer, Campbell Soup Company
May 4, 2004

Howard Schultz
Chairman, Starbucks
February 26, 2004

Alan R. Mulally
Executive Vice President, The Boeing Company
President and Chief Executive Officer, Boeing Commercial Airplanes
February 11, 2004

Michael J. Phillips
CEO, Russell Investment Group
November 18, 2003

Gary Brinson
SU Alum, 1966
October 13, 2003

2002-03

Kerry Killinger
CEO, Washington Mutual
May 29, 2003

Charles Munger
Vice Chairman, Berkshire Hathaway
April 7, 2003

John Conners
CFO, Microsoft
March 3, 2003

Thomas J. Falk
CEO, Kimberly-Clark
February 3, 2003

Peter Rose
CEO, Expeditors
October 29, 2002

Fran Conley
CEO, Cutter and Buck
October 29, 2002

Jim Sinegal
CEO, Costco
October 29, 2002

Leo Hindery, Jr.
President and CEO, Yankees Entertainment and Sports (YES) Network
April 22, 2002

John K. Wulff
FASB Board of Directors
Former CFO, Union Carbide