UWG
News Item
Contact: University Communications & Marketing
Phone (678) 839-6464, FAX (678) 839-6645
ucm@westga.edu
Roy Richards, Jr. to lecture for Study Abroad Program
June 15, 2004
CARROLLTON, GA - A group of marketing and management students at the University of West Georgia is traveling to London this summer to study market globalization, but one of the headlining guest lecturers on the itinerary is a native son of Carrollton — Roy Richards Jr.
The
chair of Southwire, one of the world’s largest producers of electrical
power cables, Richards will join the students in London to give them the
benefit of his expertise in international market expansion.
“We were pleased to hear that Roy Richards will support our program,” said Dr. Robert Pearce, associate professor of business administration in the Department of Management and Business Systems, who initiated the new marketing and management study abroad program. “The students are all familiar with the role that Southwire has played in the Carrollton area and the impact that the Richards family has had on UWG and the Richards College of Business. We are honored to have him speak to our students and share his experiences in international business.”
The new International Business Summer Studies Program began its first classes on June 7 on the UWG campus, and students are studying in Carrollton for three weeks and making site visits in Atlanta before they depart on June 25 to spend three weeks in London.
When
they return to the United States on July 17, the 18 participants will
each have completed three courses — “International Marketing,”
“International Management” and either “Consumer Behavior”
or “Strategic Management” — taught by Pearce and Dr.
Faye McIntyre, associate professor of business administration in the Department
of Marketing and Real Estate.
“Our goal is to put together executive visits with a mix of for-profit
and non-profit organizations to give the students a broad view of the
international business environment, with particular emphasis on how small-
and mid-sized businesses internationalize their operations,” said
McIntyre.
In addition to visiting such sites as the British Consulate and the U.S. Department of Commerce Export Assistance Center in the United States, and the British Parliament, Harrod’s and Lloyds of London in the United Kingdom, program participants will hear from a number of guest speakers both here and abroad, including Roy Richards Jr.
Richards will meet with the students in London to discuss such topics as how the decision to expand Southwire internationally was made and its initial experiences in the global market, choosing a market and partners for international ventures, and ethical issues involved with international business.
Richards started working at Southwire at age 13, when he was hired to sweep floors and stack boxes. He held various jobs at Southwire throughout high school and college and began working as a draftsman there after attending the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. He joined Southwire full time in 1980.
Later, he moved into several key positions, including project coordinator for Southwire’s Copper Rod Mill, general manager for Southwire Machinery Division, technical assistant to the president, group vice president, co-president and Chief Executive Officer. He retired from Southwire as CEO in 2002.
An industry and community leader, Richards has served as president of the International Cablemakers Federation, the worldwide association of wire and cable companies, which represents 70 percent of the industry’s manufacturing capacity. He is a past chair of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce and the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education, and he currently serves on several for-profit and non-profit boards, including the Trust for Public Land and the Georgia Lottery Corporation.
In 1996, Richards received an Honorary Doctorate in Humanities from the University of West Georgia, and he was elected Georgia’s Most Respected CEO of the Year by “Georgia Trend” magazine in 1999.
For more information about the International Business Summer Studies Program, contact Pearce at 770-836-6472.
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