Four World-Class Businessmen Come to Holy Cross to Share the Secrets of Their Success

WORCESTER, Mass. – Peter Senge, author of The Fifth Discipline, The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization will moderate a discussion titled “Leanness: Corporate Culture and Profitability in America” with James S. Davis, Chairman of New Balance; James Gosa, Chairman of American Woodmark; and Hajime Ohba, President of TSSC on Oct. 11 at 7 pm. in the Hogan Campus Center Ballroom at the College of the Holy Cross. The discussion will address the importance and meaning of leanness and the role it plays in the life of a company and its employees. The lecture is open to the public, but registration is required. Tickets are $10 for adults. Students are free with their I.D. Those interested may register online at www.williamjobrien.org. The talk is part of the third annual William J. O’Brien Distinguished Lecture Series.

Davis bought New Balance 35 years ago for $100,000, when it was manufacturing just 30 pairs of shoes a day. With his hard work and dedication, it is now a $1.55 billion a year shoe and apparel company. New Balance is the only performance athletic shoe manufacturer in America, operating five factories in New England.

Gosa became CEO of American Woodmark in 1996.  Since then the company has grown from $220 million to $838 million. He worked his way up the corporate ladder — three years ago he reached the top — and was appointed to chairman of the board. Under Gosa's leadership, the company has been named to Forbes' 200 Best Small Companies three years in a row (2001-03) and Business Week's 100 Hot Growth Companies in 2002. American Woodmark is one of the three largest kitchen cabinet manufacturers in the U.S.

Ohba, president of the Toyota Supplier Support Center (TSSC), is in charge of efforts to assist North American organizations in pursuing improvements to their operations using the principles of the Toyota Production System (TPS).  Joining Toyota in 1970, Ohba has held numerous positions within the company. His main objective is to improve the production competitiveness of Toyota and its local suppliers in top markets including; South Africa, Australia, Thailand, the U.S. and Canada. In 1992, Ohba led the creation and growth of a Toyota Supplier Support Center in Lexington, Ky., due to an overwhelming response and increasing interest in the Toyota Production System.

The lecture series is named in memory of William J. O’Brien, former chief executive officer at Hanover Insurance Co., who was the founding committee chairman of the diocesan Adopt a Student program which provides scholarships for deserving, needy students in the Catholic school system. As a graduate of Fordham University, O’Brien credited his Jesuit education as a key ingredient to his business thinking and practices.