Idaho Export Council plans World Trade Day May 13

By Lora Volkert

IDAHO BUSINESS REVIEW

The Idaho Export Council is inviting business leaders to discuss global issues at World Trade Day, a conference slated for May 13 and 14 at Northwest Nazarene University’s Helstrom Business Center in Nampa.

Four guest speakers will speak and take questions about their companies’ experiences with globalization and outsourcing.

The panel consists of Mike Fitzpatrick, Micron Technology’s worldwide planning manager; Michelle Larson, Hewlett-Packard’s director of supply chain and customer assurance for the personal LaserJet line; Steve Kuzara of Scandia Health Systems; and a representative of Symms Fruit Ranch on Sunnyslope in Caldwell.

Fitzpatrick’s responsibilities at Micron include determining where the company produces its products and dealing with inventory and capacity issues at the company’s worldwide sites. Micron manufactures in the U.S., United Kingdom, Italy, Puerto Rico, Japan and Singapore.

Larson indirectly manages LaserJet manufacturing at sites in the U.S., Brazil, Netherlands, France, Italy, Singapore, Japan, China and other Asia sites.

Scandia, an Eagle-based steam room and sauna designer and manufacturer, has a design and production center near Frankfurt, Germany.

Registration for the conference begins at 8 a.m. May 14 at Harter Lecture Hall in the Helstrom Business Center. Boise State University Associate Professor of International Business Kent Neupert will offer an academic view of globalization at 9 a.m.

Panel members will speak from 9:15 to 10:15 on “Staying Competitive in a Global Economy.” A question-and-answer session will follow, and the event will end with a scholarship luncheon in the Brandt Center from noon to 1:30 p.m.

The cost is $50 for the conference and $65 to participate in a four-person scramble golf tournament May 13. Registration for the tournament begins at 7 a.m. May 13 and the shotgun start begins at 8 a.m.

For more information, call Alfonso Castaneda at 724-9664 for the conference or Keith Pettyjohn at 364-0200 for the tournament. Please register by May 10 by faxing your registration to 334-2783.