Callaway County residents won't have a chance to take a cruise on March 1, but they will be able to hear a lecture about leadership from the CEO of Carnival Corp.
Arnold W. Donald is coming to Westminster College to deliver the school's first Cherry-Price Leadership Lecture, and Westminster President Dr. Benjamin Ola. Akande wants the public to know they're invited.
"Arnold Donald is a very impressive person," said Rob Crouse, director of media and public relations at Westminster.
Before taking over as CEO of the cruise and entertainment company in 2013, Donald was the president and CEO of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International and chairman of the company that makes Equal.
"What really impresses me is that he is so involved in so many civic organizations, both locally in St. Louis and internationally," Crouse said. "He's on the board of the St. Louis Art Museum and St. Louis Science Center and a whole list of other organizations."
Donald wasn't born with a silver spoon, Crouse said. Instead, he grew up in poverty in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans with four siblings and an ever-shifting array of foster children, according to a CNN article.
"He basically came up from a fairly impoverished family with a lot of kids to be this huge success," Crouse said.
Akande worked with the founders of the leadership lecture, alums Howard Cherry and Rob Price, to choose Donald as the featured lecturer.
"The lecture was added because two of our alums, Howard Cherry and Rob Price, were college roommates, and they wanted to do something together for the school," Crouse said. "Price has been interested in leadership anyway, and had set up a leadership program with the school a couple years ago. They decided they wanted to put together a lectureship that would highlight character traits of successful leaders."
Westminster officials have moved the lecture from the Hermann Lounge to the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Aldermanbury in anticipation of a large crowd. Crouse encourages members of the public to RSVP for the lecture, which is set for 4 p.m. on March 1, by visiting this link: bit.ly/2kKPYlJ.
People can also watch a live stream of the event here: bit.ly/2lkh864.