Disney magic works its way to Benedict

April 3, 2008

John Pepper joins the Charter Day fundraising at the Columbia campus.

By JAMES T. HAMMOND - jhammond@thestate.com

Erik Campos/ecampos@thestate.com John E. Pepper Jr., chairman of the board of The Walt Disney Company, tours Benedict College with school President David Swinton on Wednesday.

The prize for Benedict College business and economic students Wednesday was one of Walt Disney Co. chairman John Pepper's business cards.

The former chairman and chief executive officer of consumer products giant Procter & Gamble Co. was at the Columbia campus Thursday as the main attraction for Charter Day, a celebration of the 1894 chartering of the independent, historically black college.

Charter Day is also an important event in the college's current campaign to boost its fundraising from corporations.

Love Collins III, Benedict's executive vice president for institutional advancement, said he expected to clear as much as $130,000 from Wednesday night's dinner, money that will be used to provide scholarships for students at the college.

Collins previously worked with Pepper at the Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, and asked him to speak at the Charter Day event.

Pepper was with Procter & Gamble for 40 years, rose to become its chief executive and chairman. Since retiring from P&G, Pepper has worked as vice president for finance and administration at Yale University, his alma mater; and has been co-chairman of the Freedom Center, where he is the biggest individual donor.

For the past 15 months, the 69-year-old business leader has chaired the board of Walt Disney Co.

His stature was not lost on the Benedict students, who gathered around him after his speech to a packed auditorium on the Benedict Campus. Students asked for his business card and wanted their photographs taken with him.

Krystina Brown, a Benedict student from Columbia, said Pepper hit on many subjects that students today are experiencing, such as dealing with lack of self-confidence, the need to hone their writing and communications skills, and the overwhelming value and necessity of obtaining their college degree if they are going to succeed in their careers.

"He's humble, down to earth, and made it sound as if he understood" the pressures of youth and college life, Brown said.

Gerald Smalls, dean of business and economics at Benedict, introduced Pepper and thanked him for the many contributions of the Disney company to our lives, "including Eva Longoria and Monday Night Football" on Disney's ABC television network.

The audience roared.

Pepper responded he might be the only person in America who has never watched ABC's hit series "Desperate Housewives."

Benedict president David Swinton said he was pleased to hear his students pressing Pepper for contact information and photos.

Swinton said it is important for students to have contact with people like Pepper, who told them they are important and valuable to companies like Disney and P&G, and told them to hone their networking skills.

He said it appeared a few walked away smiling and clutching the prized business card of the Disney chairman.

Corporate and community leaders also responded to Pepper's presence in Columbia. Collins said more than 460 people had bought tickets for the Wednesday night dinner, compared with 200 last year.

Collins said a record number of corporations are participating this year, twice as many as last year.

Source: The State Newspaper

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