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Public Speaking and Forums with Hank Boerner:
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THE BEST OF TIMES, WORST OF TIMES:
THE AMERICAN COMMUNITY IN THE 21ST CENTURY... ...PRODUCTIVITY, PROSPERITY AND CHALLENGES
(Keynote to NCRC Awards Dinner, March 12, 2004, Washington, DC)
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness. It was the season of light, it was the season of darkness. It was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair ... "In short, the period was like the present... " We all know these opening words to a great novel - A Tale of Two Cities - authored by an influential English social critic, Charles Dickens, just before the American Civil War. "In short, the period (and here he was commenting on England, France and the American Colonies, C. 1775) was like the present..." The Best of Times - for many of us in this room, and millions more Americans, these are The Best of Times.

THE BEST OF TIMES, WORST OF TIMES:
THE AMERICAN COMMUNITY IN THE 21ST CENTURY... ...PRODUCTIVITY, PROSPERITY AND CHALLENGES
(Keynote to NCRC Awards Dinner, March 12, 2004, Washington, DC)
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness. It was the season of light, it was the season of darkness. It was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair ... "In short, the period was like the present... " We all know these opening words to a great novel - A Tale of Two Cities - authored by an influential English social critic, Charles Dickens, just before the American Civil War. "In short, the period (and here he was commenting on England, France and the American Colonies, C. 1775) was like the present..." The Best of Times - for many of us in this room, and millions more Americans, these are The Best of Times.

ON RESTORING TRUST AND CONFIDENCE -- WELCOME TO THE NEW ERA OF CORPORATE, INSTITUTIONAL AND INDIVIDUAL ACCOUNTABILITY!
(Presentation to Molloy College, January 22, 2004, Rockville Centre, NY)
My congratulations and best wishes to each of you tonight as you begin your exiting journey toward the Masters' degree in business. The leadership of Molloy College is to be congratulated for expanding this important field of study here in the Long Island community. You will find other similarly qualified MBAs graduating from an expanding number of schools across the nation who have received some -- or perhaps even more extensive -- training in ethics. Your personal investment in your own continuing education will provide you with a strong foundation for leadership, whatever career path you may choose.

RESTORING TRUST AND CONFIDENCE IN OUR INSTITUTIONS -- THE NEW ERA OF CORPORATE ACCOUNTABILITY
THEME: "New Strategies and Partnerships for Developing Wealth in Communities."
(Presentation to NCRC, October 24, 2003, Davenport, Iowa)
Over the past three years, as no doubt you have noticed by the headlines, some things seem to have gone terribly wrong in Corporate America. We wonder: Did it start with the spring 2000 collapse of the great 1990s Bull Market? With news of serious financial shenanigans at some publicly owned companies? With the unending wave of corporate scandals that put corporations front-of-mind for many of us? The toppling of once-celebrated CEO heroes and heroines: whose faces often adorned the covers of leading business magazine? Now, some of the former cover stars are featured on nightly television news... embarrassed by their perp walk in handcuffs!

RESTORING TRUST AND CONFIDENCE IN OUR INSTITUTIONS -- THE NEW ERA OF CORPORATE ACCOUNTABILITY
(Presentation to The Forum Club, July 8, 2003, New York City)
Over the past three years, some things seemed to have gone terribly wrong. Did it start with the spring 2000 collapse of the stock market? With news of financial shenanigans at public companies? Maybe it was the wave of corporate scandals. The toppling of CEO heroes and heroines. CEO perp walks on nightly TV news. Colossal corporate bankruptcies. Organized fraud at high levels. The "New Economy" evaporating. Along with seven trillion dollars of investor money. Investors are angry ... anxious. Maybe it was the organized response, equally dramatic in scope, that made us nervous and uneasy. New risks are clearly posed for executives in Corporate America, with tougher criminal - not just civil penalties -- for white collar crimes. State prosecution of Wall Street's most respected names ... firms and individuals. Investor class action lawsuits. "Martha Inc." under daily media scrutiny. Headlines, the endless negative headlines.

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND SHAREHOLDER ACTIVISM SYMPOSIUM TRANSCRIPT
(Webcast Discussion (NIRI), Decemeber 12, 2002, National Press Club, Washington D.C.)
Good morning. I'm Lou Thompson. I'm president and CEO of the National Investor Relations Institute, known as NIRI. And it's my pleasure to welcome all of you here today. As you know, this is being webcast also for the Public Affairs Council members as well as the NIRI members. It was clear from the corporate scandals that boards of directors were compliant, complacent and, in some cases, appeared to be asleep. Boards in general needed a dose of good corporate governance. Boards allowed a compensation concept that was initiated in the early '90s at the instigation of public pension funds and others. That management in the boards' compensation should be aligned with the interest of shareholders.