Beta Gamma Sigma - Speaker Bios

Grace Y. Lau is the president and co-founder of PacWest Financial Management Inc., a registered investment advisory firm specializing in managing assets for high net worth individuals and select institutions.

From 1996 to 1997, Grace was a managing director of Barclays International Private Banking, responsible for business development, asset management and lending in the Western Region of the United States.

Prior to her affiliation with Barclays, she was director of Private Asset Management at First Interstate Capital Management, specializing in portfolio management of high net worth individuals. She was also a senior portfolio manager at Northern Trust of Arizona, an international rating officer at Standard and Poor's and a fixed income analyst with Riggs National Bank. In her previous employment, Grace managed money market and government common trust funds, assets of pension funds, foundations and high net worth individuals, totaling over $1 billion. Asset classes included cash equivalents, stocks and various types of fixed income securities.

As an active member of the community, Grace has served as chairwoman of the City of Phoenix Deferred Compensation Board, president of the Phoenix Society of Financial Analysts, chairwoman of the Himeji Sister City Commission, vice-chairwoman of the Investment Advisory Council of the Arizona State Retirement System, and trustee for the Arizona Educational Foundation and the Arizona Community Foundation. She is also the founder and president of the Arizona Asian Parents Association.

Currently, she is a partner of Social Venture Partners and a member of the Women Presidents Organization.

John Treadwell, an independent associate with Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc., specializes in identity theft prevention and identity restoration. A member of several organizations including the NAACP and the Northwest Valley Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Treadwell performs community outreach and education on identity theft through the Arizona Small Business Association.

Dr. Stephen Happel is a Professor of Economics at the Arizona State University W.P. Carey School of Business. He grew up in Quincy, Illinois, received a B.A. (1969) in mathematics and economics from the University of Missouri and an M.A. (1972) and Ph.D. (1976) in economics from Duke University. In addition to visiting appointments at North Carolina State University, the Australian National University and the University of Waikato in New Zealand, Dr. Happel was founding director of the ASU School of Business Honors Program in 1989 and served as Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies from 1991 to 1999.

His research focuses on applied microeconomics and population issues. He has written two textbooks and over 60 articles in professional journals and popular outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and the Christian Science Monitor. This work covers arguments for free-market ticket scalping, defense of tenure, the rationale for slotting fees in supermarkets, and the snowbird lifestyle among retirees.

Dr. Happel has received the ASU Distinguished Teaching Award, been a Ford Honors Fellow, and has been chosen the Arizona Professor of the Year by the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education. He teaches freshman classes in macroeconomics, honors seminars, and MBA classes in managerial economics. He is also a long-time instructor for the Arizona Society of CPA’s Tax Institute, the Pacific Coast Banking School in Seattle, and he speaks to many different groups and organizations on the U.S. economy with attention directed at key generational-demographic trends and recent Federal Reserve policy.

Jane Dee Hull was born in Kansas City, Missouri. She received a bachelor's degree in elementary education from the University of Kansas and also did postgraduate work in political science and economics at Arizona State University. She is a graduate of the Josephson Ethics Institute. In 1979 she was elected to the Arizona House of Representatives. From 1989 to 1992, she served as the first woman speaker of the house. In 1993, she ran a successful campaign for secretary of state, becoming the second woman to hold that office and the first Republican since 1931. As governor, she made education, health care, the economy and preserving Arizona's natural beauty her top priorities. She implemented homeland security measures to ensure the safety of Arizonans. Her Students FIRST school facilities funding program ensures equity for every student in Arizona. Nearly 136,000 children of the working poor now receive health coverage thanks to the Governor's KidsCare program. Under Governor Hull's leadership and with a contract from Qwest Communications, Arizona is one of the first states to ensure all public schools will have Internet access. Hull has worked extensively on trade issues with Mexican officials and other border governors.

Virginia A. McMinn (Ginny) was awarded a Master of Science Degree in Industrial Relations (MSIR), from the prestigious Institute of Human Resources and Industrial Relations at Loyola University of Chicago. Previously, she attained a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Education from the University of Illinois at Urbana. She has also been honored by the Human Resource Certification Institute with Lifetime Accreditation as a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR), based on an examination, references and experience in the Human Resources field. She has also been awarded a Certificate in Employee Relations Law from the Institute of Applied Management and Law.

Ginny's experience includes over 25 years in a variety of nationwide human resource capacities, such as:

HR executive
multiple locations
plant/production facilities
policy development
practical implementation
manufacturing
financial services
technical/sales/customer service
warehouse/distribution
not-for-profit

Ginny brings a wealth of background and experience to you and your organization: teaching, counseling, training, program development and implementation, policy formation and implementation, as well as the basic human resource responsibilities of wage and salary, recordkeeping, equal employment opportunity/affirmative action, safety, benefits, recruiting, employee relations and preventive labor relations, employee communications, planning, budgeting, organizational assessment, training and development, and productivity improvement.

Ginny is founder and owner of McMinn and Associates, Limited. She established her consulting and training firm in 1988, with two purposes in mind. First, it would provide ongoing Human Resource services to firms without the need for a seasoned full-time human resources professional. Second, the firm would provide HR services to supplement current human resources management efforts with expertise or time not available "in-house". McMinn and Associates, Limited, located in Gilbert, Arizona, is a woman’s business enterprise, registered in Arizona.

Ginny is also a founding partner in ManagersAdvantage.com, an e-mail based management coaching service, based in Phoenix. This firm provides enrolled managers with customized information and solutions on a variety of management topics and problem situations.

Ginny McMinn is a member of the national Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), Metro Phoenix Human Resources Association, the SHRM Consultants Professional Emphasis Group (PEG), and the AZSHRM Consultants Forum. She is also a member of the Practitioner Faculty at University of Phoenix Online in both Human Resources and Graduate Business studies.

Ginny is included in Who's Who in America and Who's Who in American Women. She has received numerous achievement awards, and is a frequent media contributor and talk show guest. McMinn and Associates, Limited is a member of the Arizona Small Business Association; Ginny is a member of the ASBA Board of Directors.

Visit the McMinn and Associates, Limited web site at www.mcminnhr.com.
Visit the ManagersAdvantage.com web site at www.managersadvantage.com.

Timothy D. Hogan is a Professor of Economics and serves as Director of both the L. William Seidman Research Institute and the Center for Business Research in the College of Business at Arizona State University. He received A.B. and M.A. degrees in Economics from the University of California and his Ph.D. degree in Economics from Virginia Polytechnic Institute. He joined the faculty at Arizona State University in 1970 and has been associated with the Center for Business Research since 1971. Dr. Hogan has served as Director of the Seidman Institute since 1995 and the Center for Business Research since 1987. The L. William Seidman Research Institute coordinates all research activities in the College of Business, including both sponsored research and the seven research centers within the College. The Center for Business Research is one of these affiliated centers and is the primary public service and applied research unit within the College of Business specializing in research relating to the state of Arizona.

Dr. Hogan’s current research focuses on applied economic and demographic analysis, primarily related to the state of Arizona. He has served as principal investigator/project director/co-investigator on numerous funded research projects for a wide variety of sponsors, including the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Department of Transportation, the Arizona-Sonora Commission, the Arizona Governor’s Office, the Arizona Legislature, the Arizona Department of Commerce, the Arizona Department of Economic Security, the Arizona Department of Corrections, the Arizona Office of Tourism, Maricopa County, the City of Phoenix, Tempe Elementary School District, Intel, Boeing, Allied Signal, Ft. Howard Paper, Salt River Project, Phoenix Newspapers Inc. and the Arizona Hospital Association. He has also published numerous professional articles and monographs, with recent academic research focused on regional economic development, seasonal migration, and the economics of aging.

Dr. Hogan has conducted more than 50 economic impact studies, including analyses of the Arizona travel and tourism industry, convention and group travel business in Maricopa County, the arts in Arizona, Super Bowl XXX, the 1989, 1996 and 1999 Fiesta Bowls, the 1996 Phoenix and Tucson Open golf tournaments, the Arizona hospital industry, Arizona Correctional Industries, the Organization of Associated Salespersons of the Southwest, the Arizona auto and truck dealers, Phoenix International Raceway, the pari-mutuel industry in Arizona, the Sun Lakes, PebbleCreek and SaddleBrooke Resort Communities, Arizona Mills Center, the Arizona high tech sector, Intel Corporation’s Arizona operations, the Arizona timeshare industry, ASU’s Camp Tontozona, the ASU Research Park, and Arizona State University itself.

Dr. Hogan serves as a member of the Financial Advisory Committee of the Arizona Joint Legislative Budget Committee and is a member and past President of the Arizona Economic Roundtable. He also is past President of the Association for University Business and Economic Research and is a member of numerous professional organizations, including the National Association of Business Economists, the American Economics Association, the Regional Science Association, the Western Economic Association, and the Population Association of America.