October 12, 2009
AMES, Iowa — Charles Manatt, former U.S. Ambassador to the Dominican Republic, will present the 2009 William K. Deal Endowed Leadership Lecture Oct. 27 at Iowa State University.
Ambassador Manatt will present "Preparing Leaders to Meet Future Global Challenges" at 7 p.m. in the Sun Room of the Memorial Union on campus. The lecture, which is free and open to the public, is organized by the Department of Agricultural Education and Studies in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
He was recently recognized by his peers as one of "The Best Lawyers in America 2010" in Corporate Law, Government Relations Law and International Trade/Finance Law.
Ambassador Manatt founded First Los Angeles Bank and served as its chairman from 1973 to 1989. He was chair of the California Democratic Party before being elected chair of the Democratic National Committee in 1981. In 1992, he was co-chair of the Clinton-Gore presidential campaign, and in 1999 President Clinton appointed Ambassador Manatt as the U.S. Ambassador to the Dominican Republic.
An attorney who earned his bachelor's degree in rural sociology from Iowa State in 1958 and his J.D. from George Washington University in 1962, Ambassador Manatt is the founder of the law firm Manatt, Phelps and Phillips, LLP.
William K. Deal, an ISU alum with a degree in agricultural education, established the lecture series to help prepare future leaders and innovators in agriculture.
Editor's Note: Following Ambassador Manatt's Deal Endowed Leadership Lecture, the John Pesek Colloquium on Sustainable Agriculture will begin at 8 p.m. next door in the Great Hall of the Memorial Union. Shahid Naeem, chair of the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology at Columbia University, is the featured speaker.