Get your tickets now to hear respected journalist Steven Coll at the 2012 Top 50 Privately Held Companies Luncheon on Thursday, Aug. 23, at the Cajundome Convention Center. ABiz's annual event, which has been a sell-out for the past three years, honors the top executives of the region's largest privately held companies, ranked by gross revenues and based on research exclusive to the magazine. The Aug. 23 luncheon also honors executives leading the Acadiana area's publicly traded companies.
Read more on how the Top 50 companies performed in 2011 in this month's ABiz and view the list here.
Keynote speaker Steven Coll, a two-time winner of The Pulitzer Prize, is president of the non-partisan New America Foundation and a staff writer for The New Yorker magazine. He previously spent 25 years at The Washington Post, where his roles included foreign correspondent, senior editor and managing editor. He won his first Pulitzer (with David A. Vise) in 1990 for an account of the SEC's battle with Wall Street (later published as the book Eagle on the Street). Coll was awarded a second Pulitzer in 2005 for his book Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, which received three additional prestigious awards for coverage of international affairs. In May, Coll published the most recent of his seven books, Private Empire: Exxon Mobil and American Power. Critics at BusinessWeek, The Washington Post and USA Today-Money describe Coll as one of the few journalists in the world who could tackle such a daunting topic and laude his impartiality in telling the tale. The New York Times calls Coll's work "meticulous, even-handed and valuable." Last month he announced that he will transition into a Senior Fellow role at The New America Foundation to pen a follow up to Ghost Wars.
Tickets to the Thursday, Aug. 23, luncheon are $50 per person or $450 for a reserved table for eight. For more information or to download a ticket order form online, go to www.theind.com/indevents, or contact Robin Hebert at 337.769.8603 by phone or by email at [email protected].
Along with the law firm of Allen & Gooch, Whitney Bank returns as a presenting co-sponsor of the luncheon. Supporting sponsors are LHC Group and The Acadiana Economic Development Council, which will announce the winner of The Acadiana Honors Awards that day. The Pinnacle Group Financial Services returns as VIP Parking sponsor, and Vidox Productions will again produce the Top 50 video report for the luncheon. Table sponsors include Fire & Safety Specialists, Alford, Staples, Lapeyre & Robichaux Insurance and Frank's Casing Crew & Rental Tools.