K-STATE'S COLLEGE OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION DIVERSITY LECTURE TO FEATURE BUSINESSMAN KEVIN BURNETT

MANHATTAN -- Kansas State University's College of Business Administration will present a diversity lecture featuring accomplished sales executive and sales professional Kevin Burnett.

The lecture, a part of K-State's Martin Luther King Jr. Observance Week, will be at 10:30 a.m. Friday, Jan. 25, in Forum Hall at the K-State Student Union. The lecture is free and open to the public.

The title of the lecture is "Diversity Experiences in a Great American Corporation."

Burnett is recognized for his ability to create breakthrough sales strategies, create a positive team environment and to negotiate and close contracts. He developed business strategies that resulted in the first ever Lucent sales and contracts for ATM equipment, Intelligent Network systems and UMTS wireless equipment. He also pioneered the "Total Customer Commitment" customer service initiative. Burnett has led diversity initiatives at Alcatel-Lucent as president of the Alliance of Black Lucent Employees and as an active participant in the "Power of One" mentoring program.

Burnett earned a bachelor's in business administration and political science from K-State in 1979. His entire career has been with the Bell system, working for Southwestern Bell, American Bell, AT&T Information, Computer, Network and Power Systems, Lucent Technologies and now Alcatel-Lucent.

The College of Business Administration began its annual diversity lecture series in spring 1999. The purpose of the lecture is to provide students with a glimpse of issues that might be outside of their own experiences or to see how companies address issues involving a multicultural work force and customer base.