The Northwestern State University School of Business will host the 50th annual J. Walter Porter Forum Thursday, Oct. 20 in Magale Recital Hall. The Form begins with a reception at 9 a.m. in the Orville Hanchey Art Gallery. The program starts at 9:40 a.m.

This year’s theme is “Celebrating the Past, Present and Future of Business and Technology.” The featured speakers are Corinne Hoisington, professor of information technology at Central Virginia Community College in Lynchburg, Virginia, and David Morgan, co-founder of Association Member Benefits Advisors. Hoisington will also speak to students in the School of Business at 2 p.m. in Room 207 of Russell Hall.

Hoisington has more than 25 years of teaching experience. She travels more than 200,000 miles a year keynoting to college and university professors and K-12 venues for such customers as the Microsoft Corporation, Microsoft’s Camp 21 International Events, Cengage Learning, Capital One International Bank and the International South by Southwest event. Hoisington is the recipient of the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional in Computer Programming. She has authored more than 20 textbooks with Cengage Learning/National Geographic such as the Android Studio Boot Camp, Dreamweaver Creative Cloud, Outlook 2016, Office 2016, Technology Now for SAM and Visual Basic 2015 with App Development.

Morgan graduated from Bolton High School in Alexandria and received a degree in Business from NSU.

After graduation, he started his career in the insurance field. He funded and later sold United Teacher Associates Insurance Company and in 2001, Association Member Benefits Advisors was created. Currently, AMBA provides a broad range of member benefits in 30 states to over 4 million association members with over 300 full time agents. AMBA is home to many NSU graduates with successful careers.

At Northwestern State, Morgan was president of Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity, inducted into “Who’s Who Among College Students” and was the school mascot, Vic the Demon.

He is part of the NSU Alumni Hall of Distinction, the Long Purple Line, and Pi Kappa Phi Hall of Fame. Morgan has been a member of the NSU President’s Council and the Board of Directors of the NSU Alumni Association and is very involved in the NSU alumni chapter of Pi Kappa Phi.
He is married to Sherry Fargerson Morgan who also graduated from NSU and a member of Sigma Sigma Sigma Sorority. The Morgans split their time between Austin and St Thomas, V.I., and have three children and seven grandchildren. Their oldest son, David Morgan Jr. and his wife, Leslie, are also graduates of NSU.

The forum is made possible by an endowment established by the family and friends of the late J. Walter Porter in recognition of his interest in improving the image of business as a career field for college students and of his concern for moral and ethical standards as expressed in his philosophy of business. The forum is an effort to translate the textbook into practice by bringing capable, successful business executives to the campus to speak on selected topics in their area of expertise.

Porter was a native of Kaufman County, Texas. He graduated from Texas A&M and earned a master’s in civil engineering from Harvard. In 1931, he helped organize the Gifford-Hill Pipe Company at Grand Prairie, Texas. Porter saw the need to sell business to the college and to bridge the gap between the college campus and industry. He was determined to contribute to a better understanding of that system among his own employees, associates, and, where he could, on college campuses.

For more information on the Porter Forum or NSU’s School of Business and Technology, visit business.nsula.edu.