Contact:

Sarah Ray

802-443-5794

sray@middlebury.edu

Posted: February 26, 2002

MIDDLEBURY,

VT - Reuben Mark, chief executive officer of consumer

products company Colgate-Palmolive and a member of the

Middlebury College class of 1960, will give the 13th annual

David K. Smith Lecture at 4:15 p.m. on Tuesday, March 5. The

talk, titled “The Contribution of the Liberal Arts to

Business Leadership,” will take place in Dana

Auditorium in the Sunderland Language Center on College

Street (Route 125), and is free and open to the public.

Mark joined

Colgate, a global company whose products are sold in more

than 200 countries, as a trainee in 1963. He became

president of Colgate’s Venezuelan division in 1970,

president of Colgate-Canada two years later, and vice

president of Far East operations in 1974. In 1979, he was

appointed group vice president of the company’s United

States division. He has been chief executive officer of the

company since 1984 and chairman of the board since 1986.

Prior to

joining Colgate, Mark earned a master’s degree from

Harvard Business School. He is a strong advocate for

improving public education?under his leadership Colgate

sponsored the restructuring and rehabilitation of

Harlem’s Wadleigh School. Mark is also a member of the

board of Catalyst, a women’s leadership organization.

Established

in honor of Professor Emeritus of Economics David K. Smith,

a member of the Middlebury College economics department from

1950-1988, the annual lecture maintains a focus on applied

economics. An undergraduate economics major at Middlebury

College, Smith received a master’s degree and a

doctorate from Harvard prior to joining the department of

economics at Middlebury, where he served as department chair

for 15 years. Smith’s students established the lecture

series in honor of his work as a teacher and mentor.

For more

information about the lecture, please contact Marie Winner

in the economics department of Middlebury College at

802-443-3198.