October 17, 2011 — Public service ads and corporate employee initiatives have attempted to tackle a number of social ills, targeting smoking, alcoholism and poor dietary choices, and promoting healthy work-life balance and financial literacy. Research on consumer behavior has uncovered how fine points in such advertising and programs can make or break their effectiveness.

The efficacy of such health and wellness campaigns, as well as the business community's responsibility to promote the well-being of employees and consumers, are some of the issues that will be discussed at the University of Virginia's McIntire School of Commerce 2011 Fall Forum, "Cultivating Well-Being: The Necessary Role of Business Leaders, Researchers and Educators."

Presented by U.Va.'s Center for Growth Enterprises, the forum will be held Oct. 21, starting at 9 a.m. in Old Cabell Hall. The forum is free and open to the public.

The keynote speaker is Punam Anand Keller, Charles Henry Jones Third Century Professor of Management at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. She is an expert in consumer choice behavior, including the effectiveness of public service advertising, especially campaigns to reduce obesity and personal debt.

Keller's address will be followed by two panel discussions addressing, respectively, academic and policy perspectives and executive perspectives on well-being.

The first panel will be moderated by McIntire professor James E. Burroughs, and will include panelists Dogan Eroglu, associate director for communication science at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Amar Cheema, associate professor in the McIntire School of Commerce; Dorrie Fontaine, Sadie Heath Cabaniss Professor of Nursing and dean of the U.Va. School of Nursing; Keller; and Josh Wright, acting director of the Office of Financial Education and Financial Access in the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

The second panel will be moderated by McIntire Dean Carl P. Zeithaml and will include panelists Dianne Morse Houghton, a 1982 graduate of the McIntire School and chief operating officer of New Leaders for New Schools; Jerry Ng, president and chief executive officer, Bank Tabungan Pensiunan Nasional; Andy Schoonover, a 2001 McIntire graduate and chief executive officer of Valued Relationships, Inc.; as well as McIntire School alumni and friends representing organizations that have made employee, consumer and socio-ecological well-being a priority.

For information, visit the Fall Forum website or contact Mandi Crisp at 434-924-4150.