George P. Shultz is one of a handful of individuals who have held four different federal cabinet posts; he has taught at three of the nation's greatest universities; and for eight years he was president and director of the Bechtel Group, Inc., a major engineering/construction company. Shultz is now the Thomas W. and Susan B. Ford Distinguished Fellow at the Hoover Institution, a think tank on the campus of Stanford University dedicated to research in domestic policy and international affairs.

During his tenure as Chairman of the President's Economic Policy Advisory Board and Secretary of State under President Ronald Reagan, Shultz played a key role in implementing a foreign policy that led to the successful conclusion of the Cold War. His efforts also helped develop strong relationships between the Unites States and the countries of the Asia-Pacific region, including China, Japan and the ASEAN countries.

A recipient of the Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, Shultz was also Secretary of Labor and Secretary of the Treasury under President Richard Nixon. He wrote a highly acclaimed best-selling memoir, Turmoil and Triumph: My Years as Secretary of State, and is the co-author of the influential policy book Economic Policy Beyond the Headlines, now in its second edition. At the podium, Shultz explores the economic, social and political changes that affect all Americans.

Shultz attended Princeton University, graduating in 1942 with a degree in economics. Shortly after graduation, he enlisted in the Marine Corps and served through 1945. He then resumed his studies, earning a Ph.D. in industrial economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

After an illustrious career in academia, Shultz was appointed Secretary of Labor by President Nixon. The next year, he became Director of the Office of Management and Budget and then Secretary of the Treasury, a post he held for two years. During this period, Shultz also served as Chairman of the Council on Economic Policy, negotiated a series of trade protocols with the Soviet Union, and represented the United States at the Tokyo meeting on the General Agreement of Tariffs and Trade.

Leaving government service in 1974, Shultz was president and director of the Bechtel Group, Inc., where he remained until 1981. While at Bechtel, he maintained his close ties with the academic world by joining the faculty of Stanford University and working on a part-time basis. He returned to government from 1981 to 1989 and then rejoined Stanford University as the Jack Steele Parker Professor of International Economics and a distinguished fellow at the Hoover Institution.

Shultz is the recipient of the Seoul Peace Prize, the West Point Sylvanus Thayer Award, the Eisenhower Medal for Leadership and Service, the Reagan Distinguished American Award, and the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training's Ralph Bunche Award for Diplomatic Excellence, among many others. He holds honorary degrees from Notre Dame, Columbia University, Loyola, University of Pennsylvania, Princeton, Carnegie-Mellon University, Yeshiva University, and other eminent schools.