U.S. SEN. CHUCK HAGEL TO PRESENT ’21st. CENTURY CHALLENGES’ THURSDAY, FEB. 22, IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE JAMES E. SMITH CONFERENCE ON WORLD AFFAIRS

Ann Marie Harr
James E. Smith Midwest Conference on World Affairs coordinator, 308.865.8944
 
U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel will deliver a speech titled “21st Century Challenges” on Thursday, Feb. 22, at the University of Nebraska at Kearney.
     
Part of the James E. Smith Conference on World Affairs series of presentations, Sen. Hagel will speak at 1:30 p.m. in the Fine Arts Recital Hall. His 15-minute speech will be followed by a question-and-answer session.
     
According to Ann Marie Harr, coordinator of the World Affairs Conference, seating for Sen. Hagel’s presentation is expected to be limited, and those who wish to attend should come early.
     
Sen. Hagel was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1996 and was reelected in 2002. He currently serves on the Senate Foreign Relations; Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs; Intelligence and Rules Committees.
     
Before his Senate service, Sen. Hagel was the president of McCarthy & Co., an Omaha-based investment banking firm, and he also served as the chair of the Board of American Information Systems.
     
Before joining McCarthy & Co., Sen. Hagel was president and chief executive officer of the Private Sector Council in Washington, D.C., deputy director and chief operating officer of the 1990 Economic Summit of Industrialized Nations, and president and chief executive officer of the World USO.
     
During the 1980s, Sen. Hagel co-founded VANGUARD Cellular Systems and was nominated in 1981 by former President Ronald Reagan as the deputy administrator of the Veterans Administration. Sen. Hagel has also served as the deputy commissioner general of the U.S. for the 1982 World’s Fair, manager of government affairs for Firestone Tire & Rubber, and an administrative assistant to Nebraska Congressman John McCollister.

During Sen. Hagel’s early years, he worked as a newscaster and talk show host with radio stations KBON and KLNG in Omaha.

He earned two Purple Hearts for his military service in Vietnam as a member of the U.S. Army’s 9th Infantry Division.