A lecture by J. Richard "Dick" Munro, chairman of Genentech Inc., a biotechnology research and development company in San Francisco that uses human genetic information to develop and manufacture pharmaceuticals, heads a list of events offered by the School of Business Administration November 19 during a celebration of Entrepreneurship Day.

The day's events also include a discussion of entrepreneurship as a process, featuring a panel of successful entrepreneurs including Brian J. Foley, president and CEO of Apple Health Care and owner of the Connecticut Pride, a Continental Basketball Association franchise; Robert Kaufman, founder and president of Bob's Discount Furniture; Raymond Neag, executive vice president of Arrow International Inc., of Reading, Pa.; Lisa Wilson-Foley, who has established six separate businesses since 1989, including several health care businesses, a building products firm and a golf course; and Munro who, before becoming chairman of Genentech was chairman of the executive committee of Time Warner Inc., and chairman and CEO of Time Inc.

Besides Munro's evening lecture and the panel discussion, a business plan competition will be held during the day among three groups of graduate students, who will present business plans they have developed for new Connecticut start-ups, with $5,000 in prize money at stake. The afternoon's events will be held in Room 122 of the School of Business Administration.

Munro will top-off the day, proclaimed by Gov. John G. Rowland as Entrepreneurship Day in Connecticut, as he delivers the 10th annual Wolff Distinguished Lecture in Entrepreneurship, starting at 7 p.m., in Jorgensen Auditorium.

His lecture, Leading in the Age of Entrepreneurship, and other events are free and open to the public.

Munro, who took Home Box Office from a troubled entrepreneurial venture into one of the nation's most successful cable television services, was named chairman of Genentech in December 1996. The firm's research has brought 11 biotechnology-based products to the marketplace, including three that used human growth hormones to create a treatment for children suffering from growth hormone inadequacy and Turner Syndrome, which involves growth failure. Another of their products, Pulmozyme, brought to market the first new therapeutic approached for cystic fibrosis in 30 years.

A $1 billion company, Genentech focuses on three areas of medicine: cardiovascular, oncology and endocrinology. It holds more than 3,000 patents worldwide, and has another 2,000 pending.

Munro is a member or trustee of more than a dozen philanthropic boards and organizations, including the Points of Light Foundation, which he chairs, the United Negro College Fund and the National Coalition of AIDS Research. He is on the board of directors of Mobil Corp., the Kellogg Co., and Kmart Corp.

Supported through an endowment from Thomas J. and Bette Wolff, the Wolff Family Program in Entrepreneurship is committed to communicating the message of free enterprise to the University community. The program sponsors courses that seek to foster new enterprise creation, the distinguished lecture series, and a luncheon series that brings successful entrepreneurs to campus to discuss their careers with UConn students. Past speakers in the distinguished lecture series include Fred DeLuca, founder of Subway Sandwich Shops, Dave Thomas of Wendy's International, Ben Cohen of Ben and Jerry;'s Homemade Inc., Wally "Famous" Amos, and Mark H. McCormack, chairman and CEO of International Management Group.

Richard Veilleux