Our Keynote Speaker Rocky Bleier was not very big and not very fast, but he was an incredibly determined athlete when the Pittsburgh Steelers picked him late in the 1968 draft. Before he could prove himself as a rookie, he was drafted again-this time for combat duty in Vietnam.

A few months later, crippled by enemy rifle fire and grenade wounds in both legs, Bleier faced his biggest challenge. He could barely walk…he certainly couldn't run. To ever play professional football seemed impossible.

But Rocky Bleier did the impossible. The story of his agonizing two-year battle to overcome his injuries and return to the Pittsburgh Steelers is described in the book Fighting Back, and was recreated in the 1980 ABC-TV movie of the same name.

The rest of his exciting 12-year career is history…how he pressed on to become one of the Steelers' top leading ground-gainers…how he passed the 1,000-yard rushing mark in one season…how he contributed to four Super Bowl victories…how he consistently made the big play during important games with uncanny predictability.

Bleier's ability to inspire effort and commitment from others continues. He has been active in the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and the International Special Olympics. As a board member of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, he helped make possible the erection of the Washington, D.C. Memorial.

Bleier's special qualities have been recognized by colleagues as well as others who have honored him with awards too numerous to list in detail. Among them are the Whizzer White Humanitarian Award, the Vince Lombardi Award, and the Most Courageous Athlete of the Decade Award. He was also chosen as one of the Ten Outstanding Young Men of the Year by the U.S. Jaycees.

He is in demand as a motivational speaker, motivating audiences in a wide variety of organizations, corporations, and universities. Bleier sees parallels between the challenges he faced in the past and the challenges all business people face in today's crowded, competitive marketplace.

His speech, "Be the Best You Can Be," motivates audiences to keep on striving for greater accomplishments. He employs a dynamic style with real-life stories and brings it together with a warm, self-reflective humor to which audiences can relate.

Christopher Thornberg Ph.D is a founding partner of Beacon Economics. Dr. Thornberg is an expert in the study of regional economies, real estate dynamics, labor markets and business forecasting. He has been involved in a number of special studies measuring the impact of important events on the economy, including the NAFTA treaty, the California power crisis, port security, California water transfer programs and the September 11th terrorist attacks. Prior to launching Beacon he worked with the UCLA Anderson Forecast where he regularly authored the outlooks for California, Los Angeles and the East Bay as well as performing a number of specialized forecasts for regions and industries. Dr. Thornberg lectures on a regular basis at a variety of public and private events, has appeared on CNN, Fox News and CNBC and is widely quoted in the press.

He received his Ph.D in Business Economics from The Anderson School and his B.S. in Business Administration from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He specializes in International and Labor Economics. Dr. Thornberg continues to teach in the MBA program in the new Rady School of Business at UCSD and previously held a faculty position in the economics department at Clemson University.

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