Marketing conference speaker will discuss lessons learned from the current economic distress.

• Position: American Bankers Association Marketing Conference - Conference news

Three keynote speakers have been named for this year's ABA Marketing Conference, which will be held Sept. 12-14 in Minneapolis. The conference's theme is "Rethink. Reconnect. Results."

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The speakers are William Taylor, one of the founding editors of Fast Company Magazine, New York; and Deborah Van Walkenburgh, senior vice president, brand management and marketing services, The PNC Financial Services Group, Pittsburgh; and Jim Nowak, assistant vice president, risk management for United Bankers Bank, Minneapolis.

William Taylor of Fast Company Magazine will talk on the topic, "A Crisis is a Terrible Thing to Waste: Leading Through a Downturn." In the current economic downturn bankers and businesspeople are both trying to understand the changes that have occurred and how they will shape the business agency for the years ahead. Taylor urges leaders not to learn the wrong lessons from the recession. As the business environment gets tougher, meaner and more unforgiving, customers are going to get even more selective about with whom they do business. Companies and their leaders have to figure out how to offer a positive alternative to a demoralizing status quo.

Taylor is a former Harvard Business Review editor who cofounded Fast Company in 1995. The business magazine has a national circulation in...