The King Street Marketing Group and Halls Management Group are pleased to welcome Stephen A. Bedard, President and CEO of the Gaillard Management Corporation, as our guest speaker Thursday, September 6th at Small Business Lunch at Halls Signature Events.
Described as an "an absolute genius" in municipal finance when he was the CFO for the City of Charleston for 18 years, now Steve is bringing some of the biggest entertainers in the world to Charleston, like Yo-Yo Ma, Joe Walsh, Tony Bennett... Wow!
In July 2016, he began his full-time service at the Gaillard, the City's $145M Martha and John Rivers Performance Hall, Grand Ballrooms and Salons. It's one of the finest multiple purpose performance hall/exhibition hall complexes in the world.
Emmy and Tony Award winning actress and singer Kristin Chenoweth Oct.9
In May 1998, Steve was named the City of Charleston's first ever Chief Financial Officer and continued to serve in this position through June 2016. During his tenure with the City, financial rating agencies ranked Charleston the number one city in South Carolina and recognized the City with eight bond rating increases.
In early January of 2009, at the start of the great recession, Charleston became the first South Carolina municipality ever to receive the highest rating possible from Standard & Poor's, the coveted AAA rating. In October 2014, Moody's Investors Service upgraded the City's credit rating from Aa1 to Aaa, the highest possible rating, making Charleston the first municipality in South Carolina history to hold both S&P's AAA rating and Moody's Aaa rating concurrently.
Bedard is a 1976 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy; holding a Bachelor of Science degree in Applied Mathematics. He served 20 years in the U.S. Navy specializing in financial management retiring at the rank of full Commander in 1996. He spent his last three years in the Navy as a financial liaison to the Department of Defense, the Executive Branch's Office of Management and Budget and the U.S. Congress for Navy Undersea Warfare programs. He was awarded the seventh highest military medal, The Legion of Merit, from the Secretary of the Navy upon his retirement.
From 1996 through mid-1998, Steve held a key executive position at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in Northern Virginia working on cutting edge naval ship development programs as DARPA's Business Manager for Maritime Research.
Steve is an honor graduate with an MBA from the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia and serves as an Adjunct Professor at the College of Charleston teaching both undergraduate and graduate classes in financial management, budgeting and strategic planning for the last eight years.
Tickets are $31 per person for the imaginative three-course meal prepared by Executive Chef Matt Greene. A full-service cash bar is available for your enjoyment. Doors open at 11:30 a.m. and lunch is served promptly at noon. Limited seating provides an intimate experience with each speaker. Click Here For Ticket Information or call the 24/7 ticket hotline at 1-800-838-3006.
About the Venue
Halls Signature Events is located at No.5 Faber Street, just off East Bay Street and directly behind S.N.O.B. There is a city-owned parking garage right next door, with an entrance on Cumberland Street for your convenience.
In July 2016, he began his full-time service at the Gaillard, the City's $145M Martha and John Rivers Performance Hall, Grand Ballrooms and Salons. It's one of the finest multiple purpose performance hall/exhibition hall complexes in the world.
In May 1998, Steve was named the City of Charleston's first ever Chief Financial Officer and continued to serve in this position through June 2016. During his tenure with the City, financial rating agencies ranked Charleston the number one city in South Carolina and recognized the City with eight bond rating increases.
In early January of 2009, at the start of the great recession, Charleston became the first South Carolina municipality ever to receive the highest rating possible from Standard & Poor's, the coveted AAA rating. In October 2014, Moody's Investors Service upgraded the City's credit rating from Aa1 to Aaa, the highest possible rating, making Charleston the first municipality in South Carolina history to hold both S&P's AAA rating and Moody's Aaa rating concurrently.
Bedard is a 1976 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy; holding a Bachelor of Science degree in Applied Mathematics. He served 20 years in the U.S. Navy specializing in financial management retiring at the rank of full Commander in 1996. He spent his last three years in the Navy as a financial liaison to the Department of Defense, the Executive Branch's Office of Management and Budget and the U.S. Congress for Navy Undersea Warfare programs. He was awarded the seventh highest military medal, The Legion of Merit, from the Secretary of the Navy upon his retirement.
From 1996 through mid-1998, Steve held a key executive position at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in Northern Virginia working on cutting edge naval ship development programs as DARPA's Business Manager for Maritime Research.
Steve is an honor graduate with an MBA from the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia and serves as an Adjunct Professor at the College of Charleston teaching both undergraduate and graduate classes in financial management, budgeting and strategic planning for the last eight years.
Tickets are $31 per person for the imaginative three-course meal prepared by Executive Chef Matt Greene. A full-service cash bar is available for your enjoyment. Doors open at 11:30 a.m. and lunch is served promptly at noon. Limited seating provides an intimate experience with each speaker. Click Here For Ticket Information or call the 24/7 ticket hotline at 1-800-838-3006.