Worcester, MA-Assumption College announced that Harry V. Keefe Jr., Chairman and CEO of Keefe Managers, Inc., New York, NY, will speak at its eleventh annual President's Council Distinguished Lecture.

Mr. Keefe will speak on "Charting the Future of Banking in the United States" at the annual lecture to be held on Tuesday, May 2, 2000. The lecture will be held in the Hagan Campus Center Hall at 6:00 p.m.

Mr. Keefe is a graduate of Amherst College and Boston University Graduate School of Business. In 1962, he founded (with two associates) Keefe, Bruyette, & Woods, an investment banking boutique. During his 27 years as CEO of KBW, the firm's book value increased from $.0145 per share in July 1962 to $34.60 per share in March of 1989, at the time of Mr. Keefe's resignation. This represents a total gain under Harry Keefe's leadership of approximately 238,000%.

After resigning from KBW in 1989, he formed Keefe & Keefe International, a merchant banking and advisory firm to bank managements. Concurrently, in May 1991, he organized Keefe Managers, Inc., a registered investor advisor that manages a nontraditional hedge fund and an all-long fund. These funds trade exclusively in securities of banks, thrifts, and other money-lending institutions. The Wall Street Journal, in its February 10, 1998 edition, named Keefe Managers the top-ranked money manager out of 928 managers tracked for the years 1995-96 and 1997.

Harry Keefe has been active in all facets of the banking industry: a consultant to bank managements; an investment banker to more than 100 clients; a commentator to the press, regulators and legislators; and a frequent speaker to his peers at the Financial Analysts Federation. Mr. Keefe is the author of Banking-A Vital and Stable Industry, and many articles on investment and finance. In 1992, at the request of William E. Simon, Keefe was elected to the Executive Management Committee of the Simon Graduate School of Business at the University of Rochester. He is a past member of the Board of Governors of the Securities Industry Association, and he has been honored by Amherst College, Lafayette College, Boston Latin School, and Wheaton College.

For more information, or to arrange an interview, contact Heidi M. Paluk at (508) 767-7173.