Issue date: 2/1/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Jim Liu McDonald's CEO Jim Skinner spoke yesterday at Penn about his business and philanthropic experiences. [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: Mustafa Al-ammar Skinner (second from right) speaks with two girls who are currently staying at the Ronald McDonald House as. [Click to enlarge]

It took Jim Skinner more than 40 years to go from flipping burgers to managing fortunes for the fast-food giant McDonalds.

Yesterday, he shared some of the secrets to his success with students at the Woodlands Ballroom at the Hilton Inn at Penn. The event was a corporate benefit banquet billed as "An Evening of Philanthropy," hosted by Penn's chapter of the Alpha Kappa Psi Professional business fraternity.

In addition to his personal success, Skinner talked extensively about his commitment to social responsibility and community outreach.

"I started as an employee in 1962 and then went in the Navy for 10 years," said Skinner, Vice-Chairman and CEO for McDonalds since 2004. "When I got home, I interviewed on a Wednesday and started that Friday."

Before the banquet and keynote speech, Skinner visited the Ronald McDonald house on 39th and Chestnut streets. The house was the first of its kind of 273 houses worldwide, and it was his first time visiting. Yesterday, he went on a tour of the house with many of the earliest founders of the Ronald McDonald House movement, and he came away quite impressed.

"I love this house," he said.

The Ronald McDonald House is a charitable organization that provides housing for parents of children being treated at hospitals for serious illnesses. Each house nationwide is located near a children's hospital so that parents can be close to their children during their hospital stays.

Wharton sophomore Amy Dai, director of media relations for AKP, called the Ronald McDonald House a place of comfort and warmth for children and parents to interact. Through AKP, she plans to work with more corporations to encourage them to actively serve their communities through charity.

"We're really emphasizing corporate social responsibility," Dai said. "100 percent of the ticket proceeds go to the Ronald McDonald House, and this is due to generous donors and corporate sponsors," she said.

Among those in attendance was Marty Coin, president of Ronald McDonald House Charities and John Durante, president of the Ronald McDonald House of Philadelphia.

The headliner, though, was Skinner. When asked what could be expected from McDonald's in the near future, he used the opportunity to speak proudly about the services he renders and the quality of those services.

"You can expect more great results, more customer satisfaction and more excitement," he said.

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