Coach K leadership conference opens today

Seems that Coach K's leadership wisdom remains a draw, despite the down economy.

As of Monday afternoon, the sponsors of the eighth annual Fuqua School of Business and Coach K Leadership conference at Duke University had matched last year's total of 256 registered attendees.

The conference kicks off this afternoon with a timely theme: "Leading in Times of Uncertainty." The conference will bring together a wide range of executives to discuss how they manage, motivate and more.

Scheduled speakers include Abigail P. Johnson vice chairman at Fidelity Investments; James F. McCaffrey, chief strategy officer at Turner Broadcasting System; and Shannon Wallis, global director of leadership development at Microsoft.

Local executives include Michael Capps, president of Cary-based Epic Games, and Jim Whitehurst, CEO of Raleigh-based Red Hat. Get a full list of speakers and other information here.

Tonight's keynote address is "How to Lead in Tough Times" by Bob Seelert, chairman of advertising firm Saatchi & Saatchi.

The conference runs through Wednesday. As is tradition, a conference highlight will be watching Duke men's basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski leading a practice.