By Cliff Peale
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The biggest-ever reunion of Procter & Gamble Co. alumni this spring will feature some of the nation's most prominent CEOs.

Luminaries such as Meg Whitman of eBay Inc., Jeff Immelt of General Electric Co. and James McNerney of 3M Co. could join Intuit Corp. founder Scott Cook at a CEO forum during the three-day event. All four formerly worked at Cincinnati-based P&G.

Procter chairman and chief executive A.G. Lafley will also participate, signaling the company's full participation in the elaborate event April 25-27. Former chairman John Pepper will keynote the Saturday evening event.

"Everybody knows many ex-Procter people like to work with others who share the common training and ethical heritage," read the P&G alumni group's latest newsletter. "So if you are in business development, it is probably the networking event of the decade."

Fun will include reunions from different decades. But there also are sessions on various industry trends. One will feature P&G advertising legends Gibby Carey and Norm Levy on the greatest advertising campaigns of all time.

"It's hard for a company to advertise the guys who have left," said Gary Stibel, who left P&G in 1976 and now is president of the New England Consulting Group in Connecticut. "But both A.G. Lafley and John Pepper are very proud of the people who learned good values at P&G and carried them elsewhere. And that's as it should be."