Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.

Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.

Chairman, IBM

Louis V. Gerstner, Jr. joined The Carlyle Group in January 2003 as Chairman. Prior to joining Carlyle, Mr. Gerstner was Chairman of the Board of IBM Corporation from April 1993 until his retirement in December 2002. He served as Chief Executive Officer of IBM from 1993 until March 2002.

Prior to joining IBM, Mr. Gerstner served for four years as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of RJR Nabisco, Inc. This was preceded by an 11-year career at American Express Company, where he was President of the parent company and Chairman and CEO of its largest subsidiary, American Express Travel Related Services Company. Prior to that, Mr. Gerstner was a Director of the management consulting firm of McKinsey & Co., Inc., which he joined in 1965.

A native of Mineola, New York, Mr. Gerstner received a bachelor's degree in engineering from Dartmouth College in 1963 and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School in 1965. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, The Business Council, the National Academy of Engineering, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and has been awarded honorary doctorates from a number of U.S. universities.

Mr. Gerstner is a member of the advisory board of Sony Corporation and a Director of the National Committee on United States-China Relations. He is Vice Chairman of the board of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and a trustee of the American Museum of Natural History. In past years, he served on the boards of Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, The New York Times Company, American Express Company, AT&T, Caterpillar, Inc., Jewel Companies, Melville Corporation, RJR Nabisco Holdings Co. and DaimlerChrysler Chairman’s Council.

A lifetime advocate of the importance of quality education, Mr. Gerstner created The Teaching Commission in 2003 to develop specific policy recommendations to deal with the teaching crisis America is facing. From 1996 to 2002, he co-chaired Achieve, an organization created by U.S. Governors and business leaders to drive high academic standards for public schools in the United States. At IBM, he established Reinventing Education as a strategic partnership with 21 states and school districts which utilize IBM technology and technical assistance to eliminate key barriers to school reform and improve student performance.

He has received numerous awards for his work in education, among them the Cleveland E. Dodge Medal for Distinguished Service to Education - Teachers College, Columbia University, and the Distinguished Service to Science and Education award from the American Museum of Natural History. In recognition of his efforts on behalf of public education, as well as his business accomplishments, Mr. Gerstner was awarded the designation of honorary Knight of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in June 2001.

Mr. Gerstner is the author of Who Says Elephants Can't Dance, the best-selling account of IBM's transformation; and he is the co-author of the book Reinventing Education: Entrepreneurship in America's Public Schools (Dutton 1994).

Source

LAWRENCE J. ELLISON

LAWRENCE J. ELLISON

Founder, Oracle Corporation

Lawrence J. Ellison was born in the Bronx, New York. At nine months, he contracted pneumonia, and his unmarried 19 year-old mother gave him to her great aunt and uncle to raise. Lawrence was raised in a two-bedroom apartment on the South Side of Chicago. Until he was twelve years old he did not know that he was adopted. His great uncle and adoptive father had lost his real estate business in the Great Depression and made a modest living as an auditor for the public housing authority. As a boy, Larry Ellison showed an independent, rebellious streak and often clashed with his adoptive father. He showed a strong aptitude for math and science, and was named science student of the year at the University of Illinois. During the final exams in his second year, Ellison's adoptive mother die, and he dropped out of school. He enrolled at the University of Chicago the following fall, but dropped out after the first semester. his father was now convinced he would never make anything of himself, but Ellison had learned the rudiments of computer programming in Chicago and took this skill with him to Berkeley, California, arriving with just enough money for fast food and a few tanks of gas.

For the next eight years he bounced from job to job, working as a technician for Fireman's Fund, Wells Fargo bank and began working as a programmer with large databases at Ampex. At Ampex he built a large database for the CIA, code name: Oracle.

In 1977, Ellison and his former supervisor from Ampex, Robert Miner, founded Software Development Labs. They supported themselves by consulting for an assortment of corporate clients, when Ellison read a paper called "A Relational Model of Data for Large Shared Data Banks" by E. F Codd, describing a concept Codd had developed at IBM. IBM had seen no commercial potential in the concept of a Structured Query Language (SQL), but Ellison and his partner did. They created a database program compatible with both mainframe and desktop computer systems, renamed their company Oracle, and found their first customers for the database program, Wright Patterson Air Force Base and the CIA. In 1980, Oracle had only eight employees, and revenues were less than $1 million, but the following year, IBM itself adopted Oracle's SQL for its mainframe systems and for the next seven years, Oracle's sales doubled every year. The million dollar company was becoming a billion dollar company.

Oracle went public in 1986, raising $31.5 million with its initial public offering, but the firm's zealous young staff for the rapidly expanding firm habitually overstated revenues, and in 1990 the company posted its first losses. Oracle's market capitalization fell by 80 percent and the company appeared to be on the verge of bankruptcy. Ellison bit the bullet and replaced much of the original senior staff with more experienced managers. For the first time, he delegated the management side of the business to professionals, and channeled his own energies into product development. The newest version of the database program was a solid success and in only two years the company's stock had regained much of its previous value.

Even as Oracle's fortunes rose again, Ellison suffered a series of personal mishaps. Long an enthusiast of many sports and outdoor activities, in rapid succession Ellison suffered serious injuries while body surfing and mountain biking. Ellison survived major surgery, and continued to race his 78-foot yacht and practice aerobatics in his private jet.

Oracle's fortunes continued to rise throughout the 1990s. America's banks, airlines, automobile companies and retail giants all depend on Oracle's database programs. Oracle has benefited hugely from the growth of electronic commerce; its net profits increased by 76 percent in a single quarter of the year 2000. As the stocks of other high tech companies fluctuated wildly, Oracle held its value, and its largest shareholder, founder and CEO Larry Ellison, had come very close to a long-cherished goal, surpassing Microsoft's Bill Gates to become the richest man in the world.

Source

John T. Chambers

John T. Chambers
CEO Cisco Systems Inc.

John T. Chambers has been President and Chief Executive Officer of Cisco Systems Inc., since January 31, 1995, when he assumed this position, Chambers has grown the company from US$1.2 billion in annual revenues to its current run-rate of approximately US$23.8 billion. Mr. Chambers joined Cisco Systems Inc., as Senior Vice President Worldwide Sales and Operations, in January 1991 and became an Executive Vice President in June 1994. Prior to joining Cisco Systems Inc., he was with Wang Laboratories for eight years, most recently as Senior Vice President of U.S. Operations. He served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Stratacom Inc. He has been a Member of the Board of Directors of Cisco Systems Inc., since November 1993. Mr. Chambers serves on the Board of Directors of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Mr. Chambers has been lauded by government leaders and countless publications worldwide for his visionary strategy, his ability to drive an entrepreneurial culture, and his warm-hearted, straight-talking approach. Mr. Chambers has served two American presidents; most recently as Vice Chairman of the President George Bush National Infrastructure Advisory Council (NIAC). On this committee, he provides industry experience and leadership to help protect the critical infrastructure of the United States. He served on President Bush's Transition Team, Education Committee, and previously served on President Bill Clinton's Trade Policy Committee. Recently Mr. Chambers has spearheaded several key global initiatives, including co-sponsorship of the Jordan Education Initiative, in partnership with his Majesty King Abdullah II of Jordan and the World Economic Forum. In March, for the second time, Chambers was given the "Best Investor Relations by a CEO" award by Barrons and IR Magazines, and in April he received the prestigious "Woodrow Wilson Award for Corporate Citizenship" from the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars of the Smithsonian Institution. Recently, Chambers was also named "The Most Influential CEO" in telecommunications by Institutional Investor magazine and "The Most Influential Person in Communications" by Telecom Magazine. He has received numerous other awards including the Smithsonian Lifetime Achievement award and the Presidential Award: Ron Brown Award for Corporate Leadership from the Business Council. He holds a law degree and a bachelor of science/bachelor of arts degree in business from West Virginia University. He later received a masters of business administration degree in finance and management from Indiana University.

Michael Capellas

Michael Capellas
CEO Compaq/HP

Capellas is a seasoned general manager with particular expertise in information technology, e-commerce and supply-chain management. He has significant product development experience, including software and solutions; has run large global sales/marketing organizations; has managed quality assurance programs; has been involved in starting up a new company; and has held a broad range of line management positions. As such, he has extensive, successful, hands-on experience in every key area involved in successfully running a global technology enterprise. Over the past 23 years, he has gained a solid reputation among colleagues and customers alike as an information technology executive with a rare balance of strategic insight, operational expertise, technological and financial skills, and sales/marketing savvy."We are at the dawn of a new era in information technology," he said. "I've spent my entire career in IT, and I have never seen such dramatic changes. The Internet is transforming the way companies do business and the way they interact with their customers, partners and suppliers. And it is clear to me that business needs are moving toward Compaq's strengths."Capellas stressed that the Internet is having an increasing effect on organizations around the world. "To realize the promise of eBusiness, companies need the products, services and solutions that we deliver better than anyone else in the industry," he said. "This includes next-generation networks, high-performance servers, networked storage, Internet PCs, and appliances and devices that enable companies and individuals to connect to the Internet in new and more productive ways."Capellas joined Compaq in August 1998 as chief information officer and, in a relatively short time, has played key roles in the:

Development of the company's overall e-commerce strategy

Integration of that strategy into Compaq's NonStop™ eBusiness go-to-market strategy

Major consolidation of the company's information technology organization, including a dramatic cost reduction

Defining and implementation of the company's supply-chain strategy, including the consolidation of manufacturing activities

Development and implementation of a go-to-market strategy for the integration of Digital Equipment Corporation

Rapid development and successful execution of Compaq's Y2K compliance program
Recruiting of several new key managers

Formulation of the company's global account strategies

Participation in hundreds of sales calls

Executive oversight of several global accounts

Ongoing counsel to the Board and senior management on various operational as well as technological issues

Immediately before joining Compaq, Capellas held senior positions at Oracle Corporation and at SAP America, both growing out of his information technology and supply-chain management consulting work at Benchmarking Partners of Cambridge, Massachusetts, a leading information management consulting firm, where he was a founder and managing partner (1996). At Oracle (1997-98), he served as senior vice president and general manager for the company's global energy business, where his oversight responsibilities included product development, marketing, sales, consulting and client support. His accomplishments there included reorganizing and refocusing the unit's global sales force, resulting in a 100 percent increase in business unit revenue. At SAP America (1996-97), he was director of supply-chain management; his accomplishments included spearheading a business-development effort that led to approval by General Motors' Delphi unit of a $1 billion SAP implementation project. From 1981 to 1996, Capellas held several senior positions at Schlumberger, Ltd., including serving as the company's first corporate director for information systems; controller and treasurer of Schlumberger's operations in Asia Pacific; CFO of Dowell Schlumberger, Inc., a joint venture between Schlumberger and Dow Chemical; and in operations management at Schlumberger's Fairchild Semiconductor unit. Capellas began his career at Republic Steel Corporation (1976-81), where he held various systems analyst and manufacturing positions. He and his wife, Marie, have been married for 20 years and have two children. He has been involved in a wide variety of community leadership and charitable work and is an avid golfer.

Source

Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs
CEO Apple

Steve Jobs is the CEO of Apple, which he co-founded in 1976. Apple leads the industry in innovation with its award-winning desktop and notebook Mac computers, OS X operating system, and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also leading the digital music revolution with over 100 million of its iPod portable music players sold and over 2.5 billion songs legally downloaded from its iTunes online store.

Steve also co-founded Pixar Animation Studios, which has created seven of the most successful and beloved animated films of all time: Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles and Cars. Pixar has won 20 Academy Awards and its films have grossed more than $3.2 billion at the worldwide box office to date. Pixar merged with The Walt Disney Company in 2006 and Steve now serves on their board of directors.

Steve grew up in the apricot orchards which later became known as Silicon Valley, and still lives there with his wife and three children.

Source

Craig R. Barrett

Craig R. Barrett
Chairman of the Board INTEL CORPORATION

Craig Barrett is chairman of the board of Intel Corporation and a leading advocate for improving education in the U.S. and around the world. He is also a vocal spokesman for the value technology can provide in raising social and economic standards globally.

Craig Barrett was born Aug. 29, 1939, in San Francisco, Calif. He attended Stanford University in Palo Alto, California from 1957 to 1964, and received his Bachelor of Science, Master of Science and Ph.D. degrees in Materials Science. After graduation, he joined the faculty of Stanford University in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and remained through 1974, rising to the rank of Associate Professor. Dr. Barrett was a Fulbright Fellow at Danish Technical University in Denmark in 1972 and a NATO Postdoctoral Fellow at the National Physical Laboratory in England from 1964 to 1965. Dr. Barrett is the author of over 40 technical papers dealing with the influence of microstructure on the properties of materials, and a textbook on materials science, Principles of Engineering Materials.

Dr. Barrett joined Intel Corporation in 1974 as a technology development manager. He was named a vice president of the corporation in 1984, promoted to senior vice president in 1987, and executive vice president in 1990. Dr. Barrett was elected to Intel Corporation's Board of Directors in 1992 and was named the company's chief operating officer in 1993. He became Intel's fourth president in May 1997, chief executive officer in 1998 and chairman of the Board on May 18, 2005.

Dr. Barrett serves as chairman of the United Nations Global Alliance for Information and Communication Technologies and Development, and is an appointee to the President's Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations and to the American Health Information Community. He co-chairs the Business Coalition for Student Achievement and the National Innovation Initiative Leadership Council, and is a member of the Board of Trustees for the U.S. Council for International Business. As chair of the National Academy of Engineering, Dr. Barrett promotes the Academy and its policies to the engineering community and the public. In addition, he is a member of the National Governors? Association Task Force on ?Innovation America,? the National Infrastructure Advisory Council, and the Committee on Scientific Communication and National Security. Dr. Barrett also serves on the Board of Directors of the U.S. Semiconductor Industry Association, the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering, the National Forest Foundation, Achieve, and TechNet.

Source

Samuel J. Palmisano

Samuel J. Palmisano
Chairman of the Board,

President and Chief Executive Officer IBM

Sam Palmisano is Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer of the IBM Corporation. Mr. Palmisano was appointed to this position on January 6, 2003. Previously, he served as President and Chief Operating Officer.

He began his career in 1973 in Baltimore, Maryland. Since then, Mr. Palmisano has held a series of leadership positions during his IBM career, including senior vice president for the Enterprise Systems and Personal Systems groups. Mr. Palmisano also played a key role in creating and leading IBM’s Global Services, rising to senior vice president, and building the largest and most diversified IT services organization in the industry. He also served as senior managing director of operations for IBM Japan.

Mr. Palmisano is a graduate of The Johns Hopkins University. In recognition of his leadership role as co-chair of the Council of Competitiveness’ National Innovation Initiative, as well as his many business accomplishments, Mr. Palmisano was awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in September 2005. In July 2006, he was awarded an Honorary Fellowship from the London Business School.

Source

Bill Gates

Bill Gates

- Chairman, Microsoft Corp.

William (Bill) H. Gates is chairman of Microsoft Corporation, the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential. Microsoft had revenues of US$51.12 billion for the fiscal year ending June 2007, and employs more than 78,000 people in 105 countries and regions.

On June 15, 2006, Microsoft announced that effective July 2008 Gates will transition out of a day-to-day role in the company to spend more time on his global health and education work at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. After July 2008 Gates will continue to serve as Microsoft’s chairman and an advisor on key development projects. The two-year transition process is to ensure that there is a smooth and orderly transfer of Gates’ daily responsibilities. Effective June 2006, Ray Ozzie has assumed Gates’ previous title as chief software architect and is working side by side with Gates on all technical architecture and product oversight responsibilities at Microsoft. Craig Mundie has assumed the new title of chief research and strategy officer at Microsoft and is working closely with Gates to assume his responsibility for the company’s research and incubation efforts.

Born on Oct. 28, 1955, Gates grew up in Seattle with his two sisters. Their father, William H. Gates II, is a Seattle attorney. Their late mother, Mary Gates, was a schoolteacher, University of Washington regent, and chairwoman of United Way International.

Gates attended public elementary school and the private Lakeside School. There, he discovered his interest in software and began programming computers at age 13.

In 1973, Gates entered Harvard University as a freshman, where he lived down the hall from Steve Ballmer, now Microsoft's chief executive officer. While at Harvard, Gates developed a version of the programming language BASIC for the first microcomputer - the MITS Altair.
In his junior year, Gates left Harvard to devote his energies to Microsoft, a company he had begun in 1975 with his childhood friend Paul Allen. Guided by a belief that the computer would be a valuable tool on every office desktop and in every home, they began developing software for personal computers. Gates' foresight and his vision for personal computing have been central to the success of Microsoft and the software industry.

Under Gates' leadership, Microsoft's mission has been to continually advance and improve software technology, and to make it easier, more cost-effective and more enjoyable for people to use computers. The company is committed to a long-term view, reflected in its investment of approximately $7.1 billion on research and development in the 2007 fiscal year.

In 1999, Gates wrote Business @ the Speed of Thought, a book that shows how computer technology can solve business problems in fundamentally new ways. The book was published in 25 languages and is available in more than 60 countries. Business @ the Speed of Thought has received wide critical acclaim, and was listed on the best-seller lists of the New York Times, USA Today, the Wall Street Journal and Amazon.com. Gates' previous book, The Road Ahead, published in 1995, held the No. 1 spot on the New York Times' bestseller list for seven weeks.

Gates has donated the proceeds of both books to non-profit organizations that support the use of technology in education and skills development.
In addition to his love of computers and software, Gates founded Corbis, which is developing one of the world's largest resources of visual information - a comprehensive digital archive of art and photography from public and private collections around the globe. He is also a member of the board of directors of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., which invests in companies engaged in diverse business activities.

Philanthropy is also important to Gates. He and his wife, Melinda, have endowed a foundation with more than $28.8 billion (as of January 2005) to support philanthropic initiatives in the areas of global health and learning, with the hope that in the 21st century, advances in these critical areas will be available for all people. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has committed more than $3.6 billion to organizations working in global health; more than $2 billion to improve learning opportunities, including the Gates Library Initiative to bring computers, Internet Access and training to public libraries in low-income communities in the United States and Canada; more than $477 million to community projects in the Pacific Northwest; and more than $488 million to special projects and annual giving campaigns.

Gates was married on Jan. 1, 1994, to Melinda French Gates. They have three children. Gates is an avid reader, and enjoys playing golf and bridge.




Source

Larry Page- GOOGLE

Larry Page

Co-Founder & President, Products GOOGLE

Larry Page was Google's founding CEO and grew the company to more than 200 employees and profitability before moving into his role as President, Products in April 2001. He continues to share responsibility for Google's day-to-day operations with Eric Schmidt and Sergey Brin.

The son of Michigan State University computer science professor Dr. Carl Victor Page, Larry's love of computers began at age six. While following in his father's footsteps in academics, he became an honors graduate from the University of Michigan, where he earned a bachelor of science degree in engineering, with a concentration on computer engineering. During his time in Ann Arbor, Larry built an inkjet printer out of Lego™ bricks.

While in the Ph.D. program in computer science at Stanford University, Larry met Sergey Brin and together they developed and ran Google, which began operating in 1998. Larry went on leave from Stanford after earning his master's degree.

In 2002, Larry was named a World Economic Forum Global Leader for Tomorrow. He is a member of the National Advisory Committee (NAC) of the University of Michigan College of Engineering, and together with Co-Founder Sergey Brin, Larry was honored with the Marconi Prize in 2004. He is a trustee on the board of the X PRIZE, and was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2004.

Source

Dr. Eric Schmidt

Dr. Eric Schmidt
Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer GOOGLE

Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin recruited Eric Schmidt from Novell, where he led that company's strategic planning, management and technology development as chairman and CEO. Since coming to Google, Eric has focused on building the corporate infrastructure needed to maintain Google's rapid growth as a company and on ensuring that quality remains high while product development cycle times are kept to a minimum. Along with Larry and Sergey, Eric shares responsibility for Google's day-to-day operations. Eric's Novell experience culminated a 20-year record of achievement as an Internet strategist, entrepreneur and developer of great technologies. His well-seasoned perspective perfectly complements Google's needs as a young and rapidly growing search engine with a unique corporate culture.

Prior to his appointment at Novell, Eric was chief technology officer and corporate executive officer at Sun Microsystems, Inc., where he led the development of Java, Sun's platform-independent programming technology, and defined Sun's Internet software strategy. Before joining Sun in 1983, he was a member of the research staff at the Computer Science Lab at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), and held positions at Bell Laboratories and Zilog. Eric has a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering from Princeton University, and a master's and Ph.D. in computer science from the University of California-Berkeley. In 2006, Eric was elected to the National Academy of Engineering, which recognized his work on "the development of strategies for the world's most successful Internet search engine company."

Source

Welcome

Welcome to Prfileblogging.