Maryam Alavi, PhD, Dean, Stephen P. Zelnak Jr. Chair, Professor of Information Technology Management, Georgia Tech Scheller College of Business

Tues 9/30, 9am – 10am EST
Forum: Supporting 21st Century Competencies

Maryam Alavi, PhD, joined Georgia Tech Scheller College of Business as Dean in July 2014. She also holds the Stephen P. Zelnak Jr. Chair.

As an expert in IT innovations and strategic applications, Alavi has authored numerous published papers and has served on the editorial boards of several prestigious academic journals. She is a thought leader on technology-mediated learning and an experienced educator who has extensive experience in developing leadership curriculum for business students.

Alavi is a frequent speaker at national and international conferences. She has consulted with organizations including AT&T, KPMG, IBM, Marriott Corporation, Sodexo, the American College of Physicians, the Aspen Institute, the General Accounting Office, International Association for Management Education, and the World Bank. Her international work experience includes teaching graduate and executive development programs in Europe, North Africa, and Asia.

Prior to joining Georgia Tech, she served as interim dean and vice dean of Emory University’s Goizueta Business School, where she held the John & Lucy Cook Chair in Information Strategy.

Alavi was awarded the distinguished Marvin Bower Faculty Fellowship at Harvard Business School and received the prestigious AIS (Association of Information Systems) Fellows Award. AIS Fellows are elected by a committee of peers and are expected to be role models and an inspiration to colleagues and students within the discipline.

She served two terms as a board member of the Georgia Technology Authority appointed by the Governor of the State of Georgia.

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Neil S. Braun, JD, Dean, Lubin School of Business, Pace University

Tues 9/30, 10:30am – 11am EST
Forum: Evaluating Policy & Rankings

Neil S. Braun is the Dean of Pace University’s Lubin School of Business in New York since July 2010.  His first initiatives there included the creation of the Center for Global Governance, Reporting and Regulation and a professional certification program for financial institution compliance executives. He has previously been President of the NBC Television Network, Chairman and CEO of Viacom Entertainment, an internet and environmental entrepreneur, a film producer and corporate attorney. Braun serves on the board of directors and the audit and governance committees of IMAX Corporation(NYSE),  He is the Chairman of the Audit Committee for national anti-hunger organization Share Our Strength and is President of the Board of the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center. He is an active member of the National Association of Corporate Directors and was chosen by that organization in 2012 as “one to watch.” Braun currently serves on the AACSB’s Business Practices Council and the Committee on Accreditation Policy.

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Rick Chavez, Chief Solutions Officer, Microsoft Advertising and Consumer Monetization Business Group

Tuesday 9/30, 10:30am -11:30 am EST
Forum: Cultivating Innovation and Entrepreneurship

He is responsible for innovating solutions that enable the world’s most important brands to connect and deeply engage with the customers they serve.   His team works with Global 250 enterprises to solve high-value problems, ones that blend consumer internet and enterprise assets from the broad Microsoft portfolio. In this capacity, he leads an inter-discipline organization that spans field sales, marketing, and engineering, and is comprised of a Consumer Insights team and an xD (Experience Design) team. 

Rick has introduced the ‘Studio Model’: an approach for innovating insight-powered experiences that provide people more of what they want, and less of what they don’t – at work, home, and on-the-go. The insights are based on highly-differentiated frameworks for understanding human behavior, based on the primary research of the Consumer Insights team[1]. These insights are brought to life through design-based capabilities of the xD team. The Studio Model emphasizes co-creation with consumers, brands, and partners, and a test-and-learn iterative approach where are ideas are framed, vetted, and then ‘prototyped into existence.’ In this model, solutions are ‘pulled’ into the market – tuned by the evolving digital habits of consumers and the competitive demands of high-ambition CMOs. 

Rick has 25+ years of experience as an entrepreneur and advisor, helping organizations build substantial market and competitive value through commercializing technology products, services and management approaches. Prior to joining Microsoft, Rick was a managing director at TCG Advisors, a boutique strategy and transformation firm based in Silicon Valley. Some of his work with companies such as Adobe was incorporated in a book on strategy and innovation, Escape Velocity, by Geoffrey Moore (Houghton Mifflin, September 2011). He also served as interim executive and start-up entrepreneur. As interim executive, he was CEO for LOBBY7 and Vice President, Corporate Development for Brix Networks. LOBBY7 was acquired by Nuance (NASDAQ: NUAN) and Brix was acquired by EXFO Corporation (NASDAQ: EXFO).[1] Key frameworks as described in the book by Natasha Hritzuk and Kelly Jones, both on Rick’s team: Multiscreen Marketing: The Seven Things You Need to Know to Reach Your Customers across TVs, Computers, Tablets, and Mobile Phones. CxO implications of these frameworks can be found in the Afterword.

 

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Youngsuk Chi, Chairman, Elsevier, President, International Publishers Association

Tues 9/30, 11am – 12pm EST
Forum: Cultivating Innovation & Entrepreneurship

Youngsuk ‘YS’ Chi is a leader in the media-tech industry.  As Chairman of Elsevier, he works directly with governments, Elsevier customers and in industry associations worldwide.  In his primary role as head of Corporate Affairs for Reed Elsevier, he is responsible for government affairs, corporate communications, corporate responsibility, and Asia strategy for Elsevier’s parent company.  Chi also serves as President of the International Publishers Association, a global organization that represents the interests of more than 50 publishing industry association members from around the world.

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Sangeet Chowfla, President & CEO, Graduate Management Admission Council

Forum: Engaging New-Generation Students & Employees

*Forum Hosts engage throughout the 60 hours at unscheduled times.

Sangeet Chowfla is President and Chief Executive Officer of the Graduate Management Admission Council®, the nonprofit education organization of leading graduate business schools and owner of the Graduate Management Admission Test® (GMAT®). He became President of the worldwide association in September 2013 and Chief Executive Officer in January 2014.

Sangeet has more than 32 years’ experience in P&L Management, General Management, Product Management, International Business Development and Venture Capital investment, gained in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, India and the Middle East. His particular area of expertise is the management of high-growth enterprises, the creation of high-performance teams, and the internationalization of businesses.

Most recently, Sangeet was EVP-Global Markets and Chief Strategy Officer at Comviva Technologies where he managed the company’s customer-facing Market Units (SAARC, Africa, MENA, LATAM, Europe/Americas). Previously, Sangeet managed the company’s Mobile Solutions unit, comprising all the product businesses, and was responsible for establishing Comviva’s operations in Africa and Latin America. During his tenure, Comviva’s overall revenues quadrupled to approximately $100 million, while international business grew 12-fold with a customer base of 110 mobile operators in 85 countries. As CSO, he advised the board on long-term strategy and direction.

Previous to his work at Comviva, Sangeet was a partner with Timeline Ventures in San Diego (2001-2006), participating in the acquisition and turnaround of Del Mar Datatrac (mortgage software). Sangeet was the lead investor and Executive Chairman of Technocom, leading the company’s Series A round of financing.

Earlier in his career, Sangeet held various management positions at the Hewlett-Packard Company over an 18-year period including sales and marketing management positions in Athens, Germany and Singapore. In 1995, Sangeet moved to San Diego, California, where he was Vice President and General Manager of HP’s Inkjet Media Division, which he grew from a startup to $300 million in revenues.

Sangeet took his BA in Economics from St. Stephen’s College at Delhi University and his MBA, with focus on marketing and finance, from the Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi University.

A global citizen, Sangeet has worked and lived in India, Dubai, Greece, Germany, Singapore and the United States.

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Steve Denning, Forbes contributor, Board Member of the Scrum Alliance

Tues 9/30, 3pm – 4pm EST
Forum: Increasing the Value of Management Education

Chat: Thurs 10/2, 1:00 pm – 1:30 pm
Management Skills Necessary to Thrive in the Creative Economy

Steve Denning is the author of the award-winning books, The Leader’s Guide to Radical Management: Re-inventing the Workplace for the 21st Century(Jossey-Bass, 2010), The Secret Language of Leadership (Jossey-Bass, 2007) and The Leader’s Guide to Storytelling (Jossey-Bass, 2005).

From 1996 to 2000, Steve was the Program Director, Knowledge Management at the World Bank where he spearheaded the organizational knowledge sharing program.

In November 2000, Steve Denning was selected as one of the world’s ten Most Admired Knowledge Leaders (Teleos)

He now works with organizations in the U.S., Europe, Asia and Australia on leadership, innovation, business narrative and most recently, radical management.

His clients have included many organizations, large and small, around the world, including GE, IBM, Microsoft, McKinsey, Shell, Netflix, Bristol Myers Squibb, Deloitte, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Syngenta, Danfoss, McDonalds, Unilever, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Abbott Laboratories, MWH, Ernst & Young, CRM Learning, Xerox, Oracle, Maritz, Target, Burns & McDonnell, Mitre Corporation, Innovation Council, Deluxe, Fetzer Foundation, Diageo (UK), UK Parliamentary Ombudsman, Nestle (Switzerland), Novo Nordisk (Denmark), International Energy Agency (Austria), Symbiosis (Austria), PMI (France), Ambrosetti (Italy), ARK group (UK, Asia, Australia), Air New Zealand, World Bank, UN, UNDP, US Army, USAID, CIA, NSA, Defense Intelligence Agency, NetHope, The Brookings Institution, American Institute of Architects, California Workforce Association, CIA, NSA, NIMA, FAA, NY State Government, Oregon State Government, Australian government ministries, New Zealand ministries and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Norway).

In April 2003, Steve was ranked as one of the world’s Top Two Hundred Business Gurus by Davenport & Prusak, “What’s The Big Idea? (Harvard, 2003).

Steve’s most recent book, Leader’s Guide to Radical Management: Re-inventing the Workplace for the 21st Century (Jossey-Bass, 2010), was selected by 800-CEO-READ as one of the best five books on management in 2010. It offers a comprehensive guide to the reinventing the organization for the 21st Century.

Steve’s book, The Secret Language of Leadership: How Leaders Inspire Action Through Narrative (October 2007) was selected by the Financial Times as one of the best books of 2007. It was also selected by the book distributor, 800-CEO-READ, as the best book on leadership in 2007. It is a comprehensive guide to transformational leadership, particularly how to use develop and use narrative intelligence to inspire enduring enthusiasm in any audience for your cause.

Steve’s book, The Leader’s Guide to Storytelling (2005) is a comprehensive guide to the various ways in which leaders can use of storytelling to achieve a variety of organizational purposes, including spark action, communicate who they are, transmit the brand, transfer values, share knowledge, inspire collaboration, tame the grapevine and lead people into the future.

Steve’s book, The Springboard: How Storytelling Ignites Action in Knowledge-Era Organizations (Butterworth Heinemann, 2000) describes how storytelling can serve as a powerful tool for organizational change and knowledge management.

Steve’s book, Squirrel Inc.: A Fable of Leadership and Storytelling was published by Jossey-Bass in June 2004. It discusses the seven highest value forms of organizational storytelling, about which there is already considerable advance praise.

Another book, co-authored by Steve Denning along John Seely Brown, Katalina Groh and Larry Prusak, was published in June 2004 by Elsevier. It is entitled Storytelling in Organizations: How Narrative and Storytelling Are Transforming Twenty-first Century Management

Steve was born and educated in Sydney, Australia. He studied law and psychology at Sydney University and worked as a lawyer in Sydney for several years. He did a postgraduate degree in law at Oxford University in the U.K. Steve then joined the World Bank where he worked for several decades in many capacities and held various management positions, including Director of the Southern Africa Department from 1990 to 1994 and Director of the Africa Region from 1994 to 1996. From 1996 to 2000, Steve was the Program Director, Knowledge Management at the World Bank.

Steve was a Senior Scholar at the Burns Academy of Leadership at the University of Maryland from 2006-2009.

In the Fall of 2009, Steve was a Visiting Fellow at All Souls Colleges, Oxford University, UK.

Steve was a member of the Quality Council V of the Conference Board from 1993 to 1996.

He has published a novel, The Painter and a a volume of poetry Sonnets 2000.

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Soumitra Dutta, PhD, Anne and Elmer Lindseth Dean, Professor of Management and Organizations, Cornell University

Forum: Cultivating Innovation & Entrepreneurship

*Forum Hosts engage throughout the 60 hours at unscheduled times.

Soumitra Dutta is the eleventh dean and professor of management and organizations in the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate Questrom School of Business at Cornell University. He most recently served as the Roland Berger Chaired Professor of Business and Technology and was the founder and academic director of the eLab at INSEAD, a top-ranked graduate business school in Fontainebleau, France.

Previous roles Dutta has held during his 23-year tenure at INSEAD include dean of external relations; dean of executive education; and dean of technology and e-learning. He has served as a visiting professor in the Haas School at Berkeley, Oxford Internet Institute at University of Oxford, and Judge School at University of Cambridge in England. He has lived and worked in the U.S., Europe, and Asia, including stints as an engineer with GE in the U.S. and Schlumberger in Japan.

Dutta is an authority on the impact of new technology on the business world, especially social media and social networking, and on strategies for driving growth and innovation by embracing the digital economy. He is the co-editor and author respectively of two influential reports in technology and innovation — the Global Information Technology Report (co-published with the World Economic Forum) and the Global Innovation Index (to be co-published with the World Intellectual Property Organization). Both reports have been used by several governments around the world in assessing and planning their technology and innovation policies.

His work has been widely published in the Harvard Business Review, European Management Journal, Management Science, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, Decision Support Systems, Journal of Strategic Information Systems, and other journals. Dutta and his ideas have been featured in myriad business magazines, newspapers, and blogs, including Global Intelligence for the CIO, Information Week, Brasil, BusinessWorld India, Chief Executive, Finance & Management, Chief Executive Magazine, Forbes, and The McKinsey Quarterly.

Dutta is a member of the Davos Circle, an association of long-time participants in the Annual Davos meeting of the World Economic Forum, and has engaged in a number of multi-stakeholder initiatives to shape global, regional and industry agendas. He is on the advisory boards of several international business schools. He has co-founded two firms and is on the boards of several startups. He received the European Case of the Year award from the European Case Clearing House in 2002, 2000, 1998, and 1997.

Dutta received a B.Tech. in electrical engineering and computer science from the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi. He received an MS in business administration, an MS in computer science, and a PhD in computer science from the University of California at Berkeley.

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Ceree Eberly, Senior Vice President and Chief People Officer for The Coca-Cola Company

Forum: Engaging New-Generation Students & Employees

*Forum Hosts engage throughout the 60 hours at unscheduled times.

Ceree Eberly was appointed to the role of Chief People Officer and Senior Vice President for The Coca-Cola Company in 2009. She joined the Company in 1990 and has since served in a variety of leadership roles. In 1998, Ceree became the Human Resources Director, Central America & Caribbean Division in San José, Costa Rica, where she oversaw both Company and bottling operations’ human resources strategies. In 2003, she was appointed Vice President, Corporate Business Unit, where she led the support of the worldwide McDonald’s business in technical operations, quality assurance, social responsibility, communications, global juice portfolio, IT and human resources. Ceree filled this role until 2007, when she became the Group Human Resources Director for Europe.

As Chief People Officer, Ceree leads an organization responsible for developing and transforming approximately 150,000 Coca-Cola employees across more than 200 countries into a competitive advantage, and transforming the quality of the Company’s workplace into a global differentiator. The organization’s primary goal is to attract, engage and retain the best people by making Coca-Cola “a great place to work.”

Ceree currently serves on the Board of Trustees for Oglethorpe University in Atlanta and is the organization’s Chair. She is a member of HR50, a group of the most senior Human Resources leaders from around the world, a member of Women Corporate Directors, a global organization advancing best practices in global corporate governance, a member of the Corporate Leadership Council, and serves on the AACSB International Business Practices Council, which is a global, nonprofit organization devoted to the advancement of management education. Ceree is active participant of the Global Shapers, an organization of highly motivated, young individuals who have a great potential for future leadership roles in society, while also being mentor to employees throughout the Coca-Cola system.

Ceree previously served as an Advisor to the Board of Directors for the Ronald McDonald House Charities, a member of the Board of Directors for Habitat for Humanity, an Advisor to Skyland Trail, and is a past mentor in the Georgia Executive Women’s Leadership program.

She has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Tennessee, graduating with high honors.

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Michael J. Fenlon, PhD, US & Global Talent Leader, PricewaterhouseCoopers

Tues 9/30, 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm EST
Forum: Engaging New-Generation Students & Employees

Chat: Wed 10/1, 1:00 – 1:30 pm EST
Leading Millennials

Michael Fenlon serves as the US and Global Talent Leader for PwC, a global network of firms with 190,000 people across 158 countries.  He has responsibility for employer branding and social media, talent acquisition, analytics and talent management.  He has held a variety of senior leadership roles in Human Capital since joining PwC, including strategy, operations and lead generalist roles.

Mike is a psychologist with expertise in strategic and organizational change, talent management and leadership development.  He directed executive programs, including: Highlights of the MBA, the Leadership Development Program, and the Columbia Senior Executive Program, as well as custom programs for global clients. He was a faculty member of the Columbia Business School executive education team that was ranked by The Financial Times as #1 in the world.

He also served as Associate Dean for Executive MBA programs in New York, London (with the London Business School) and in Silicon Valley (with the Haas School at UC Berkeley), and taught a popular course on Executive Leadership. He has consulted in the non-profit and government sectors and served in Executive Programs at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

He previously served as a Principal Consultant with Price Waterhouse LLP in the strategic and organizational change practice.

Mike is a member of the American Psychological Association and the Academy of Management.  Publications include “Rethinking Retention Strategies: Work-life Versus Deferred Compensation in a Total Rewards Strategy” in the World at Work, and “Developing Leaders and Teams Who Build Exceptional Client Relationships,” and an article for HR Magazine on using human capital analytics to drive strategic change. He has been featured in The Financial Times, The New York Times and Fox Televison Business News.  He was educated at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Columbia University where he received three master’s degrees and a Ph.D.

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Barbara Franklin, President & CEO, Barbara Franklin Enterprises, Former US Secretary of Commerce

Tues 9/30, 2:30pm – 3pm EST
Forum: Fostering Ethical Leadership

Barbara Hackman Franklin is President and Chief Executive Officer of Barbara Franklin Enterprises, a private international consulting firm headquartered in Washington, DC.  She is an advocate for and adviser to American companies doing business in international markets, notably China, and is an expert on corporate governance, auditing, and financial reporting practices. As the 29th U.S. Secretary of Commerce for President George H.W. Bush, she achieved a major goal – increasing American exports – with emphasis on market-opening initiatives in China, Russia, Japan and Mexico.  Her historic mission to China in 1992 normalized commercial relations with that country, removed the ban on ministerial contact that the U.S. had imposed following the events at Tiananmen Square in 1989, and brought back $1 billion in signed contracts for American companies.  Trade with China grew dramatically in the ensuing years as did foreign investment. Secretary Franklin’s public service began two decades earlier.  In 1971 she led the first White House effort to recruit women for high-level government jobs as a staff assistant to President Richard Nixon, an effort which resulted in nearly quadrupling the number of women in those positions (1971-73).  Her White House story is told in the 2012 book by Lee Stout, A Matter of Simple Justice: the Untold Story of BarbaraHackman Franklin and A Few Good Women.  Following this, the President appointed her an original Commissioner of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, where she focused on safer products for children (1973-79). Additionally, Franklin has served four terms on the Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations, by appointments of Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, and as Alternate Representative to the 44th United Nations General Assembly by appointment of President George H. W. Bush.  Altogether, Franklin has served five U.S. Presidents and, in 2006, received the Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service. In the private sector Franklin has served on the boards of directors of 14 public companies and three private companies, and is currently a board member of Aetna Inc., a trustee of a cluster of American Funds, and a member of the Lafarge International Advisory Board, Paris, France.  She has received numerous governance awards and served as chairman of the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) during a period of significant growth in membership and vitality. Secretary Franklin is chairman emerita of the Economic Club of New York, immediate past president of the Management Executives’ Society, and a board member of the US-China Business Council, the National Committee on US-China Relations, the Atlantic Council, the Committee for Economic Development (CED), and the National Symphony Orchestra.  She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Advisory Council of the Kissinger Institute on China and the United States at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.  She was a founding member of Executive Women in Government (EWG) in 1973 and of the Women’s Forum of Washington, DC, in 1981.  During the 1980’s, Franklin was a Senior Fellow of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Fresh out of Harvard Business School and prior to joining the White House staff in 1971, Franklin worked at the Singer Company as manager of environmental analysis and at First National City Bank (now Citibank) as assistant vice president.  Her analysis of the Bank’s relationships with government led to the creation of its first government relations department, which she headed. Born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Franklin graduated with distinction from the Pennsylvania State University and was one of the first women graduates of the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration.  Among her many honors and awards, she has received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Penn State and the Alumni Achievement Award from Harvard Business School.  She is married to Wallace Barnes, retired chairman and CEO of Barnes Group, Inc.  They reside in Washington, DC and Bristol, CT.

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