Douglas L. Becker, Founder, Chairman of the Board and CEO, Laureate Education Inc.

Wed 10/1, 4:30pm – 5:30pm
Forum: Increasing the Value of Management Education

Douglas L. Becker is chairman and chief executive officer of Laureate Education, Inc., the world’s leading network of higher education institutions. Mr. Becker has led the company since 1991, when it was known as Sylvan Learning Systems. Mr. Becker built Sylvan Learning Systems into the K-12 tutoring leader, with nearly 2,000 learning centers and 200,000 students before branching out into higher education in 1999. The Sylvan tutoring business was sold in 2003 to allow Laureate to focus on higher education.

Today, Laureate Education is a trusted global leader in providing access to high quality, innovative institutions of higher education. The Laureate International Universities network celebrates it’s 15th anniversary this year and has since grown to include over 850,000 students at more than 75 campus-based and online institutions in 29 countries throughout North America, Latin America, Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. President William J. Clinton, 42nd president of the United States, serves as the Honorary Chancellor of the Laureate International Universities network, a role in which he offers advice on social responsibility, youth leadership and increasing access to higher education.

Mr. Becker is deeply committed to community service. He is the board chair of the International Youth Foundation, which has invested more than $200 million to improve conditions and prospects for young people in close to 80 countries. With Mr. Becker’s guidance, IYF expanded its YouthActionNet® program, which supports young social entrepreneurs around the globe. Mr. Becker also supports many civic groups in Baltimore, Maryland, his hometown.

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Andréa Backman, PhD, Senior Vice President & Dean, Jack Welch Management Institute

Wed 10/1, 12pm – 1pm EST
Forum: Increasing the Value of Management Education

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Anant Agarwal, PhD, CEO of edX, Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, MIT

Wed 10/1, 11am – 12pm EST
Forum: Cultivating Innovation & Entrepreneurship

Anant Agarwal is the CEO of edX, an online learning destination founded by Harvard and MIT. Anant taught the first edX course on circuits and electronics from MIT, which drew 155,000 students from 162 countries. He has served as the director of CSAIL, MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, and is a professor of electrical engineering and computer science at MIT. He is a successful serial entrepreneur, having co-founded several companies including Tilera Corporation, which created the Tile multicore processor, and Virtual Machine Works.

Anant won the Maurice Wilkes prize for computer architecture, and MIT’s Smullin and Jamieson prizes for teaching. He holds a Guinness World Record for the largest microphone array, and is an author of the textbook “Foundations of Analog and Digital Electronic Circuits.”

Scientific American selected his work on organic computing as one of 10 World- Changing Ideas in 2011, and he was named in Forbes’ list of top 15 education innovators in 2012. Anant, a pioneer in computer architecture, is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a fellow of the ACM.

He hacks on WebSim, an online circuits laboratory, in his spare time. Anant holds a Ph.D. from Stanford and a bachelor’s from IIT Madras.

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Richard Straub, PhD, President & CEO, Peter Drucker Society Europe, Senior Advisor IBM Global Education Industry, Director of Corporate Services & EU Affairs, EFMD

Wed 10/1, 9am-10am EST
Forum: Challenging the Business Model of Education

In his 32 years with IBM Dr. Richard Straub has held key international executive positions such as Deputy General Manager for PC Europe and Global Chief Learning Officer. Since 2006 he has started a new career working with non-profit organizations – as part time executive and as social entrepreneur. He is currently executive committee member at the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) and Secretary General of the European Learning Industry Group (ELIG).  In addition he holds a strategic advisory role for the IBM Global Education Industry.
 
In 2008 he founded the Peter Drucker Society of Austria and in 2010 the Peter Drucker Society Europe as non-profit organizations. He is the president of both. The Peter Drucker Society has as its mission to be a catalyst for the improvement of Management as a vital role in modern society. As the crystallizing yearly event the Drucker Society organizes the Global Peter Drucker Forum in Vienna – the sixth edition will be held in November 2014. 

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